Noah Bendix-Balgley
First Concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic and Composer of Fidl-Fantazye
“I grew up around klezmer music and it had a significant influence on my musical upbringing,” said Bendix-Balgley. He learned klezmer music from his father, Erik Bendix, an expert on Yiddish dance. “Playing klezmer music is a wonderful counterweight to my classical playing, since it allows the performer to improvise and embellish on the spot.”
Encouraged by his father, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conductor Manfred Honeck, and klezmer musician Michael Alpert, Noah decided to write a klezmer violin concerto himself - a “virtuosic violin fantasy accompanied by full orchestra.” However, instead of using traditional klezmer melodies, he composed “my own tunes in the style of traditional ones I have learned over the years.” Composer Samuel Adler then orchestrated the piece for him, realizing a full version of the violin and piano score that Noah had composed.
Noah began playing violin at 4 years old. When he was 9, he played in Switzerland for Lord Yehudi Menuhin, one of the many Jewish violinists he considers to be a role model. “I always felt a connection with the cultural aspect of Judaism,” said Bendix-Balgley. “I used to listen to recordings of the great violinists of the past, most who happened to be Jewish. Isaac Stern and Yehudi Menuhin and Jascha Heifetz.”
When talking about his great-grandfather, Samuel J. Leventhal, another violinist, the excitement in Noah’s voice is palpable. “I’d always known my mother’s grandfather was a violinist, and that at age 14, he went to Europe and studied with a number of famous violinists,” said Bendix-Balgley. Like his great-grandfather, who graduated in 1899 from the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany and played under Brahms, Bendix-Balgley also lived and studied in Germany, earning his postgraduate Meisterklasse diploma for violin in 2008 from Hochschule für Musik und Theater Munich.
“For me, it’s an amazing story and an amazing parallel,” he said.
Noah will be performing Fidl Fantazye with the Santa Cruz Symphony on October 6 & 7, 2018. Tickets at SantaCruzTickets.com.