Home > Baker's Student Encyclopedia of Music > Zukofsky, Paul

American violinist and conductor; b. N.Y, Oct. 22, 1943. His father, Louis Zukofsky, was a poet who experimented in highly complex verbal forms. Paul began playing the violin at the age of four on a quarter-size instrument, and when he was seven he began lessons with Ivan Galamian. He was soloist with the New Haven (Connecticut) Symphony Orchestra at the age of eight, and made his Carnegie Hall recital debut in N.Y. when he was 13. At 16 he entered the Juilliard School of Music.

From his earliest years Zukofsky was fascinated by ultramodern music. He developed several special techniques, in effect transforming the violin into a multimedia instrument beyond its normal capacities. In 1969 he inaugurated in N.Y. a concert series, Music for the 20th Century Violin, performing works often requiring acrobatic coordination. His repertoire includes all four violin SONATAS by CHARLES IVES, the violin CONCERTOS by William Schuman and ROGER SESSIONS, Capriccio by KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI, and the solo violin works of JOHN CAGE.

As a violin instructor, Zukofsky held the post of Creative Associate at the Buffalo Center of the Creative and Performing Arts and also taught at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood and at the New England Conservatory of Music. In later years he became active as a conductor. He served as conductor of the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble at the Juilliard School from 1984 to 1989, and also was director of chamber music activities there from 1987 to 1989. From 1989 to 1995 he directed the Schoenberg Institute at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he also taught violin.