Thoughts and Reflections: Don Gilden

I am an amateur violinist who takes his music seriously.  I play every day and take lessons every week.  I have a sizable collection of CDs of the classical violin repertoire, many pieces by multiple artists.  I have always wanted to attend a violin competition, but never got to until the IVCI in September, 2010.  I was there for the final 4 nights and was not disappointed.  The abundance of talent in these fine young people from all over the world is considerable.  They played the great violin concertos by Mozart, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Beethoven and Bartok.  Listening to 3 concertos in one evening was stimulating, and I had trouble sleeping every night while "replaying" the pieces in my mind.  I am not given to hero worship, but these young people (all 6 finalists were in their 20s) are nothing short of sensational: talented, diligent, warm and bright.  The competition was intense, not for the faint of heart.  This was the equivalent of the Super Bowl and World Series of violin performance.  As good as the violinists are, they continued to practice all day and evening right up to the last day.  After one of the contestants played a Mozart violin concerto, I saw him in a practice room of the auditorium only minutes later playing the Tchaikovsky violin concerto that he was scheduled to play 48 hours later.  Although only one person won, none of them, in my mind, is a "loser."  I expect most of them will have wonderful careers as a violin artist, whether it be solo performing on the stages of the great cities around the world or in chamber music and recording for all to hear. 

 

"Enjoyable" does not adequately describe the experience of attending the competition.  The music, the atmosphere and the rivalry filled my senses.  Quite simply, it was an experience.  I loved being there and felt attached to the violinists, the brilliant conductor and talented orchestra who supported these marvelous young people and was eminently aware of the finely tuned administrators and organizers who helped make the IVCI the huge success it was.  I hope to return in 4 years.  

 

Don Gilden

Denver, Colorado