Dmitri Berlinsky
Associate Professor of Violin
Phone: (517) 355-2409
E-mail: dberlin@msu.edu
He took first prize in the Paganini International Violin Competition (Italy), and was the winner of the Montreal International Violin Competition, the Tchaikovsky Competition, and the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels.
Berlinsky has performed with major orchestras in Europe, Russia, Asia, and North and South America. He has presented recitals and concerts in more than 40 U.S. states, in addition to Australia, Mexico, Korea, the Czech Republic, Uruguay, Belgium, France, Russia, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Guatemala, Peru, and Italy.
He has performed at Mostly Mozart, Prague Spring, Aspen Music, and Newport Music festivals. He has also performed in the Settimane Musicale (Italy), and has toured South America with the Prague Chamber Orchestra. Berlinsky has made recordings for Melodiya (Russia), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and Helicon Records.
Originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, Berlinsky received a bachelor of music and master of music from the Moscow Conservatory, and a performer's certificate from the Juilliard School of Music. He studied with Victor Tretiakov, E. Chugaeva, N. Latinsky, Dorothy DeLay, Masao Kawasaki, L. Ivaschenko, B. Sergeev, B. Gutnikov, and M. Bezverkhny.
Berlinsky taught at Chautauqua and Summit Music Festivals in New York, International Academy of Music in Italy, and Shuan Yin Festival in Taiwan. He gave master classes at USC, Temple, and Roosevelt Universities.
Many of his former students have won important international competitions such as the Tchaikovsky, Menuhin, and Tibor Varga, and have assumed positions in orchestras including the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to his solo performances and his teaching, Berlinsky is the founder of a new string ensemble, International Chamber Soloists, which brings together some of the advanced string players at MSU College of Music.
Walter Verdehr
Professor of Violin
Phone: (517) 353-9116
E-mail: verdehr@msu.edu
Born in Gottschee, Yugoslavia, Verdehr received his first violin instruction at the Conservatory of Music in Graz, Austria. After studying with Galamian at the Juilliard School, he was the first violinist to receive a doctorate there and as a Fulbright Scholar, he graduated with distinction from the Hochschule fuer Musik. He taught at the International Congress of Strings. He has made numerous appearances as a soloist with orchestras in Houston, Honolulu, Taipei, Ulsan (Korea), Izmir (Turkey), Teton Festival Symphonies, as well as many orchestras in Michigan, New York, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, California, Czechoslovakia, China, and Australia, and in solo and chamber music recitals in the U.S. and Europe.
The London Times reported that "his performance was sweeping and vigorous." From the Vienna Express: "he is a perfect violinist with beautiful blossoming tone and noble musicality." He has served on the juries for the Naumburg and Prague Spring International violin competitions and has made solo recordings for Crystal Records, Golden Crest Records and NET-TV. His students teach in universities and perform in orchestras throughout the U.S. and abroad. Together with his wife, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, he founded the Verdehr Trio at Michigan State University in 1972, for which they have commissioned more than 200 works from composers around the world including: Gian Carlo Menotti, William Bolcom , Joan Tower, Thea Musgrave, Augusta Reade Thomas , Alan Hovhaness, Peter Sculthorpe, Alexander Arutiunian, David Diamond, and many other distinguished composers. He performs on the ex “Stephens-Verdehr” Stradivarius of 1690.
I-Fu Wang
Associate Professor of Violin
Phone: (517) 353-5029
E-mail: wangi@msu.edu
He began his musical training at the age of 4 in his native country, Taiwan. Upon receiving a scholarship to the Interlochen Arts Academy, he came to the United States at the age of 13 to continue his secondary education, and later enrolled as a student at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. His former teachers include Ivan Galamian, Paul Makanowitzky, Jaime Laredo, and Felix Galimir.
Wang was a member of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, with which he performed throughout the United States and internationally. As a chamber musician, he has performed regularly with Music From Marlboro, the Kennedy Center Theater Chamber Players, the Fontana Festival of Music and Art, and as a guest artist with various chamber music series throughout the nation.
For many years Wang was the music director of the Renaud Chamber Orchestra and concertmaster of the Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestra. His violin students can be found in major orchestras and/or teaching in universities here and abroad.
