Violin virtuoso Ruggiero Ricci dies

LOS ANGELES -- Violinist Ruggiero Ricci held the audience spellbound when he debuted at the Hollywood Bowl in 1932, a "wunderkind" of classical music with marvelous showmanship and beautiful tone. He was all of 13.

What he accomplished in the ensuing decades is perhaps even more impressive: He made the rare leap from child prodigy to serious artist. He was regarded as one of the greatest violin virtuosos of his generation.

Ricci, 94, died of heart failure Aug. 6 at his home in Palm Springs, Calif., said Shelley Bovyer, a violinist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic who regards Ricci as her finest teacher.

"He was a masterful technician on the violin," Brian Lauritzen, a producer and host at KUSC-FM in Los Angeles, told the Los Angeles Times. "He could play anything. But he also had a lyrical expression that made his violin sing."

Some observers called Ricci "the Paganini of the 20th century" for his devotion to early 19th century compositions by Niccolo Paganini.

Ricci's repertoire included about 50 major violin concertos. By his own account, he had given more than 5,000 concerts in 65 countries after first touring Europe in 1932. He gave his final U.S. performance at the Smithsonian Institution in 2003, the year he turned 85.

Ricci was born July 24, 1918, in the San Francisco area into a poor family and was named Woodrow Wilson Rich.

When young Woodrow's talent became apparent, he was given the stage name of Ruggiero Ricci to make him sound the part. Friends called him Roger.

Mentoring the next generation of violinists was important to Ricci, Lauritzen said.

Ricci held posts at Indiana University, the Juilliard School and the University of Michigan, among other schools. He also taught at a conservatory in Salzburg, Austria, gave master classes and wrote two texts on left-hand technique.

He continued to give private lessons into his 90s, teaching his students to savor their individualities, to take chances just as he had.

Ricci's survivors include his wife of 37 years, Julia; his children from two previous marriages that ended in divorce, sons Gian-Franco and Roger, daughters Riana Muller and Paolo Hopp; and several grandchildren.