Concertmaster

Q: Why is a viola bigger than a violin? A: They are the same size. It's just that violinists have bigger heads. It's probably safe to say that there are fewer jokes about violinists than 7-Elevens or mothers-in-law. Still, Los Angeles Philharmonic principal concertmaster Martin Chalifour was game to throw this one out at his San Marino home, looking forward to Tuesday's performance of the Julius Conus Violin Concerto at Hollywood Bowl with guest conductor Stéphane Denève. Chalifour calls the Conus piece "a gem of the Romantic repertory," adding: "I have made a point of learning a new piece for every solo that I do. I've done it more than 30 times in L.A. " The occasion for the joke was trying to coax a smile out of Chalifour for a photo.

Q: Why is a viola bigger than a violin? A: They are the same size. It's just that violinists have bigger heads. It's probably safe to say that there are fewer jokes about violinists than 7-Elevens or mothers-in-law. Still, Los Angeles Philharmonic principal concertmaster Martin Chalifour was game to throw this one out at his San Marino home, looking forward to Tuesday's performance of the Julius Conus Violin Concerto at Hollywood Bowl with guest conductor Stéphane Denève. Chalifour calls the Conus piece "a gem of the Romantic repertory," adding: "I have made a point of learning a new piece for every solo that I do. I've done it more than 30 times in L.A. " The occasion for the joke was trying to coax a smile out of Chalifour for a photo.

Glenn Dicterow, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic for more than 30 years, will be leaving the venerated orchestra and joining the faculty of the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles. Dicterow, 63, will begin his new job at USC in fall 2013, the school announced Thursday. The New York Philharmonic said he is planning to step down from his role as concertmaster at the end of the 2013-14 season. During the overlapping period, Dicterow is expected to lead some master classes at USC on a part-time basis.

Glenn Dicterow, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic for more than 30 years, will be leaving the venerated orchestra and joining the faculty of the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles. Dicterow, 63, will begin his new job at USC in fall 2013, the school announced Thursday. The New York Philharmonic said he is planning to step down from his role as concertmaster at the end of the 2013-14 season. During the overlapping period, Dicterow is expected to lead some master classes at USC on a part-time basis.

"It will be a catastroph'!" exclaimed Gerhard Hetzel the moment he answered the telephone Saturday morning at the Salisbury Hotel in Manhattan. The founder and first violinist of the Vienna Chamber Ensemble was not feeling some kind of presentiment regarding the group's performance tonight (under the aegis of the Orange County Philharmonic Society) at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Nothing of the sort. Rather, convinced that his English would not suffice for an interview, Hetzel had decided he ought not try to speak at all unless a colleague he had asked to interpret showed up. After linguistic inhibitions had been tempered by a bit of friendly generic palaver and the assurance that he could lapse into German when necessary, it became clear that Hetzel is unassuming about anything having to do with himself.

San Diego Symphony concertmaster Andres Cardenes was one of six violinists named Wednesday as finalists in the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis by jury president Josef Gingold. The group includes Leonidas Kavakos of Greece, Sungsic Yang and Chin Kim of Korea, Annick Roussin of France and Kyoko Takezawa of Japan. They were chosen from among 16 semifinalists in a field of 43 violinists from 20 nations. The three-day final round began Thursday.

David Atherton has an enviable reputation as a recruiter. When the former music director of the San Diego Symphony was in the market for a new concertmaster, he lured Andres Cardenes to San Diego from his concertmaster post at the Utah Symphony while Atherton was guest conducting in Salt Lake City. When he needed to staff his inaugural Mainly Mozart Festival with a concertmaster and violin soloist, he borrowed another concertmaster he had encountered while guest conducting stateside.

As concertmaster for the orchestra that recorded the soundtrack for the movie "Psycho," classical violinist Israel Baker helped create a piece of pop culture that is regarded as one of Hollywood's most terrifying. He led the piercing attack of the violins that accompanies the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film's chilling shower scene. He "was a renowned violinist and concertmaster in the Hollywood studio system" and was heard on dozens of movie scores, said Jon Burlingame, a film and music historian.

The name Da Camera Players is familiar to Da Camera Society of Mount St. Mary's College's Chamber Music In Historic Sites devotees who heard the original group's performances in the 1980s and '90s. Likewise, the Park Plaza's elegant Grand Ballroom overlooking MacArthur Park will resonate with some who remember its amazing acoustics and wonder why it isn't used for music more often. Tuesday night, the two came together - a new incarnation of Da Camera Players making its “formal debut” in the Grand Ballroom, which is uncannily suited for string music.

