Ilona Fehér (1901–1988)

“A beautiful sound,” said Ilona Fehér (1901–1988) legendary violin teacher when asked what is the most important thing in violin playing. Ilona Fehér was a student of Jenő Hubay at the Budapest Academy of Music and had a considerable career as a soloist during the interwar period, but the beautiful sound of her violin playing was silenced by the roar of World War II. She was deported to a concentration camp; she escaped and joined the Czechoslovakian partisans, then emigrated to Israel after the war. She initially worked as a soloist, but then started teaching, giving rise to such violinists as Pinchas Zuckerman or Shlomo Mintz.

In the following excerpt of a documentary film, Ilona Fehér is instructing the young Shlomo Mintz.