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Michaela Paetsch
American violinist (1961–2023) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Michaela Paetsch Neftel (born Michaela Modjeska Paetsch; November 12, 1961 – January 20, 2023)[1] was an American violinist and musician.
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Early life
Paetsch was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado to cellist Günther Johannes Paetsch and violinist Priscilla Paetsch, both of whom played in the Colorado Springs Symphony. Her brother, Johann Sebastian Paetsch, is also a cellist. Paetsch’s parents taught all seven of their children to play stringed instruments, and she began taking violin lessons at the age of three.[2][3]
Ancestry
Paetsch's lineage dates back to the Mayflower. Five of her ancestors, including Governor William Bradford (her 9th great grandfather), John Howland, and Elizabeth Tilley, arrived in the New World in 1620.[4][5]
Career
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1960s
The Paetsch Family Chamber Music Ensemble was formed, composed of the Paetsch family and siblings, performed throughout Colorado.
Paetsch gave her first public recital at the age of seven.[6] She performed with the Baroque Players in Colorado Springs and the Jefferson Symphony in Golden, Colorado.
1970s
In 1970, at the age of nine, Paetsch served as the concertmaster for the Fort Carson Little Theatre production of Fiddler on the Roof.[2] In 1972, she became the concertmaster of the Cosmic Heights Chamber Orchestra and played as a first violinist and soloist with the Baroque Players.[7] The Paetsch String Sextet, formed in 1972, consisted of Michaela as concertmaster and solo violist, Priscilla Paetsch as both violinist and violist, Günther Johannes Paetsch as the principal cellist, Brigitte and Phebe Paetsch performing the tutti voices and solo inner violin and viola parts, and Johann Sebastian Paetsch as the continuo cellist.
On March 18, 1973, the Paetsch Family Orchestra began a series of concerts throughout Colorado, starting at the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center in Pueblo.[citation needed] At age 11, Paetsch was featured playing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor, Vitali's Chaconne, part of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, and the first viola solo part of Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 6.[3]
When Michaela was 12 years old, she won both the Colorado Springs Young Artists Contest and the Pueblo Young Artists Contest.[8] As a result, she performed as a soloist with the Colorado Springs Symphony, the Pueblo Symphony under the direction of Gerhard Track, and the Jefferson Symphony in Denver, Colorado.[9] In 1975, Paetsch was awarded a scholarship to study in the Meadowmount School of Music in Upstate New York with Ivan Galamian and Joseph Gingold.[9][10][11] At the age of 14, Michaela was the youngest full time-member of the Colorado Springs Symphony in its history, sitting next to her mother Priscilla, in the first violin section.[9]
Paetsch, who was a student at Cheyenne Mountain Junior High School at the time, played concerts with her family three times a day and three times a week for schools, nursing homes, and hospitals.[citation needed]
Paetsch would practice a minimum of four hours a day, and increased that amount when she was preparing for competitions.[12] At 16, she won first prize in the National String Competition sponsored by the American String Teachers Association, held in Chicago, Illinois.[13]
In 1979, Paetsch performed Dvořák's Violin Concerto, with Myung-Whun Chung conducting the Debut Orchestra of Young Musicians Foundation in the Willshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles, California.[14][15][16]
She graduated from Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs in June 1979.[citation needed]
1980s
Paetsch went to study at Yale University with the famous Polish-born violinist Szymon Goldberg, who also taught Paetsch’s mother, Priscilla.[citation needed] Paetsch followed Goldberg to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.[17][11], where he continued teaching after leaving Yale due to its mandatory retirement age. In one of her many recitals at the Curtis Institute, she programmed the solo works by Bach, Paganini, and Bartòk and premiered Daron Aric Hagen's “Occasional Notes” and William Coble's “Intrada.”[18]
Paetsch received a special prize for the best performance of a compulsory work by Russian composer Yuri Falik at the closing ceremony on July 4, 1986, in the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition held every four years in Moscow, Russia.[19] Her brother, Johann Paetsch, took part in the cello competition at the same time in Moscow.
