Anthony Marwood
When I started out, violinists were somewhat segregated. To be a soloist, you had to be perceived as only that. I always felt that soloists who couldn’t play chamber music beautifully had no right to call themselves artists. Thankfully things have changed and it’s considered a strength now to have a flexible and ‘interesting’ career.
When I was 14 years old I went to play to Emanuel ‘Manny’ Hurwitz. This was a stroke of huge good fortune, as Manny’s vast wisdom, knowledge, kindness and fabulous sense of humour guided me for the next four years and beyond, although later I also studied with the marvellous David Takeno. Manny did not believe in taking a narrow path, and encouraged me to expand my musical learning experiences in many directions. This was certainly a reflection of his own career as a chamber musician, soloist, teacher and orchestral concertmaster.