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Show The Sail Lake Tribune, Sunday, February Heifetz turns to teaching; T can still be of service By John Rockwell Now York Times Writer LOS ANGELES Jascha Heifetz turned 79 ,ears old last week. One of the greatest v lolinists ev er. and terhaps the greatest sheer technieiun the instrument has known, he doesnt play in public anymore. His last public appearance was a French television documentary in 1974, and his last actual concert preceded by years of steadily decreasing performances was in Los Angeles in 1972. In 1975 he underwent a shoulder ant to see how he holds the v lolin " The actual instruction is built around the of notion of the slow, careful mastering technique and repertory. "Just to be a v iolinist is not enough," he says. "When you learn something fast, you forget it fast. We used to call it the 'noble metier. You have to give it tune. You 15 eas can't do it by correspondence lessons." If a student complains about Heifetz's authoritarianism, the relationship will be terminated. "If they resist it. they don't have to resist it for long. The door is a two-wa- y door, in and out Either they are no good for me or I am no good for them. A teacher can do so much, but he needs cooperation. Just like a doctor and a patient. Some of the worst strains between Heifetz and his pupils, apparently, have come from Heifetzs refusal to permit his students to accept engagements hither and yon and to participate m competitions. "Students have to be willing to sacrifice when they're young, he argues. "We live today b I call it the two Cs computing and competing You dont think, you compete. And there are the two Ps the pleasures and perils of travel There are more perils than pleasures. Students today become professional competitors. It has hurt more people than its done good. When Heifetz moved to Los Angeles, the emigrant community of intellectuals and artists who had fled fascism was still flourishing. That community is almost gone now, but he denies having any regrets about removing himself from ' the musical center of things. "I used to live in New York, when I was young, he said. "It was exciting, I suppose it still is. I lived in New York for many years, and that gives me the right to take it apart and put it back again. "I dont regret living in Los Angeles, but I'm not happy at what theyre doing to it? with the smog. But thats politics, which is not my business. I would say my business is still, I think, music." Grant Beglarian, dean of performing arts at USC, would like to honor Heifetz on the occasion of his 80th birthday, but the violinist is just as reclusive about such festivities as he is about most aspects of his life. My last party was a big one, he recalled. "It started early in the morning and lasted until quite late in the evening. That was when I was 50. I said then, that was it, and I think I have kept my word. People try to break it for me, but they havent been very successful. I'm sure they mean well, but I dont want to be put on a pedestal. What he does want to do, he says, is practice "The operation doesnt make it any easier, but I still practice and play, and it doesnt stop me from demonstrating things to students. And he wants especially to keep teaching, and to find talented students who realize the value of his teaching methods. "I can still be of service." Heifetz says "1 have some time." ( There are arts for the young, but what about the elderly? The current riches on televisions Public Broadcast System and National Public Radio, as well as a growing selection of quality v iewing and listening on commercial stations, offer invaluable opportunities to reach out to millions who have never known the beauties of great art. By Byron Belt Newhouse News Writer NEW YORK The House Subcommittee on Human Services recently held a hearing on "Arts and the Older American," at which several distinguished Americans spoke of the need for greater support for arts programs for elder citizens. whose jazz-poFabulous Alberta Hunter a standard for of 85 at sets something singing sang for the quality at an advanced age session, and if she isn't enough to demonstrate the value of staying creatively alive forever, no politician can ever be impressed by anyone. Shakers of national importance included Joan Mondale, honorary chairman of the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities, and Theodore Bikel. Livingston Biddle, a chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, and regional representatives also were to be heard The issue is timely and important. Almost everyone will support programs in the arts for the young, but what about the millions of Americans who grew up without any educational introduction or personal discovery of the arts In a recent article on the death of Andre we recounted the story of a woman in her tills who felt she was too ignorant to understand "good" music, Later in life she discovered that all she needed was pnqier exposure to music so she could enjoy it "better late than never." Adult education programs generally attract those m their middle years who recognize the need to enrich their lives through education Too olten. however, those neur retirement find themselves devoid of outside interests, and stHUid days and years of mere existam e without the beauty and insights of the arts. This past week a very dear friend died after a decade of limiting his activities because of Parkinson's disease. Peter had traveled the world, and had a natural and trained appreciation for all of the arts, but he suddenly found he could no longer risk being in large crowds. p Thanks to national television and radio, my and millions of similar house-boun- d friend individuals enjoyed many of the riches that I do in a daily round of New Yorks great cultural resources. Thus we "shared the opening night Met Opera "Otello, Pavarotti with Mehta and the Philharmonic, and dozens of radio concerts every year. Chicago and New York were linked by the magic of electronics, and one of America's older citizens was able to continue to share in the wonders of great music, dance and tor-sing- drama. My friend was fortunate, because disease and old age found him richly prepared for a more manner of but definitely not boring quiet living The concern of Congress, and all service agencies, should be to find new, exciting ways to bring millions of people to the potential appreciation and enjoyment of the arts. Subcommittee members will surely discover that not enough is being done. Too many elderly persons have devoted too many years to merely earning a liv ing. The arts provide the potential to add moaning and inspiration to years past, present and future. It Is good that at least one committee Is giving Its attention to so impel taut a i ause. Trawling Jewli Theatre tonight at U. of Traveling Jewish Theatre will present "Coming From a Great Distance." a two person pipy using pup-H- t s. masks and music, Sunday at 7 p.m. in the Union Building Auditorium on the University of Utah campus. The performance is sponsored by the (T M : A sketch llirschfeld by caricaturist star status, lew would argue that violin great Jascha llei- - AI said to certify is 79th who recently celebrated birthday, is not a star. Consider relationship of art to science There are a number of reasons one shouldn't miss the Smithsonian sponsored display of Scientific Illustration at the Skylark, an unbodied joy whose race has just begun." ' Esther Heins renders a large with a watercolorist's "Bromeliad. aplomb. Unlike the calcined hardness of memorable exactness in a number of drawings, her leaf forms come through with color and texture that is free to supply many visual clues. A blow-uof a large moth by Marilyn Kaufman affords an account of textural delight. Another appealing work depicts a fuzzy, exotic mosquito, much enlarged by Vicki Malikil. With the performance of a prosaic task the sensitive vocabulary of an artist rubs off easily . It is so in Bonnie Clare Hungates pen and ink account of the "Germination of a Pumpkin Seed. The literal message is accompanied by strong personal characteristics. The same is true of Nancy Hart's. Eastern White Pine. Characteristic of English scientists who enjoyed a ready watercolor manner is John Abbot who visited America from 1790 to 1810 and who incidentally drew Swainstons Warbler at least 25 years before Audubon. The who illustrated much of the fauna of Georgia, especially birds and insects is represented in the show. The exhibit confirms an idea that the relationship of an artist to a scientist should entertain an independent alliance. Since there are pictorial resources available, each should be spared the necessity of humoring the Currently at BountifulDavis Art Center is other. Smithsonian sponsored display of Scientific Stewart Mark Beard, grandson of Illustration that features, among other pioneer Utah artist. George Beard has these drawings and paintings at the City a Librarys Atrium Gallery. Employing variety of mediums sometimes in combination, he readily transposes figurative ideas from sensuous statements to cooly classical images. Utah Rural Applications for touring with the 1980-8The precise elements of a stone balustrade are reconciled in a format Arts Consortium must be submitted no later than Friday in order to be eligible for consideration. which includes loosely contrived patterns of scenic subjects. Moving clouds Performing artists in theater, dance, classical and provide a more relaxed notion of grand contemporary music, jazz, folk music and mime, magic and puppetry are invited to apply for the tour space in opposition to the firm geometry of rigorous patio designs. Sponsored by the Utah Arts Council, the program is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Kellogg Quality of Rural Life Foundation Artists participating travel throughout the year m Utah's rural areas to fulfill "a need for cultural enrichment" in those parts of the state For further information contact Ln Warn:., consortium director. Utah Arts Council. 017 E. Soulh Temple. Salt Lake City, Utah, 84102 A group of 30 silkxerecn prints created at the Professional Sereenprint Workshop at the New York Institute of Technology will be exhibited at Brigham Young University Monday through Feb. 27. The prints will be displayed in the B. F. Larsen Gallery of the Harris Fine Arts Center on the university's Provo campus According to Will Farrington of the New York institute's art department. "The Professional Sereenprint Workshop at NY1T was begun in September, 1973. by Dr. Frances Budabtn and Norman Lassiter, master printer. The exhibition will be open to the public free of charge Mondays through Saturdays from 7 a m. to 10 p.m . Boun-tifulDav- is Art Center. There are callable and interesting renderings of the countrys fauna and flora, the mu- p scles of the human abdomen and a clinical atlas of a broken ;rm. The appeal of studies ranges upward from the atlas of flower and insect to exotic blow-up- s life in which esthetic properties take over from the purposeful identification of subject matter. Equally if not more interesting is an opportunity to consider the relationship of art to science. Some artists serve their scientific sponsors fully while others inject strong personal directions in the formulations of their assigned tasks which illustrate museum guides, manuals, theses and medical publications. A commentary on the exhibition by Jerome Snyder suggests a strong alliance between the fields of art and science, "How well human hand and mind freeze information with beauty, therein lies the immesurable magic pf artistic communication. The freezing" idea