User:Samuel-chapkovski/sandbox

Victor Aleksandreevich Pikaizen (born February 15, 1933), was a famous Jewish-Ukranian violinist and a student of the legendary David Oistrakh. Pikaizen was born into a musical family in Kiev, later moving to Moscow for further education.

In 1944 Pikaizen was auditioned by David Oistrakh, which greatly impressed the master, and 2 years later (in 1946) Pikaizen became a pupil of Oistrakh at the Gnesyns School and remained Oistrakh's pupil for XYZ years. During approximately this time Pikaizen also won a number of the most prestigious competitions at the time:


 * 1949 - laureate of the Jan Kubelik Competition (Prague)
 * 1955 - laureate of the Queen Elizabeth International competition (Brussels, Belgium)
 * 1957 - laureate of the International competition Marguerite Long - Jacques Thibaud (Paris, France)
 * 1958 - laureate of the Tchaikovsky International competition (Moscow)
 * 1965 - laureate of the International Paganini competition (Genoa, Italy)
 * 1969 - holder of the Grand-Prix awarded the French firm "Shan du monde" for Paganini‘s recordings

Since 1957 Pikaizen was a soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic and performed intensively at the best concert halls of Russia, England, France, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Japan etc.

His vast repertoire includes Russian and foreign classical compositions but he is especially celebrated for his performance of the 24 Paganini Caprices, of which he performed all 24 over 70 times in public. The considerable part of his repertoire belongs to contemporary composers‘ works, such as the violin concertos of Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Khachaturyan, e.t.c. He has also written a number of cadenzas to different violin concertos and performed them on several occasions.

Early Years
From a very early age Victor Pikaizen showed considerable musical potential. At the tender age of 6 he entered a Kiev Conservetoire School, and already at age 9 he had had his first debut with a symphony orchestra.

TODO: Include this reference: (as a book) Jews and Jewish Elements in Soviet Music: A Study of a Socio-national Problem in Music