BY CYNTHIA LEE
UCLA Today Staff
At 75, when life’s metronome typically
ticks down from presto to a slower adagio, pianist Vitaly Margulis
is maintaining a tempo that others half his age have difficulty
matching.
Once his busy schedule of classes at Schoenberg
Hall had ended for spring break, he flew off to Berlin and Budapest
for some of the 10 to 12 concert appearances he makes each year
all over the world. Margulis also holds summer master classes
in Europe, the United States and Japan.
“I play concerts, I teach students, I
write books. I live like a young boy,” said Margulis in
English liberally flavored with his native Russian. “But
a young boy is young for 24 hours,” he said, smiling.
“I am young for two, three hours a day,” when he’s
practicing the piano or at work.
Music has kept him relatively healthy and active,
he said, and brought him back to health after he had a heart
attack at age 37.
“Before my heart attack, I was considered
a pianist with an intense, highly emotional, romantic repertoire.
After, I found I couldn’t play the same music,”
he said, tapping his heart. “Too much pain.” But
he found he could play the healing music of Bach comfortably.
So for five years, he played nothing else.
“That changed my whole concert life.
Today, I am back. I can play it all.” The insights he
gained into the spirituality of Bach’s music inspired
him to write a book.
“It may sound sentimental,” said
Margulis, “but I cannot find better words: Music can bring
us closer to God. It can make our souls richer, deeper, more
tolerant of others.”
Raised in the city of Charkov in the Ukraine,
he took his first piano lesson from his father. “It is
a tradition we are loyal to,” said the piano professor,
who raised four children, three of them professional musicians.
In World War II, the young Margulis and his
family fled from the invading Nazi army to what is now Uzbekistan
in central Asia. At 13, he volunteered for the Russian Air Force
and entertained in military hospitals until his commander sent
him to study at the Leningrad Conservatory.
The renowned school became his musical home
for years as he studied, taught and performed throughout Europe
until the Musikhochschule in Freiburg, Germany, offered him
a teaching position. Two decades later, in 1994, Margulis joined
UCLA’s music department. Seeing his students garner more
than 100 prizes at competitions worldwide has brought him his
greatest happiness, he said.
To celebrate his 75th birthday, the music department
is hosting a gala concert where Margulis’ long-held dream
will play out: Three of his children will alternately share
the spotlight at the event. The concert is April 16 at 8 p.m.
in Schoenberg Hall. Call (310) 825-2101 for ticket information.
