Evening star., 1943-02-21
Music
Zimbalist Plays
In Symphony's
Russian Program

In tribute to our great allies to
the east, an all-Russian program,
with the distinguished Russian vio-
linist, Efrem Zimbanst, as soloist,
has been scheduled by Conductor
Hans Kinder for Tuesday nights
concert by the National Symphony
Orchestra at $3.50 o'clock in Consti-
tuition Hall.
This is the concert that was origi-
nally scheduled for Sunday, March
81, but had to be moved forward to
the earlier date because of circum-
stances beyond the orchestra's con-
troll. Sunday series tickets will, of
course, be honored Tuesday night,
and holders of the series tickets
should present ticket No. 10 for ad-
mission to the concert.
Highlight of Tuesdays program,
which will be comprised entirely of
works by Russian composers, is the
TchaikovSky violin Concerto in D
Major" And as soloist in the eve
ning's major offering is one of the
leaders in the contingent of great
violinists that Russia has given to
the world.
Born in Rostov- -on-Don, zimbalist
ran away from home at the age of 8
because he had heard that an
Italian opera company playing a
summer engagement in a nearby
town needed violinist. 1t turned
out that the vacancy was that of
concertmaster, but Zimbalist got the
job, Even at that tender age Zim-
balists violin playing brought no
lack of satisfaction, but the young
ster did have considerable trouble
in staying awake through a working
clay that began at 10 in the evening.
Consequently the conductors baton
was used as much for beating the
doing head of his young concert
master as it was for beating time,
and when zimbalist's frantic family
finally located him he was glad to
return with them to the parental
home
After that sortie into professional
life ZimbaliSt resumed his violin
studies under his father, an orches-
ira conductor. Later he entered the
Imperial Conservatory in Petrograd,
studying under Leopold Auer, and
upon graduation received the gold
medal and the Rubenstein scholar
ship of $4,000 rubles. After touring
Europe with success, he came to this
country in 1911 and made his Amer
lean debut with the Boston SYM
phony Orchestra in that year. Since
then he has toured all over the
World-he estimates that in 80 years
he has covered more than three
fourths of million miles-and there
Is scarcely city where he has not
played or a symphony orchestra of
Importance with which he has not
appeared frequently as soloist.
Besides playing the violin in vir-
tuoso style, Zimbalist has devoted
considerable of his time to compos-
ing and conducting. His symphonic
poem, "Daphnis and Chloe" was in
troduced by the Philadelphia Or
chestra under Stokowski, and, more
recently, the Chicago Symphony Or
chestra introduced his AN American
Rhapsody" with the composer con-
Quoting. In addition to these pur-
suits, Zimbalist is director of the
Curtis Institute of Music in Phila-
delphia, where he now resides.
The orchestral program will open
with Glinka's fantasy on two Rus
sian airs called "Kamarinska :"
which will be followed by a repeti-
ton of Glazounov's Symphony No.
in E Flat Major" which was given
an enthusiastic reception when
played Wednesday night. The
Tschaikowsky violin concerto will
begin the second half of the pro-
gram, which will conclude with
Scriabin's "Etude, Op. 2, No. /" in
La Sale Spiers arrangement and
Tschaikowskys popular "Marche
Slav."