The Pacific Symphony has named Raymond Kobler its new concertmaster, effective today. He succeeds Kevin Connolly, who resigned in October after only one season. Kobler, 53, has served as guest concertmaster for most of the Pacific's concerts since February. He was concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony from 1980 to 1998 and associate concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1974 to '80. Since 1991, Kobler has been concertmaster of the Sun Valley Symphony in Idaho.

The name Da Camera Players is familiar to Da Camera Society of Mount St. Mary's College's Chamber Music In Historic Sites devotees who heard the original group's performances in the 1980s and '90s. Likewise, the Park Plaza's elegant Grand Ballroom overlooking MacArthur Park will resonate with some who remember its amazing acoustics and wonder why it isn't used for music more often. Tuesday night, the two came together - a new incarnation of Da Camera Players making its “formal debut” in the Grand Ballroom, which is uncannily suited for string music.

As concertmaster for the orchestra that recorded the soundtrack for the movie "Psycho," classical violinist Israel Baker helped create a piece of pop culture that is regarded as one of Hollywood's most terrifying. He led the piercing attack of the violins that accompanies the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film's chilling shower scene. He "was a renowned violinist and concertmaster in the Hollywood studio system" and was heard on dozens of movie scores, said Jon Burlingame, a film and music historian.

The choice of a first violinist is the most important appointment that any orchestra's music director can make, for the position requires not only superb playing ability and broad musicianship, but also grace under pressure, the optimism of a cheerleader and the finesse of an ambassador. In the United States, the artist who assumes these duties is known as the concertmaster. Europeans state it more directly. The first violinist is called, simply, the leader.

Yes, Erich Wolfgang Korngold wrote wonderful film scores. No, Korngold's Violin Concerto is not merely warmed-over movie music. Soloist Raymond Kobler proved that when he played an expansive, melancholic but otherwise unsentimental performance of the piece on a four-part program by the Pacific Symphony led by Carl St.Clair on Wednesday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

In his local recital debut Wednesday, the Pacific Symphony's concertmaster distinguished himself with a smart and muscular performance of works challenging not only for the violin but for the Irvine Barclay Theatre audience as well. Raymond Kobler, who joined the orchestra last season after 18 years in the same post with the San Francisco Symphony, tore through a mountain of great music before a nearly full house.

Raymond Kobler, concertmaster of the Pacific Symphony, will give a recital with pianist Jon Nakamatsu at the Irvine Barclay Theatre in Irvine at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Together, the musicians will be heard in the Partita by Witold Lutoslawski, Beethoven's "Kreutzer" Sonata and the Sonata No. 1 by Saint-Saens. Alone, Kobler will play the Solo Sonata No. 3 ("Ballade") by Eugene Ysaye. Information: (714) 755-5799.

The Pacific Symphony has named a new concertmaster: Kevin Connolly, a violinist with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra who also is concertmaster of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra. Connolly, 39, worked this past season as guest concertmaster for two performances with the Pacific, Orange County's largest professional resident orchestra. The concertmaster fulfills a leadership role in management of the orchestra, besides being its principal violinist and heading the first-violin section.

Raymond Kobler, concertmaster of the Pacific Symphony, will give a recital with pianist Jon Nakamatsu at the Irvine Barclay Theatre in Irvine at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Together, the musicians will be heard in the Partita by Witold Lutoslawski, Beethoven's "Kreutzer" Sonata and the Sonata No. 1 by Saint-Saens. Alone, Kobler will play the Solo Sonata No. 3 ("Ballade") by Eugene Ysaye. Information: (714) 755-5799.

He was a violin virtuoso. When he touched bow to strings of the Earl of Plymouth Stradivarius, a critic wrote, "the instrument simply made it easier for him to exploit his own contributions." He could solo on the tough stuff written for Jascha Heifetz. His name was not as well known, but he didn't care. He was not a globe-trotting soloist, merely a workaday first-chair violinist and concertmaster. "I am very happy where I am," he told The Times in 1966, decades into his career.

If not for the timely arrival of a key musical mentor almost 40 years ago, Raymond Kobler probably wouldn't be on stage tonight as the Pacific Symphony's new concertmaster. Though he started violin lessons at 7, Kobler, like many others his age, lost interest for a while in his teens and gave up the instrument. "I was more interested in playing sports and stuff," Kobler, 54, said by phone this week from his home in San Francisco. But after his family moved from New York to Orange, N.J.