is disturbing as if beauty were a sort of packageable commodity mutually serving artist and scientist, but the suggestion that communication might be correlated with information as a primary function of art is upsetting. J. Bronowski, an eminent British researcher suggests a broader affinity A man between art and science. becomes creative whether he is an artist or a scientist when he finds a new unity in the variety of nature. The creative mind is one that looks for unexpected likenesses . . . engages the whole personality in science as well as the arts. Bronowski speaks of both pursuits as prizing originality, "The artist shares the unpopularity of the scientist: the large public dislikes and fears the way both of them look at the world. The most impressive works in the exhibit are those cherishing the powers of imagination instead of merely classifying veritable visual facts. One such artist kept a foot in each camp The noted American ornithologat the ist Robert Ridgway (1850-192age of 14 inscribed a beautifully handwritten letter to Spencer Baird. Smithsonian official, asking assistance in identifying a species of bird which he excellently illustrated along with precise notations. It was the beginning of a long friendship. Ridgway became a leading American ornithologist and served as Curator for the Smithsonian for 50 years. His published works include an Birds of North and Middle America In the show is a Pompadour Warbler whose purpled elegance flows outward from its pointed beak like Shelley's eight-volum- 1901-191- 9 CREATIVE artist-scienti- things, Yucatan Jays. Apply for Rural Arts 1 BYU to exhibit silkereen prints CONCERTS AND A$UU CONCERTS PRESENT U. Middle East Center, and the Department of the Theater at the U. of U., the Utah Arts Council, the United Jewish Council of Salt Lake, Congregation Kolami and u grant from the Herbert and Elsa Michael Charitable fetz, rite art m me The Associated Students of the University of Utah present two of the finest pi sts in the world as it concludes the new ASUU CLASSICS recital series FERRANTE & TEICHER Tuesday. February 2b 8 00 Kingsbury Hall PHILIPPE ENTREMONT in GMHsjNlBzrj l' vs operation that has effectively precluded any thought of future concerts. But he remains as coldly imperious as ever, even when Heifetz smiles, you wonder nervously what he means. He is still active, although not quite as much us hed like to be, and that is why he in v ited a reporter to his Beverly Hills hillside home, in which fy's lived for 72 years. It is his first interview in many years. Img before he gave up giving concerts. Heifetz was concentrating on teaching the violin here and there around Los Angeles, and now he's ensconced at the University of Southern California although the actual teaching takes place at his home. The trouble is, he doesnt have enough pupils, and he wants to get the word out, having been summoned ostensibly for that purpose, however, the reporter has to pry the subject out of him, Heifetz is still proud. "Some people don't seem to know I'm teaching," he said, implying that USC hadnt publicized it properly. Or so Im told by some of my students. Theyd heard of my name, but they didn't know I was teaching." There are several explanations for Heifetz's lack of students, or more precisely of the level.of students he'd prefer. One is geographical isolation Los Angeles is not the musical center that New York is. Another is his reputation for being dismissive. Erich Leinsdorf recently suggested that Heifetz had the image of being "contemptuous" with his students. Heifetz himself thinks it has to do with a growing divergence between his own high standards standards that he never shrank from applying to himself, mercilessly and the laissez-fair- e attitude of the modern young world. He ieels young musicians today learn their craft sloppily, rush to competitions and premature engagements, and lack the broader level of musicianship and general culture that they need to be complete musicians. In his own teaching, he says, he tries to make his students slow down and learn patiently, but he encounters resistance. Among other signs of that resistance are that in all his years of teaching, he has really produced only two students who have made at all major careers Erick Friedman and Eugene Fodor, and Fodor studied with him only briefly before rushing off in just the way Heifetz abhors. A painstaking, severe methodology pervades every aspect of his teaching. To start with, he insists on auditioning every prospective student personally. "I accept no tapes," he says. "I have is very important. I to see the person A 10, 1980 Feb. 13-1- 4, Kingsbury Hal! 8:30 Thursday, February 2 st $8.50 & $9.50 ' $1.00 discount for U of U students at Kingsbury Hall 1 8:00 p.m. Pas da Dix Niiht Wiedersehen (Premiere) Don Quixote Pas de Deux n Pipe Dreams (Premiere) Feb. 15, 8 p.m. Feb. 16, 2 & UGH 8 p.m. Napoli Firebird Graduation Ball (with Utah Symphony) n. itTi Bleu Pas de Dix Flower Festival k Swan Pas de Deu Pipe Dreams SYMPHONY MALI. WED., IK CAPITOL THEATRE -- - 533 3333 A MAR. 5 i or.I32a3iS3Ei I all 7CMI stores and the Salt Palace t NORTHWEST RELEASING EVENT Sft.lM 11! Called "refreshingly different," the world famous French pianist has dazzled audienc es tor ovei two decades Friday. March 28 8 00 Kinqsbury Hall LORIN HOLLANDER In concert Recognized as one of the finest musicians of our time, pianist Lorin Hollander has been described as "awesome and inspiring' 8 P.M. 8M, i7M, $6 KEYS On Sulc Ballet West Box Office 50 W. 700 South r.t irif I. fisiSBv (BfenawiH) Feb. 18, 7:30 p.m. (Sponsored by ZCMl) ii concert '3J lit- - Tickets also available at Cosmic Aeroplane, Gepettos, Raspbeny Records, Kimball Ait Center Tickets are S7 50 and So 50 discount to U ot U students Available at the K ngsbut Hall 58 100 S2 bo- - ottu. h i J |