A concert dedicated to the 75th anniversary of Professor Yakov Iosifovich Fudiman - 'Kurmet' Order Cavalier and Kazakhstan's most outstanding viola player, who established viola school of Kazakhstan, was conducted on 4 February 2009 in the Kazakh National Conservatorium named after Kurmangazy. The concert was prepared and carried out by the Conservatorium's staff and all the performers were Yakof Fudiman's former students. The concert was opened by Professor Balym Kozhamkulova who said a few words about Mr. Fudiman.

"Yakov Iosifovich was born 4 February 1934 in the city Kalininets, near Moscow. In 1941, after the commencement of WWII, the family of Yakov evacuated to Sverdlovsk (now Ekaterinburg). In Sverdlovsk, he commenced his studies at the music school at the Conservatorium. Odessa's Music School was also evacuated here during the War, and young Yasha Fudiman was lucky to study for a year with one of the school's most distinguished teachers, Piotr Stolyarsky.

"After successfully finishing the school, Yakov Iosevich went on to study violin at the Uralsk National Musorgsky Conservatorium with Naum Shvarts. During his second year there, he became interested and commenced his studies playing viola with the distinguished artist of the Russian Federation, Professor G.I. Teri. Yakov Fudiman graduated from the Conservatorium as a viola player.

"Yakov Iosifovich has made significant contributions to Kazakhstan’s musical arts. He established his own viola method and during 50 years approximately100 of his students had become professional musicians as a result of Yakof Fudiman's kind-hearted teaching. For 40 years his students had led the Viola group of the State Symphony Orchestra of KazSSR."

Elena Shalkova, who was the accompanist for Mr. Fudiman's class, said, "I knew Yakov Fudiman from my childhood, but professionally I came to know him when I was a student of Alma-Ata State Conservatorium and played in an ensemble with one of his students. It is universally known that he was a brilliant violin and viola teacher. I think he could have been teaching piano with the same success."

Yakov Iosifovich had perfected the instrument's technique. He developed his own exercises to overcome any technical difficulties. To his credit, all of his students, notwithstanding their natural abilities, received an excellent education, "sign of quality" of Fudiman's class.

During the concert, compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach, Jean-Marie Leclair , Max Bruch, Jan Krtitel Vaclav Kalivoda, Darius Milhaud (Darjys Mijo), Noam Sheriff and Camille Saint-Saens were performed. The concert's finale was a beautifully performed "Bagatelles for Five Violas" by Antonin Dvorak

Anna Naumova