The violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja has published this reflection on her teacher, Igor Ozim:

My dear teacher Igor Ozim passed away yesterday.

I had the extraordinary privilege and pleasure of studying with Prof Igor Ozim at the Bern Conservatory from 1997-1999. Before that I was allowed to come to him in Cologne again and again, he knew that I was poor and gave me lessons for free. He said that if I managed to pay for the train tickets, I wouldn’t have to spend anything else.

I had already heard about Prof Igor Ozim in Vienna and listened to him at the Semmering Summer Music Courses. It was an elegantly dressed gentleman, always with his violin in his hand. His pupils stood out from all the others with their seriousness and determination. It was impressive how aptly he spoke about the pieces and what clear instructions he gave his students to improve their skills. The repertoire ranged from early baroque to the present day, there was no fear of contact. I was fascinated that he could teach the Schoenberg Fantasy with such knowledge – I knew the piece well, I sang the violin part first to make sure I had internalised it. My Russian professors before said I should learn it myself, they didn’t know the piece.

He also had a very detailed knowledge of historical performance practice and also dealt naturally with completely new music, knew and worked with living composers and was interested in everything that was created. He was also politically aware. We often talked about the historical circumstances of each piece. He could even accompany all the sonatas on the piano.

He demanded that we always study the pieces with a score. The score was never allowed to be missing from the lessons. He saw through everyone – the weaknesses and strengths, he knew us like an X-ray and hit the centre of what was needed with his advice.

My time with him changed my consciousness – I realised that as a violinist you can actually learn and play anything if you follow logic and discipline. The joke circulated that Igor Ozim could even teach a monkey to play the violin excellently.

He brought his whole being into the lessons and yet there was always a respectful distance. It was always crystal clear what he was talking about and you never went home from his lessons at a loss. The tasks were tailored to everyone, guaranteeing success with his practice method. He demanded total dedication, diligence, punctuality and seriousness.

The musical aspects were discussed but in the end each student was consciously entrusted with them.

He wanted to give us the tools to play and think for ourselves – but he was never a babysitter without whom you couldn’t take a step. He looked at us and treated us like adults.

He often said to me, “Patricia, you can’t throw sooooo many colours onto the canvas all at once, and then even over the edge! At least stick to the frame of your picture! Nobody will buy anything beyond that”

Or – “you can’t lift your leg at every tree”, and that was also good “you have to remember where the difficulties are and how to overcome them and in the excitement of the concert, like a driver on the motorway at high speed with a cold head, consciously pay attention to all the road signs”.

Once, when I missed the last note – a mean high harmonic in a difficult passage in Waxman’s “Carmen-Phantasy” – for the 100th time and wasn’t even sad about it, he said “Patricia, I’ll pay you 5 francs if you catch it in the concert today”. (I caught him)

Once I was 20 minutes late. He didn’t tolerate that at all. There was a rule – he would refuse to give me lessons if I did that, and in the worst case scenario, he would refuse to give me the next lesson.

He trained several generations of countless fantastic violinists, and you can always find them in beautiful leading positions in the best orchestras in the world. There were so many that when he was asked about someone, he couldn’t remember the name – but he could remember the problems! “Oh, that’s the one who always spat out the fast runs like that. Or oh, that’s the one who always pulled the notes like chewing gum”. That reminded me of the doctors who remembered their patients’ illnesses rather than their names.

I never heard him speak ill of others, his remarks were often humorous and precise.

When I had just arrived in Bern, he knocked on the office-door of the director of the conservatory, Stephan Schmid, late evening and said “I need a scholarship for a new student”. The director (from whom I recently heard this story) said, but there are no more scholarships to give out! Igor Ozim insisted and in the end a new scholarship was organised.

I felt that I was in good hands with him, he was always warm and human. I went to him with the feeling of being given a gift, listened to him intently and tried to understand him completely and learn everything I could. I only had two years, after that there was a big question mark. Prof Ozim knew that it was highly problematic for me, I had absolutely nothing, but he said to me “You have to go now, you’re taking someone else’s place. You are ready”. He threw me into the big ocean because he knew that was the only way I would learn to swim, and he knew I could do it.

My family was poor, I had to manage an independent existence at 23. Composition fell by the wayside. Someone said to me “Being a composer is like selling umbrellas in the Sahara”.

Then came the Credit Suisse competition, one concert after another, quickly learning the missing repertoire, no more time to look around, I was suddenly allowed to perform on bigger and bigger stages.

The fact that he left this world on my birthday of all days is my last connection with him – I will always think of him, in good times and bad.

Wonji Kim, my dear friend and his wife, looked after him in a touching way, it is the most beautiful thing that could have happened to him – a dear person at his side until the end. She was his assistant and therefore also my teacher. I was able to spend an unforgettable time with both of them and learn so much for my whole life. I am infinitely grateful for this and offer my heartfelt and deepest condolences to the family.