About the author and narrator Yuri Beliavsky:

Yuri Beliavsky was born in Moscow, Russia, during the Soviet Era. He studied violin with professor Abraham Yampolsky and chamber music with the great Russian pianist Maria Yudina at the Gnesin State Music Institute in Moscow. After graduating, Beliavsky joined the Grand Symphony Orchestra of Soviet Radio and Television and also became a soloist of the Moscow Radio. In 1971, after much struggle with the Soviet Authority, Yuri Beliavsky and his family immigrated to Israel. There he played with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, taught at Jerusalem’s Rubin Academy, and performed as soloist with the Israeli Radio. Between 1972 and 1974, he made several recordings with the Jerusalem Symphony, among them Mozart’s Concerto No.3 in G-Major, K. 216, Bartok’s Violin Concerto No.1, and Bruch’s Kol Nidre, which was recorded just before the Yom Kippur War. During this war, Yuri served in the Israeli Army. Since 1975, Yuri has been with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and has been on the teaching faculty of the Music Institute of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he has often appeared in recitals with his son, pianist Daniel Beliavsky. In 1983, Beliavsky recorded Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Violin and Percussion Orchestra with the XX-Century Ensemble. In 1986-87, Beliavsky created a series of special programs for WFMR, the Classical Radio Station in Milwaukee, entitled: “An Historical Perspective on the Art of Violin Playing since the Beginning of the Recording Era.” These 33 programs were broadcasted during the 1986-87 seasons during prime time and were very well received. One of the highlights of these programs was the premiere international broadcast of a previously UNKNOWN Russian recording of the ten year-old Jascha Heifetz made in 1911. Yuri Beliavsky also gives lectures on the “Art of Violin Playing.” The most memorable of such lectures were given at International Workshops in Austria, and at the Gnesin Institute in Moscow, Russia.