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With subzero temperatures and driving snow, it was a terrible night for young Emanuel Vardi to launch a career. He had to accept that many of those who purchased tickets for his New York solo debut were not going to make it to Town Hall that evening. But as Manny was about to step onto the stage, his mother whispered, "Toscanini is here!" Reeling with the news, he broke out into a cold sweat as he numbly walked onto stage.
Although Manny was a member of Arturo Toscanini's NBC orchestra, he was its youngest musician and certainly did not expect the great Toscanini to show up that night for him. But as Manny started to play, thoughts of Toscanini and the weather slipped away. His mind slowly quieted, and his heart began to play, as it usually did, and his viola filled the hall with its warm presence.
Cool Beginnings, Hot Career
Toscanini was moved; so moved, in fact, that Manny became one of his protegés. Soon Manny was giving live solo performances on nationally broadcast radio stations. Following a second solo concert at Town Hall the following year, the New York music critics voted him Recitalist of the Year. Despite its chilly beginnings, his career exploded, and soon he was giving solo performances with major symphonies and praised by top music critics around the world.
If you listen to classical music, you've most likely heard Emanuel Vardi play. And if you haven't met him, you may soon, since Vardi, considered by many to be the world's greatest violist, is moving to Fairfield, where his daughter, Andrea Smith, has lived for many years. Manny and his wife, Lenore Weinstock, have visited Fairfield several times, and Manny has also given concerts at Barhydt Chapel.
A Famous Dad
According to Andrea, having a world-renowned musician as her father resulted in a colorful upbringing. At the age of six, Andrea joined two other girls on national television to lip-sync the popular song "My Daddy is President," written about Caroline Kennedy. When Andrea stumped three of the five judges into picking her as the singer, the show's host, Merv Griffin, asked her who she was. "My daddy wrote the piece," she said.
As a teenager, Andrea sometimes attended her dad's recording sessions, where she watched other famous musicians, such as Paul McCartney, record their albums. At one session she ended up mingling with all the jazz greats at Louis Armstrong's 80th birthday party.
Art--A Second Career
Even now, Andrea watches TV shows and movies which feature Manny's musical scores. Andrea claims she did not inherit her father's perfect pitch, but as a jeweler and painter, she did benefit from his other lifelong love--art.
Manny's artwork, which revolves around music and musicians, has been exhibited in museums and galleries in the U.S. and Europe. In his 30s, while studying with Italy's most famous portrait artist, Manny's abstract of a violin won first prize at the Rappalo International Art Competition. Four years later, the New York Times picked his piece as "best in show" at City Center. Recently, a critic in Art Speak wrote of a New York show, "I hear music when I look at Emanuel Vardi's paintings."
Another Virtuoso
Joining Manny in Fairfield will be another virtuoso--his wife, Lenore Weinstock. When Lenore was a small child, she continually asked her parents for a violin, but they didn't take her seriously. Finally, at seven years old, she picked up a violin at school and stunned the music teacher by instantly playing the theme song of The Lone Ranger. The teacher immediately "stole" one of the school's unassigned violins, gave it to Lenore, and began giving her lessons.
Since then, Lenore's teachers have included some of the greatest musicians of the century. Now at the top of her field, Lenore has received critical acclaim throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe as both violin and viola soloist and chamber music artist. Describing her solo recital debut in New York's Merkin Hall in 1982, the New York Post hailed Lenore as a soloist of "amazing elegance and musicianship . . . a natural performer."
Lenore has performed live on WNYC and WQXR in New York as well as on CBC in Canada and BBC in England, both as soloist and in duo recitals with her husband. She has also performed in countless music festivals, including Tanglewood, Summit Chamber Music of New York, and Canada's Domaine Forget Festival. The list of musicians with whom she has collaborated is a veritable Who's Who of the most respected artists, and many well-known composers have written works just for her.
Lenore was also one of the busiest recording musicians in New York City, where she performed and recorded with many renowned artists, from Itzak Perlman and Placido Domingo, to Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.
Meet the Maestros
During one of Manny's visits to Fairfield a few years ago, he regaled his guests with stories from his seven decades of performing.
For example, during World War II, while Manny was traveling by boat with the NBC orchestra to South America, the entire orchestra gathered in the cabin of NBC's vice president to hear Churchill's announcement that France had fallen. At the time, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony was the theme song for war news. When it came on, Toscanini began conducting in the cabin and soon sharply criticized the interpretation: "Bad . . . balance no good . . . no retard . . . ." When the symphony ended, the BBC announcer came on and said, "You have just heard Beethoven's Fifth conducted by Toscanini."
Another story described an overweight diva who, during a dramatic scene at the opera, jumped off a balcony to commit suicide. She hit the off-stage trampoline and was seen by the audience repeatedly bouncing up over the balcony.
And there was a nervous solo violinist whose bow flew out of his hands into the audience. He continued to move his arms just as if he were playing, while the audience passed up the bow, row by row, until it was put back into his hands.
There are many more stories to tell from these two musicians' distinguished careers. Manny and Lenore wish to invite the Fairfield community to an open house to hear their tales, listen to their music, and see the paintings. The event will be held on Saturday, December 13, at 1:30 in the Broadway Building, 607 W. Broadway.
