World-renowned virtuoso and violinist Ivry Gitlis passed away on Thursday at the age of 98 in Paris, his family told AFP.
The death of this musician who sang in the most prestigious places, for a varied audience and with the largest orchestras took place on Thursday morning, said David Gitlis, one of his four children.
The benevolent ambassador of Unesco, this Israeli living in France had a special place in the world of classical music: known for his sometimes atypical repertoire performances, he was also comfortable with jazz or gypsy music.
Cellist Gautier Capuçon expressed on social media “immense sadness” after the death of this “legend of the violin”, while his brother, Renaud Capuçon greeted: “a star for all violinists”, “the last tsar of the violin who crossed the twentieth century “.
He was born on August 25, 1922 in Haifa, now Israel and then under British rule, where his parents emigrated from Ukraine.
“When I was 5 years old, they raised funds to buy me a violin. Since then, the violin has been part of me,” he wrote in his autobiography “The Soul and the String.”
He was the first Israeli artist to perform in the USSR (in 1955), the founder of numerous festivals and was also an ardent supporter of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
With thick white hair and penetrating blue eyes, a charismatic, capricious, ferocious and narcissistic personality, Ivry Gitlis generally played still and with his eyes closed. His violin: a Stradivarius from 1713 bought in 1964.
He assured that “emotion” is the engine of his art, but that “beyond emotion, it was important to transmit to the public such a heritage of beauty, in these times of ideological manipulation.”