Lio Vigdorchik
Musician and Music Teacher
Tell us a little about your career.
By profession I am a violinist. I graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory majoring in violin. I played in a chamber orchestra and taught music in Russia and Latvia for many years. When I moved to Canada, I was unable to find a teaching job. Then I applied to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, auditioned and was accepted into the violin group. Over time, I was invited to teach both at the conservatory and at the university. In the 1990s I was awarded the title of professor at the University of Toronto. Many of my students became soloists of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, an internationally recognized musical group. One of my students studied with me from eleven to eighteen years old. Over the years, she has reached the level that allowed her to enter the New York Symphony Orchestra - the best in the world. I consider this my great achievement. Many of my students became laureates of various competitions. Three of them have played with the orchestra seven times at the famous Roy Thompson Hall.
Please tell us about your family’s history.
My maternal grandmother, Ginda Ostrovenets, lived in Mogilev and then moved to Gomel. She was a deeply religious woman and celebrated all Jewish holidays. My parents, on the other hand, lived like ordinary Soviet citizens from a young age, so only my grandmother observed Jewish traditions.
I was born in Gomel. When I was eight years old, the war began. The city authorities organized an urgent evacuation of the population. A mass of people gathered at the station. My parents did not even try to approach the cars, because there was a wild crush. Passing over the shoulders and heads from one to the other, my sister and I were pushed into the window of the carriage, where our aunt – my father's sister – was already there. We arrived at a village near Stalingrad. Later, our parents found us there, and we all left for Tashkent.
Back in Gomel, I had started learning to play the violin. In Tashkent, my mother saw an announcement that the special music school for gifted children at the Leningrad Conservatory was recruiting. The Leningrad Conservatory, together with this school, had been evacuated to Tashkent during the blockade. I auditioned and was accepted. I was placed in a boarding school, and serious music training began.
My father was a painter. Once in Tashkent, the rector of the Leningrad Conservatory, Professor Serebryakov, saw his work. After the end of the blockade, he suggested that he go to Leningrad to participate in the restoration of the school building. Thus, our family ended up in Leningrad along with the conservatory and music school, and I continued my studies. It was 1944, the war was not over yet, and the living conditions were terrible. Food was sorely lacking, we stood for hours in queues for a tiny piece of bread.
After leaving school, I had to move on and enter the conservatory. The history of my admission was very difficult: they did not want to hire me because the quota on Jews had already been reached. Non-Jews were expected in the dean's office, but they were not among those wishing to enter. I auditioned, got good grades, and had to be enrolled.
After graduating from the conservatory, I went to Yakutsk and worked as concertmaster of a symphony orchestra and taught at a music school.
Where does your family come from?
My mother, Gita Abramovna Goldina, is from Mogilev. Her mother – my grandmother, as I mentioned – was a religious person and prayed every day. But we, unfortunately, did not adopt her Jewish way of life. My father, Isaak Evseevich Vigdorchik, said that during the war he was captured and survived because he could talk with the Germans, because he knew Yiddish.
What do you do in your free time? Do you have any hobbies?
I have very little free time, because I have always been busy with work. Musicians love music and love to work. Together with the orchestra, I have traveled all over the world for concerts, having visited many cities in Canada, America, Europe, China and Japan. So you can safely say that I love to travel. And even more so for me it was free as an extension of my music career.
If you had the opportunity to meet any historical figure, who would you choose, and why?
I would like to talk with the famous music figure Srul Glich. He was a prominent composer in America and Canada, as well as widely known in the Jewish community. At one time, I wanted to open a music school in Toronto for gifted children. This project required serious funding and the participation of officials. Many famous musicians supported me, including the famous Isaac Stern and Srul Glich. I would love to meet him again.
What are your plans for the future?
I am now 89 years old. My plan for the future is to try to stay healthy and continue to pursue my love of music.
