David Juritz joined the London Mozart Players in 1991
Where else do you teach/play?
I’m a bit of a tart really. I do quite a lot of chamber music playing with groups like the Razumovsky Ensemble. There’s also my annual Vivaldi Four Seasons tour (about 25 concerts this year [2005] ) and various other solo engagements. I work with quite a few other orchestras as guest leader: LPO, RPO, Bournemouth, Ulster, BBC, anyone that asks really, and I also do some session work doing film and pop music.
Where were you born?
Cape Town, South Africa
How old were you when you started playing, and why did you take up the violin?
About six. I’d managed to wriggle out of piano lessons but then heard a radio comedy in which a boy was driving his family to distraction learning to play the violin. I was instantly captivated.
What has been your most fun/interesting musical experience so far?
Funny you should ask. On my last birthday I was given an instrument I’ve always wanted to play, a banjo. I’m making slow progress but hope, one day, to transcribe the Debussy Harp Dances for this king of instruments!
Who have you enjoyed working with the most and why?
We’ve had some really great soloists, Ronald Brautigam, Pascal Rogé and, of course, Jimmy Galway, but what I enjoy most about the LMP is the orchestra itself. We’ve got enormous depth of talent and, when the band gets going, it’s really exhilarating to be part of it.
Do you play any other instruments?
See above. Plus piano, very badly, guitar, used to be OK but now rubbish, ditto recorder. Had some trombone lessons in my teens and also played trumpet in an army band when I did my national service in South Africa. Does viola count as another instrument?
Do you have any hobbies you manage to fit into your spare time?
I’m fanatical about sailing. I have a laser dinghy and share a two man boat with a friend. I try to get out to the club races, on a reservoir near Heathrow, on Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings, LMP permitting.
Where is your favourite holiday destination?
Cape Town
What's your favourite sound?
See above. And the hubbub of my family (when they’re in a good mood!) Family’s least favourite sound – the banjo.
What would you have been if you weren’t a musician?
My Dad is a physicist who always hankered after a full-time career as a musician. He could have done it, but his university post offered a more secure living. I’ve always been fascinated by the sciences and would have loved to have worked in them but would find it very hard to narrow it down to just one field.
David Juritz biography
Born in Cape Town South Africa, David Juritz began violin lessons at the age of six with Noel Travers. He continued his studies at the Royal College of Music in London with Hugh Bean and Jaroslav Vanecek on scholarships from Associated Board Scholarship and the Leverhulme Trust. Whilst he was there he won all the top prizes for violin and was the recipient of the college’s highest award, the Tagore Gold Medal.
On leaving college he joined the English Chamber Orchestra, who sponsored his South Bank début at the Purcell Room in 1985. Since then he has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in all the major concert halls of the UK as well as performing in North and South America, the Far East, Europe, South Africa and Australia.
In 1991 he was appointed Leader of the London Mozart Players. As well as directing from the front desk, David Juritz works frequently as conductor with the London Mozart Players. In this role he has given many world premières including new works by Cecilia McDowall, Geoffrey Burgon, Lynne Plowman and Geoffrey Hanson. He is regularly invited to direct other orchestras such as the New London Orchestra, the Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Ambache Chamber Orchestra, the Welsh Chamber Orchestra and Zurich Chamber Orchestra.
His recordings of quartets by Szymanowski and Schubert with the Maggini String Quartet were released by ASV to enthusiastic reviews and his recording of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with the London Mozart Players has been acclaimed as one of the finest interpretations on modern instruments. In March 2003 Dutton released his world première recording of works for violin and piano by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Other recent recordings on Dutton include the music of George Dyson and Rebecca Clarke. His latest disc, a recording of romantic pieces entitled Slow Dances, Quiet Passions, was released in November 2003 on the Bonus label.
In addition to performing, David Juritz writes about issues related to music and has contributed articles to the Strad, Double Bassist and Nature magazines. He was a judge at the 2004 British Violin Making Competition, an international competition for violin and bow-makers. In 2005 he took over as Artistic Director of the Burton Bradstock Festival.
He plays a violin by J B Guadagnini c.1748 and lives in a chaotic house in west London with his wife Jane, their two children, a rabbit, two cats called Charlie and one called Smudge.
