How a Jewish violinist saved Carnegie Hall from destruction: the story of Isaac Stern

Violinist Isaac Stern made his debut at Carnegie Hall in 1943, but this was by no means his last performance at the famous concert venue: he performed there more than 200 times. Jewish Week shared the incredible story of the life and work of the world famous violinist, who loved Carnegie Hall until his last breath.

Carnegie Hall was "part of his DNA," said the violinist's daughter, Rabbi Shira Stern. The converse is likely true as well: as the man who fought to save the famed concert hall from demolition in the 1950s and then served as president of the Carnegie Hall corporation for 41 years, Stern's "DNA", so to speak, pervades this iconic an establishment on the corner of Seventh Avenue and 57th Street.

Built by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1891, Carnegie Hall is a true cultural giant that has hosted a wide variety of well-known musicians, including Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and The Beatles.

Salvation of art

And although it seems incredible today, by the end of the 1950s the hall fell into disrepair and was on the verge of demolition. Carnegie Hall's main tenant, the New York Philharmonic, planned to move into Lincoln Center, which was just beginning to be built. They turned down an offer to buy Carnegie Hall for $4 million.

Stern, who had performed with the New York Philharmonic more than 1944 times since early 100, could not let Carnegie Hall simply disappear. He organized the Citizens' Committee to Save Carnegie Hall, a group of musicians and philanthropists, and his efforts led to legislation allowing the City of New York to acquire the hall and save it from destruction.

“The youth of this country are demanding more music and producing more and more top-notch musicians,” Stern was quoted as saying in an article in New York Times. “How dare we take away their music, their future audience, and one of the world’s great music venues?”

New chapter of life

Stern was elected as the first president of the Corporation of Carnegie Hall, formed to run the hall, at its founding in 1960. He held this position until his death in 2001. As president, Stern proclaimed the vision that Carnegie Hall could become an important center for music education and training. Under his leadership, the hall underwent major renovations in 1986 and celebrated its centenary in 1991, according to Carnegie Hall's archives.

In addition, under Stern's direction, Carnegie Hall began to establish itself as a global cultural institution, attracting various international ensembles and expanding into other genres of music besides classical music. In 1997, the main auditorium was named the Isaac Stern Auditorium in his honor.

On May 16, 2003, two years after his death and 43 years after the founding of the Carnegie Hall Corporation, the corner of West 57 Street and Seventh Avenue was renamed Isaac Stern Place. “For me, Carnegie Hall is nothing more than a confirmation of the human spirit,” the violinist said about the renaming of the street.

Stern has been restless in his support for Carnegie Hall and what he could do for others, specifically “to make young musicians accessible so that they can connect with experienced musicians,” said Shira Stern. She told the New York Jewish Week about the “red telephone,” a direct line to Carnegie Hall that led to her father's office in case of an emergency.

“Isaac Stern had a certain idealism about music, art, politics, culture and an unwillingness to accept “impossible” as an answer,” said violinist Philip Setzer of the Emerson Quartet.

Young talent

The family immigrated to San Francisco when Stern was an infant, and it became clear at a young age that he had a "special gift" for music. Stern left school after the second grade and devoted his life to the violin. At the age of eight, he entered the San Francisco Conservatory, where he studied violin under Naum Blinder, whom he later called his main inspiration, and gave his first concert at 15 with the San Francisco Symphony.

In 1949, with the support of impresario Sol Hurok, Stern performed 120 concerts over seven months in the US, Europe and South America. By 1950, Mr. Stern had established himself as one of the finest young violinists in the world, the first American violinist to win such a high measure of international respect.

“Music was part of his being even before he was born,” his daughter said.

Stern was also known for helping to support young talent, especially cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Israeli violinists Yitzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman. He found people with talent, supported them, was their mentor.

Strength of mind and faith in music

“He wasn't a religious Jew, but he was extremely spiritual,” Shira Stern said of her father. “He realized that his spiritual language is not Hebrew, his spiritual language is music.”

She recalled a time when Stern was supposed to give a concert just after the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy. “He asked that the orchestra not play, and Bach played unaccompanied for 45 minutes, because he said that this was the highest form of prayer for him.”

Although he may not have been religious, Stern was a Zionist and performed regularly in Israel. During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, he hurried there to play at the beds of wounded soldiers and for the military in the Negev. Shira Stern said her father included the Israeli anthem “Hatikvah” in these performances because he knew it brought comfort to people.

He toured the Soviet Union with great pomp in 1951, becoming the first American violinist to do so, but involved Nikita Khrushchev in a debate about open artistic exchange between the Soviet Union and the West. In 1967, Mr. Stern announced that he would not tour the USSR again until artists were allowed to come and go freely. He boycotted the Athens Music Festival in 1967 to protest the Greek military junta, and when the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization suspended its programs in Israel in 1974, he organized a boycott by musicians of UNESCO events.

Stern avoided performing in Germany, refusing invitations on the grounds that he did not feel entitled to play music in the country where the Holocaust was planned and carried out. He partially compromised his principles in 1999. In April of that year, he held a series of nine-day master classes in Cologne. He always encouraged students to think not only about technique, but also about the artist's responsibility to "continue the search for beauty and humanity."

Despite his own refusal to perform in Germany, he encouraged Mr. Perlman and Mr. Zuckerman to perform there because he considered it important for Israeli musicians to make themselves known as artists. In fact, he put a lot of effort into helping Israel develop a cultural life. In 1964 he became chairman American Israel Cultural Foundationwhich supports young musicians. He also founded the Jerusalem Music Center in 1973, which continues to this day to provide masterclasses and training for young musicians in Israel.

In 1991, Stern was playing a concert in Jerusalem when a rocket attack disrupted his performance. While the other musicians left the stage, he put on a gas mask and continued to play.

“He would have turned 103 this year and they are still talking about what he did for them,” Shira Stern said. Both of Stern's sons, Michael and David, are conductors who helped make their father's dream come true.

“He just wanted to provide a solid next generation of musicians and music lovers,” she said.