Biography
|
Routa Kroumovitch-Gomez was born in Latvia and started her music studies at the age of four. She was accepted as a scholarship student at the prestigious USSR Latvian Music Academy Darzins Music School. Kroumovitch participated in numerous concert tours and was recorded on radio and television throughout the former USSR, in cities including Leningrad, Vilnius, Tallinn, and Moscow. In 1971, she was chosen to represent Latvia in a concert at the Kremlin.
Kroumovitch attended master classes with Galina Barinova and Leonid Kogan. After auditioning for the legendary violinist David Oistrakh, she was accepted into his studio and was awarded a full scholarship to study at the P.I. Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatoire. Oistrakh said of her that "Kroumovitch is a violinist of exceptional talent with an expressive, rich sound and brilliant technique." Since leaving the former USSR, Professor Kroumovitch has performed as a soloist and taught masterclasses throughout the US, