Ayke Agus

Ayke Agus (born 1949) is an Indonesian classical violinist and pianist, known primarily through her longtime collaboration with the violinist Jascha Heifetz. She is one of the rare classical music performers who has performed as a soloist accompanied by an orchestra as a Multi-instrumentalist.[1]

Ayke Agus
Agus with her two instruments
Agus with her two instruments
Background information
Born (1949-12-30) December 30, 1949
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
OriginChinese, Dutch, Javanese
Genresclassical
Occupation(s)Recording artist, Performance artist, author, lecturer, instructor
Instrument(s)violin, piano
Years active1969-present
Websiteaykeagus.com

Early life

A native of Indonesia, of Chinese, Dutch and Javanese ancestry, Agus was recognized as a child prodigy at the age of 7 on violin and piano. By the age of 11, she had learned everything Mr. Tan, her teacher in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, had to teach her. He recommended that she continue her studies with Mr. Adidharma in Jakarta, 450 miles away. The solution to the inherent logistics problem was for her to study with Mr. Adidharma in the summer, giving her the opportunity to study the piano during the rest of the year.[2]

Agus was offered many scholarships, starting at the age of 7, but was unable to pursue them initially because her parents thought her too young to live on her own, and later because she was unable to obtain an exit visa. A missionary, Sister Brigid Conboy, who was following Agus's career was able to arrange for a scholarship at Rosary Hill College near Buffalo, New York, United States. After her first paid concert in May 1969, Governor Ali Sadikin granted her the exit visa.[2]

After achieving success in local competitions,[3] she became the youngest member of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.[2] This was followed by two full scholarship offers: Juilliard School of Music, recommended by violin pedagogue Ivan Galamian and the University of Southern California. With her acceptance into the Jascha Heifetz Master Class at USC began a lasting association with him that lasted until his death in 1987.[2]

Education
  • Studied on scholarship at Rosary Hill College (now Daemen University), Amherst, New York, 1969-1971[4]
  • Jascha Heifetz Master Class (at USC), 1971 - 1973[5]
  • Bachelor of Music, Performance, USC, 1974[2]
  • Master of Music, Performance, USC, 1976[2]
  • Honorary Doctorate Degree of Humane Letters, Daemen College, Buffalo, NY, 2007[6]

Career as a musician

As a teacher of master classes, private lessons, and as a public lecturer and performer, Agus has spent 30 years focused on continuing the Heifetz legacy, regarding his musical beliefs, principles, musical ethics, teaching of the Art of Musical Collaboration, and teaching of the Art of Writing Musical Transcription.[6]

Agus' noted musical collaboration with other musicians include cellists Nathaniel Rosen and Jeffrey Solow,[7] accordionist/composer Nick Ariondo, and violinists Sherry Kloss and Roberto Cani.

Association with Jascha Heifetz
  • Violin student in Heifetz's USC master class, 1971–1973
  • Piano accompanist for Heifetz's USC master class and its auditions, 1973-1984[8]
  • Heifetz's personal accompanist and collaborator for music transcription, 1984–1987

[2]

Recording artist

Agus has recorded three albums, and has collaborated with a number of other artists as an accompanist or chamber group member. She combined her talents on both violin and piano on the album Ayke Agus Doubles which was created by using a Yamaha Disklavier piano to mechanically record her piano keystrokes for the accompaniment, which was then played back on the special instrument while she recorded the violin solo with it.[9]

Performance artist

Agus has performed as a violin and piano soloist, as a piano accompanist, chamber group member, and orchestra member throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe, including venues such as the House of Composers, St. Petersburg, Russia, and the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. On at least two occasions (2004 and 2008), she was a soloist on both instruments playing with the California Philharmonic Orchestra in the same concert.[1]

Her piano playing has been described as that which "other pianists talk about with awe",[10] and having a "swinging sense of rubato equal to the composer's challenge."[11]

Her violin playing has been described as "illuminated with brilliance like that found in the rays of the sun,"[12] and "reminded us of Yehudi Menuhin."[13]

Chamber music affiliations
  • Ariondo-Agus Duo
  • Pacific Serenade Chamber Music Society[14]
  • The Ayke Agus Piano Trio
  • The South Bay Chamber Music Society (1991–1997)[15]
  • Guest artist with various European professional music groups, including the Ysaye String Quartet and the Jacques Thibaud String Trio

Career as a writer, composer and educator

Author

Agus published Heifetz As I knew Him[2] in 2001, chronicling her 15 years with the violinist, and touching on both of their childhood experiences as well as a significant treatment on the Art of Collaboration as Heifetz taught it.

Transcriber

Agus helped Heifetz transcribe over 50 transcriptions for violin and piano. The last one, An American in Paris, by Gershwin, was left unfinished by Heifetz. Agus continued their work on this piece and published it after Heifetz's death.[2]

Instructor

Agus gives master classes [16] and teaches piano, violin and chamber groups in her private studio.

Lecturer

Since Heifetz's death in 1987, Agus has given numerous lectures in Europe, Asia and the US on the subject of The Art of Musical Collaboration, which she learned during her 15-year association with Heifetz. The most notable of these was given on October 27, 2009 at the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory in Russia.[6]

She has given lectures at the Royal Academy of Music in London, the La Jolla Summer Music Festival, the Colburn School of Performing Arts, University of Maryland, and University of Iowa City.[6]

Agus also being appointed as an academic advisor to Music LifeStyle Academy which one of the reputed music schools in Singapore, landmark of Asia since 2014.

Discography

Soloist
  • Musical Mementos of Jascha Heifetz
  • Ayke Agus Plays Schubert
  • Where Dreams Become Sunlight

Accompanist
  • Ayke Agus Doubles
  • The Infinite Trumpet, with trumpetist Malcolm McNab
  • Treasured Vignettes for Violin and Piano, with violinist Yukiko Kamei
  • Sherry Kloss Plays Forgotten Gems, with violinist Sherry Kloss
  • 3 Faces of Kim, the Napalm Girl: No. 3. Fearful, with violinist Deon Nielsen Price
  • Sun Rays, with violinist Deon Nielsen Price and vocalist Darryl Taylor

Soloist
  • Ayke Agus Doubles
  • Stille Antico

Chamber music
  • The Hall of Mirrors, A Quartet of Chamber Works by Mark Carlson (Pacific Serenades)
  • Sun Rays (Crossroads Alley Trio)

Notes
  1. Peters, Bill (August 11, 2008). "Double Duty for Ayke Agus at Cal Phil's Movie Magic". BeaconMediaNews.com.
  2. Agus, Ayke (2001). Heifetz As I Knew Him. Amadeus Press. ISBN 1-57467-062-X.
  3. She won second place as a violinist in the Young Musician Foundation Competition in December, 1969, and first place as a pianist in the Rosary Hill College Competition for Young Artists in May, 1971.
  4. She is listed in the Notable alumni and faculty section of that school's Wikipedia article.
  5. This is noted on Jascha Heifetz's Wikipedia article.
  6. "Ayke Agus". Official website.
  7. Punt, Rodney. "Jeffrey Solow and Ayke Agus to perform cello-piano duos in Los Angeles recital". LA Opus.
  8. Kloss, Sherry (2000). Jascha Heifetz Through My Eyes. Kloss Classics. p. 12. ISBN 0-9678590-1-8. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  9. Details obtained from product description on Amazon.com.
  10. Cariaga, Daniel (May 14, 1988). "Russian Program Performed in Second Concert of Chamber Festival". Los Angeles Times.
  11. "none". Pasadena Star News. 2007.
  12. Sansonnes, Bernard (October 1, 1996). "Genius violinist Ayke Agus revealed a prodigious talent". La Liberte, Fribourg, Switzerland.
  13. De la Grand Rue, Loulou (October 10, 1996). "Merveilleux Concert au Sacre-Coeur". Le Republicain.
  14. "Ayke Agus, piano". Pacific Serenades 2011 Performers. Archived from the original on 2012-09-08.
  15. "Ayke Agus". SBCMS. Archived from the original on 2011-09-27.
  16. Most recently: Collaborative Performance Master Class at UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music in April and May 2011.

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ayke Agus.
  • Interviews with Dennis Bartel of KUSC during the week prior to the premiere of the film Jascha Heifetz: God's Fiddler: April (11th 12th 13th 14th 15th), 2011
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