It was a concert to benefit 92Y’s performing arts fund on a May evening in 1979, and classical music superstar Isaac Stern had generously agreed to be the featured artist. “It was so sweet of him to want to do that,” said violinist Jaime Laredo who performed with Stern at that benefit, when we talked with him earlier this week. “Isaac greatly admired Omus Hirshbein, who ran 92Y’s concerts division at the time, and this was his way of offering support.” The concert would culminate in a performance of Brahms’ G Minor Piano Quartet with pianist David Golub, Laredo on viola and cellist Leonard Rose joining Stern. But first, a solo performance. Stern would open the concert with Bach’s B Minor Partita.
“A few days before the concert, Isaac decided he wanted to open with Bach’s Chaconne instead,” says Laredo. “The program books had already been printed” (designed, amazingly, by Avery Fisher, who had worked as a book designer before he went on to revolutionize audio design). “An insert was printed so the change wouldn’t need to be announced from the stage. But the insert didn’t make it into all of the program books, including that of a very prominent New York City music critic attending the concert. The next day’s review spoke glowingly about Stern’s performance of the Partita, and went into great detail about how wonderfully and ‘seamlessly’ the violinist had connected the work’s eight individual little movements. (The Chaconne is one big long piece!) It was hilarious, and Isaac laughed hard at the blunder. But he never had the heart to correct the critic.”
Laredo says, “Isaac was extremely fond of 92Y. Beyond his own performances, he came to many concerts when our trio played. He would call, often at the last minute, and ask, “Can you get me a ticket?’ ‘Don’t worry,’ we would say, ‘we’ll get you in!’ And he was delighted when I asked him if he would come and perform with us. We played Brahms and Mozart and Boccerini and it was absolutely wonderful to make music with him on that stage. Isaac had grown used to Carnegie’s vast auditorium, but he really loved playing chamber music in the hall at 92Y. It always felt like family, and it sometimes really was. Isaac’s younger son David—now an established conductor—worked as an usher in Kaufmann Concert Hall for a couple of years, and would occasionally turn pages for concerts.”
Isaac Stern’s first performance at 92Y was on May 26, 1943, in a concert for the benefit of Russian and Chinese War Relief. He gave a dozen recitals and chamber music concerts on our stage over 50 years, but it was that first one and a September 28, 1989 “Passage to Freedom” benefit to help resettle Soviet Jews in the US and Israel, with a duo performance with Vladimir Feltsman, Alvin Ailey introducing his dance company, and a reading by Elie Wiesel, that line up so … seamlessly … with the values and mission of 92Y. Musician extraordinaire, humanitarian, champion of the arts, supporter of Israel—we are honored to be part of his legacy.