Master viola and violin players call North Bend home
May 8, 2009
By Laura Geggel
Emanuel Vardi is 94 years young and has played the viola with more celebrities than most people have in their CD collections.
Like a concert violist churning through a long score — as Vardi once did — he tells his life stories with little else beyond his long memory. And Vardi has much to tell: he played for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his youth, produced music for Louie Armstrong and accompanied musicians like Frank Sinatra, Diana Ross, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan and George Benson.
Vardi and his wife, Lenore, moved to North Bend in 2007 and spend much of their time painting and teaching their craft to the next generation. But, before the Snoqualmie Valley and a life in New York, Vardi started his story with his birth in Israel in 1915. At that time, Israel was still part of the Ottoman Empire, serving as a haven for Jews escaping pogroms and religious intolerance in Europe.
Emanuel Vardi (left) gives Seth May-Patterson a viola lesson as Lenore Vardi walks toward them.
His parents did not stay there for long, moving to New York when Vardi was only 4-months-old. His violinist father and pianist mother wasted no time in his music education, either.
“My father gave me a violin when I was 3, so I knew nothing else,” Vardi said.
“He was expected to be a violinist,” Lenore said.
Music encompassed Vardi’s life. He attended Juilliard at age 12, but never graduated because the NBC Symphony Orchestra recruited him at age 21, and he was not about to turn down the chance to play with renowned Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini.
By that time, Vardi had switched from violin to viola, a larger-stringed instrument with a lower range. He heard a recording of William Primrose, a famous violist whom he later played with at NBC.
“When I heard that and how a viola could be played, I said ‘That’s for me,’” Vardi said. “I decided that I was going to go into viola.”
Vardi’s father could not believe his ears. Viola was, in effect, second fiddle to the violin. There were fewer solo pieces written and less respect for it.
“When I switched to viola, he almost disowned me,” Vardi said, with a smile. “When I became famous, he introduced me as ‘My son, the violist.’”
When World War II swept young men into the draft, Vardi had the chance to play in the United States Navy Band in Washington, D.C. After one of his recitals, Eleanor Roosevelt approached him and asked if he would play for the president at the White House.
“The secret service whisked me in a car,” Vardi remembered. “They made sure that I didn’t have any guns and that my viola case only had a viola in it.”
If they had caught him after the war, he might have had a paintbrush on him, too. Using the G.I. Bill, Vardi spent two years in Florence, Italy studying portrait and landscape painting.
Upon returning to the States, he played in the ABC Symphony Orchestra. Back then, the music was live and musicians had to constantly play to avoid dead air. In his free time, Vardi played in quartets and solo. To this day, he is only one of two violists who have delivered solo recitals at Carnegie Hall. Because fewer soloists played the viola, Vardi found himself creating new pieces for the instrument.
“I created a lot of solos, because the viola repertoire was very limited,” Vardi said. “I changed the attitude of the viola into a solo instrument by creating solo pieces for the viola.”
Manny meets Lenore
The daughter of a steel worker and a dancer, Lenore Vardi found her father’s old violin by the age of 2, but did not start playing it until age 7.
“I wanted to touch it and be part of it,” she said.
When her parents finally agreed to let her play, Lenore’s teacher was beside himself with her talent.
“He said, ‘This is the thing I’ve been waiting for my whole life,’” she remembered.
Lenore quickly progressed, taking advantage of Detroit’s public school system and music program. When she got into Oberlin Conservatory of Music, “I was out of there like a shot.” In the year she took off of college, Lenore studied with Dorothy DeLay, a famous violin teacher whose students include Itzhak Perlman. From there, she went to Sarah Lawrence College.
“During my last year, I decided I wanted to learn a bit about the viola,” Lenore said.
As luck would have it, Lenore turned to Vardi for viola lessons. She played the instrument for a while, but the larger string instrument required more energy and stretching.
“Most violists play in orchestras or chamber groups,” Lenore said. “As a soloist, it’s exhausting. I would have my chiropractor waiting backstage after the show.”
Lenore eventually returned to the violin, but her brief instrument switch led to her marriage with Vardi in 1984.
“She just didn’t want to pay for lessons,” he joked.
The duo has since played together for all sorts of movie scores and musicians. Their stringed instruments can be heard in “Sleepless in Seattle,” “Kramer vs. Kramer,” “Tootsie,” “Aladdin,” “Fame” and more.
Vardi even played with John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and made sure to get their autographs for his two daughters from his first marriage.
In 1993, Vardi hurt himself at a construction site and broke his wrist. Then, he slipped on a sheet of ice and tore his shoulder. After six surgeries, he put away his violin and instead concentrated on his art, which he had been slowly developing since the 1970s.
The couple slowly began moving across the country, teaching at universities as they moved from the east coast to the Midwest and finally to Washington state.
Lenore, who still plays her violin, often plays for the public, surrounded by her husband’s art.
“If I would do a string trio, Manny would paint a string trio,” said Lenore, who also paints.
The Vardi’s artwork can be found locally at Revolution Gallery, in Issaquah, Laurel Tree Gallery in Duvall, For Art Sake Gallery in Gig Harbor and at www.vardiart.com.
“I also believe that Manny is a National treasure, an incredible painter and musician and should be cherished as such,” said Revolution Gallery owner Pennie Humphreys. “His sweet demeanor and generosity of spirit is inspirational, as well as a delight.”
General Manager at Hammond Ashley Violins Bryce Van Parys sells prints of the Vardis’ work at his store in Issaquah.
“He is one of the performers that is equally great as a musician and an artist,” Van Parys said. “They’re very colorful, they really capture a performance.”
Art and a free performance
The Vardi duo will showcase their art during the Bellevue Jazz Festival. They will show two-dozen of their paintings during a free, live jazz jam of the Greta Matassa Quartet at the Sherman Clay piano store at 1000 Bellevue Way N.E., Bellevue from 4:30-6 p.m. May 23. Their art will show from May 22-24.
Vardi explained how he paints musicians lost in the reverie of their music.
“They’re always within themselves,” Vardi said. “They never open their eyes.”
The Vardis would also like to share their love of music for beginning and seasoned players both young and old. To learn more about lessons, call 292-0137 or e-mail vardiart@vardiart.com.
Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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