In October 1987 Paetsch played three concerts in Holland, directed by the leader of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. The orchestra's manager was impressed and arranged for Paetsch to come to Zurich, where a Swiss millionaire with a large collection of stringed instruments loaned her a Guarneri violin to use. Shortly after that, at a private audition, the German recording company, Teldec, signed her up to a recording contract.[20]
In October 1987, Paetsch recorded the 24 Capricci, Op.1 by Niccolò Paganini for Teldec.[21] Paetsch then returned to Denver to perform the Brahms Violin Concerto in D Major with Maestra JoAnn Falletta and the Denver Chamber Orchestra in April 1988, after being quoted as being an “award-winning violinist and recording artist who recently recorded the Paganini Caprices on a compact disc.”[22]
In the summer of 1988, the Colorado Springs Symphony Orchestra, under conductor Charles Ansbacher, invited Paetsch to play not only in Colorado Springs, but also in the Ford Amphitheatre in Vail, where she performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor.[23]
Paetsch brought her artistry to audiences worldwide as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician in some of the world’s most renowned musical centers. Notably, she performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall and Avery Fischer Hall in New York, as well as at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Paetsch also performed at music festivals including Marlboro in Vermont, Davos in Switzerland, Brandenburg Summer Concerts in Berlin, Banff in Canada, Boulder Bach Festival, and the "Mostly Mozart" festival in New York.[24] Additionally, she participated in the Rhein-Sieg and Niederrhein Chamber Music Festivals, both located in Germany.[25]
Collaborating with renowned orchestras across the globe, she performed with ensembles such as the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo and the Philharmonics of Osaka in Japan, the Philharmonic orchestras of Seoul in Korea, Liège in Belgium, and Bergen in Norway.[citation needed] Additionally, she worked with the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig Germany, the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Residentie Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, amongst others.[citation needed] Her collaborations brought her under the direction of conductors such as Kent Nagano, Dmitri Kitayenko, Horst Stein and Myung-whun Chung.[11][26]
Her recorded works are a diverse range of pieces, including Niccolo Paganini's "24 Caprices" (1987), Joachim Raff's concertos with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, and "Sonatillen, Op. 99" and "Morceaux, Op. 85" featuring Eric Le Van on piano. Additionally, she recorded Brahms' "21 Hungarian Dances" and "La Capricieuse". Paetsch has also contributed to the live recording of Sofia Gubaidulina's "Offertorium" as the featured soloist with the Bern Symphony Orchestra. Her recordings have been released through esteemed record labels such as Sony Classical, Arte Nova, CPO, and ARSIS.[27] From 1993 she had been the violinist for the quartet Ensemble Incanto, with which she toured extensively and recorded regularly.[11] She lived in Bern, Switzerland and then later moved to the city of Ligerz, Switzerland.[citation needed]
On December 15, 2019, Paetsch played a Christmas concert in Bellmund (near Biel/Bienne) with her brother Johann and his family. The next day Paetsch started chemotherapy treatment for a recently discovered cancer. The players were Michaela Paetsch (violin), Valentina Paetsch (violin), Yoko Paetsch (viola), Raphaela Paetsch (cello), Dominic Paetsch (cello) and Johann S. Paetsch (cello). They performed a whole evening of pieces, jointly arranged by Michaela and Johann for 2 violins, viola and 3 cellos, in front of a sold-out audience.[28][29][30]
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Personal life
On August 3, 1990, Paetsch married Klaus Neftel in Bern, Switzerland. Their daughter, Anna Nora Neftel, was born in 1992. Paetsch lived in Ligerz, Switzerland, and travelled often to her native Colorado Springs.[27]
Paetsch was a skilled horse rider, and broke her first stallion at age nine.[31] Her parents raised Polish-bred registered Purebred Arabian horses at their house in Colorado Springs, which bordered the Pike National Forest.[32]
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Death
Paetsch died in a palliative clinic in Bern, Switzerland, on 20 January, 2023, at the age of 61, from cancer complications.[27][33][34][35][36][37]
Achievements
Paetsch was the first American woman to have recorded all 24 Paganini Caprices for solo violin.[38] In 1984, Paetsch was awarded the first prize at the G. B. Dealey Awards,[39][40] followed by a top prize in the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1985.[11] She was awarded a special prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1986.[19][41]
Discography
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Her extensive discography includes:
- The 24 Caprices by Niccolò Paganini with Teldec.[11]
- She has also recorded with Sony Classical, Arte Nova (BMG) and Tudor.[11]
- Her recent disc of the Concertos by Joachim Raff with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra (TUDOR 7086).[11]
- The complete music for solo strings of Daron Hagen for Arsis.
- ensemble incanto - string quartet
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References
External links
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