Eugene Fodor

Eugene Nicholas Fodor, Jr. (March 5, 1950 – February 26, 2011) was the first American violinist to win the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

Fodor was born in Denver, Colorado. His first ten years of study were with Harold Wippler. He then studied at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, Indiana University and the University of Southern California, where his teachers included Ivan Galamian, Josef Gingold and Jascha Heifetz, respectively.

Fodor made his solo debut with the Denver Symphony at the age of ten, playing Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 and began touring as a soloist while still a young teenager.

Fodor won numerous national contests before the age of seventeen, including First Prize in both the Merriweather Post Competition in Washington, D.C. and the Young Musicians Foundation Competition in Los Angeles, California.

He went on to win first prize in the International Paganini Competition in Italy in 1972, at the age of 22. It was his win at the Paganini competition that gained him widespread public attention. He achieved the highest prize awarded (second prize, shared with two other violinists) in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1974 in Moscow, Russia. This award raised his profile further, as an American winning the top Soviet prize...
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