Geoffrey Michaels, celebrated violin prodigy and longtime music teacher, has died at 79
He toured Australia as a teenaged sensation in the 1950s and later played with the Curtis Quartet, Liebesfreud Quartet, and countless other orchestras over seven decades. A critic called one of his 1967 performances “a near-perfect lyrical tapestry.”
Geoffrey Michaels, 79, of Collingswood, celebrated violin prodigy and longtime violin, viola, and chamber music teacher, died Saturday, Feb. 17, of complications from Parkinson’s disease at the Samaritan Center in Voorhees.
Mr. Michaels first tucked a violin under his chin when he was 5 in his hometown of Perth, Australia. At 14, he was the youngest winner ever of the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s concerto competition, and he toured the country afterward as a dazzling new soloist and with prestigious quartets and orchestras.
At 16, he was invited to the Curtis Institute of Music, and he studied violin with Curtis director Efrem Zimbalist, and violin and viola with Philadelphia legend Oscar Shumsky. He was quickly recruited into the renowned Curtis Quartet and later cofounded his own Liebesfreud Quartet, which released Selected Shorts in 2009 and played more than 100 concerts over 15 years.
He also played with other notable ensembles around Philadelphia and in Australia, Canada, New Jersey, New York, and elsewhere. Liebesfreud cofounder Philip Kates said in a tribute that Mr. Michaels was an exacting colleague who displayed “integrity with regard to his approach to the music’s preparation.” He said Mr. Michaels’ “prowess on his instrument, depth of knowledge of the music, and demeanor during rehearsals established rigorous standards.”
He won Philadelphia’s Emma Feldman Memorial Competition in 1970 and was a finalist at international events in Paris, Moscow, Brussels, Montreal, and elsewhere. A colleague said: “His inspired playing and thoughtful approach to music-making led to an enduring transformation in my perspective.” Mr. Michaels’ wife, Beverly, said: “He was an artist in service of the music.”
As a soloist, Mr. Michaels played venerable pieces across North America, Europe, and Australia. He appeared at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, and Kennedy Center in Washington. His performance in the U.S. premiere of Alfred Schnittke’s famous concerto grosso was broadcast live in the United States and what was the Soviet Union in the late 1970s.
Inquirer music critic Daniel Webster reviewed Mr. Michaels’ 1971 debut at the Academy of Music and said he showed “the security and polish of an able young artist.” Michael Upchurch of the Seattle Times reviewed a 1991 performance at the Seattle Spring Festival of Contemporary Music and called Mr. Michaels “superb” and “deserving special praise.”
Mr. Michaels earned a diploma at Curtis and, in addition to touring and playing locally at events and private parties, taught violin, viola, and chamber music for years at Princeton, Temple, and Florida State Universities; Swarthmore and Haverford Colleges; the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada; and elsewhere. Former students said in tributes that he had a “self-effacing dedication to the music” and was funny, inspirational, and generous with his time.
He also participated in community outreach music programs and told the New York Times in 1986: “I feel that I am no use as a teacher unless I am consistently engaged in the business of actually playing. Almost everything I have to say is based on my own experience with the instrument.”
His wife said: “Music was like a religion to him. Teaching was like passing on a craft.”
Geoffrey Michaels was born June 19, 1944. He attended Perth Modern School in Australia, led its orchestra in musical productions, and served as secretary of the school’s music society in 1960.
He married childhood friend Patricia Walmsley, and they divorced later. He met Beverly McCoy at a music camp, and they married in 1978, and had daughters Julia, Annika, and Carolyn. They lived in Cherry Hill at first, moved to Vancouver for six years when he taught there, and then to Radnor and Collingswood in 2004.
Mr. Michaels played tennis and chess, and was thrilled when the Phillies won the World Series in 2008. He and others performed on the field before a Phillies game in 2017, and the Phanatic grabbed his violin and pretended to play it.
He followed politics and current events, and likely read every spy novel by John le Carre. Friends said he could be a perfectionist but rarely a self-promoter. He was a hands-on parent by all accounts.
His daughter Annika said Mr. Michaels had a gift for “seeing the deep elegance and complexity in things we otherwise might take for granted.” Honoring him, she said, was to recognize “the passion in the way the people we care about live their lives and how that enriches our own lives.”
In addition to his wife, daughters, and former wife, Mr. Michaels is survived by three grandchildren, a sister, and other relatives.
Services were held Tuesday, Feb. 20.
Donations in his name may be made to the Curtis Institute of Music, 1726 Locust St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19103.