Pyotr Solomonovich Stolyarsky

Pyotr Solomonovich Stolyarsky was a Ukrainian violinist and pedagogue, born in Lipovets in 1871 and died in Sverdlovsk in 1944. He is a figure of considerable importance in the history of the violin in the former Soviet Union, where he helped shape the so-called Russian school of the instrument and left a lasting mark on the training of young performers.

His studies began with his father and continued in Warsaw at the Music Institute under Stanislaw Barcewicz, and then at the Imperial Musical Society in Odessa, where he studied with Emil Młynarski and Y. Karbulko, graduating from Karbulko's class in 1898. Between 1898 and 1914 he played in the orchestra of the Odessa Opera while also running his own music school. His gift for teaching opened the doors of the Odessa State Conservatoire, where he joined the faculty in 1920 and was made a professor in 1923.

In 1933 he founded the first Soviet school specialising in gifted children, which bears his name today. His method rested on the principle that a pupil should learn from the very beginning all the professional and artistic skills they would need as a performer, so that they played not so much "on" the violin as "with" it. His best-known pupils include David Oistrakh, Nathan Milstein and Fikhtengol'ts, and in recognition of his work he was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR.