Uto Ughi

Featured on:
Viotti/Mozart cdc 010

The profile of Uto Ughi can be outlined in a few words - one of the greatest violinists of our times, the undisputed heir to the Italian tradition of violin-playing with all its world-wide influence. To go to one of his concerts is always a moving event: the audience is deeply involved and moved to enthusiasm and Ughi's charisma is such that every performance is of a never-to-be-repeated character. His extraordinary talent was evident from early childhood and he was an infant prodigy. A pupil of George Enescu, who had previously taught Yehudi Manuhin, Ughi performed for the first time in public with Bach's "Ciaccona" (from "Partita n. 2") and some of Paganini's "Capricci" - he

was only seven years old at the time.

Ughi rapidly achieved international fame and since that time his career has never looked back. His great skill has brought him to play in the most important capitals of Eurospe. He has performed throughout the whole world at the principal musical festivals and played with the most important symphonic orchestras now in existence (the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philarmonic, and the Washington Symphony Orchestra, to name only the most obvious) and under the most acclaimed of the world's conductors - Sargent, Celibidache, Sir Colin Davis, Leitner, Pretre, Rostropovic, Sinopoli, Sawallisch, Mehta, Barbirolli, Cluytens, Chung, Masur and Ceccato.

Ughi's recording activity has been equally intense. He produced Beethoven's and Brahms's "Concerti" with

Sawallisch, Tschaikovsky's "Concerto" with Sanderling, the "Concerti" of Mendelssohn and of Bruch with Pretre; some of Beethoven's sonatas, all of Mozart's "Concerti", Vivaldi's "Four Seasons", Dvorak's "Concerto" with the London Philharmonic Orchestra; Bach's "Sonate e Partite" for solo violin, and - as director and soloist - Paganini's three "Concerti".

But Uto Ughi does not confine his interests to music alone. He is active in the public life of his country, sensitive to the defence and diffusion of moral and ethical principles, and active in the safeguarding of the nation's artistic inheritance. Over recent years he has dedicated a part of his artistic activity, in co-operation with a number of comunes and national associations, to the promotion of initiatives designed to draw people - and especially young people - closer to the world of classical music. In line with this public commitment, last year he put on a concert in memory of Madre Teresa of Calcutta which was organised by the Centro di Promozione Artistica and broadcast by RAIUNO, the first Italian state TV network.

Uto Ughi plays a very valuable violin - a Guarneri del Ges — of 1744 known as "Cariplo". It has a warm tonality and a dark timbre, and is considered one of the best Guarneris still in existence. He also sometimes plays a Stradivarius of 1701 called "Kreutzer" after the great violinist to whom Beethoven dedicated his famous sonata.