Ida Haendel

Ida Haendel, CBE (15 December 1928 - or 1923, the exact year remains uncertain  – 1 July 2020)[a][2][3] was a world renowned Polish-British-Canadian violinist.

At the age of seven she competed against towering virtuosos such as David Oistrakh and Ginette Neveu to become a laureate of the first Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition, in 1935.

During World War II she played in factories and for British and American troops and performed in Myra Hess's National Gallery concerts.

[6] In 1937 her London debut under the baton of Sir Henry Wood brought her worldwide critical acclaim, while the conductor linked her playing to his memories of Eugène Ysaÿe.

[15] Haendel performed many concerts and tours with pianist Ronald Turini, a native of Montreal, including sonatas of Brahms and Franck.

In 2014, Supraphon issued a 5-CD set of her live and studio recordings made in Prague between 1957 and 1965, including a famous one of Lalo's Symphonie espagnole conducted by Karel Ančerl.

Paying tribute to her teacher George Enescu, her Decca recording of his Violin Sonata with Vladimir Ashkenazy in 2000 earned her a Diapason d'Or.

[12] Haendel's emotive performances have inspired a generation of new violinists, including Anne-Sophie Mutter, David Garrett and Maxim Vengerov.

She returned to her native Poland to judge the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznań on a number of occasions, and was honorary chairwoman in 2011.

In June 2009, she appeared on a Channel 4 television programme, The World's Greatest Musical Prodigies, in which she advised the then 16-year-old British composer Alex Prior on which children to choose to play his composition.