From Deseret News archives:
McDuffie career full of highs
He has played for masters, will play twice in S.L.
The violinist has been a commentator on National Public Radio, started a chamber-music festival in Rome — and he formed a corporation whose sole purpose is to own a stringed instrument.
But of all the experiences he has had, McDuffie feels there are two that stand out as both highlights and turning points.
The first, he said, was playing the Samuel Barber violin concerto for Barber himself. "That really changed my life, because I was a really obnoxious Juilliard kid who played only the standards," McDuffie said with a soft Southern accent and a laugh. "I'd never played a masterpiece for the master. The night I went to Barber's apartment to play this piece for him was something I'll never forget."
The experience jump-started a part of his life that hadn't existed before, McDuffie said during a telephone interview while he was traveling to Atlanta. "I realized my place." Rather than just being a soloist and performer, "I was more a facilitator and messenger of great art."
The other experience, McDuffie said, was touring with Yehudi Menuhin. "He kind of took me under his wing. He took me to Europe, and I played a lot of chamber music with him. He conducted me with different orchestras."
As time goes by, McDuffie said, it becomes more mind-boggling to him that such a legend would invest time in his life. "I hope he realized how grateful I was."
Now McDuffie has a successful career of his own, one that spans continents. In fall of 2002, he was invited to be a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome. During his time there, he started a chamber-music festival. He got the idea while practicing in a music room of the newly restored Villa Aurelia. "That's the room where Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings was premiered and Aaron Copland's works and many of the great American composers who had received the Prix de Rome. That's where they spent their time."
Discovering that Rome did not have a chamber-music festival, McDuffie found some like-minded people who were willing to invest money in starting one. This June, he said, the two-week festival will hold its official opening season.
The festival isn't the first time that he has thought "outside the box." The 1735 Guarneri del Gesu violin (named "Ladenburg"), which he plays, is physical evidence of McDuffie's ingenuity. "It's the violin of my dreams."
