Mourning for a viola master, 81
RIPString players are mourning the sudden passing of Professor Yizhak Schotten, a former player in the Boston Symphony who went on to become principal viola of the Cincinnati and Houston symphony orchestras. Six years ago he was appointed professor at the University of Michigan.
Born in Haifa in 1943, Schotten was brought to the US by William Primrose as his student at Indiana. He was a natural teacher, building on Primrose’s authority with an ease of his own.
Sad! I had the pleasure of working with him and his students while studying in Michigan. It was a real treat. And his wife is a wonderful pianist and pedagogue as well…
By the way, he has been at UMichigan for much longer than 7 years…he has been there since 1985.
https://www.yizhakschotten.com/biography1
He was at the University of Washington for a couple years in the early 1980s, replacing Donald McInnes.
He was at Michigan for almost 40 years !! Please fix that.
His sister and her family were my neighbors when I was growing up all those years ago. When I was a young teenager still hoping to be a concert pianist (yeah, right), I played for him once when he was visiting, and he gave me some pertinent remarks. Seemed like a very nice man.
If I remember correctly, the story was that as a young man he waited for Primrose, maybe for hours, on the steps of the concert hall, or maybe it was at the hotel, and this way introduced himself and eventually became his student.
Tempus fugit.
Super nice guy, and very funny too.
R.I.P. Professor Schotten
RIP
He was a man of great kindness, generosity, and humility. I am forever indebted to him for that. He was also very funny. My very deepest condolences to Ms Collier.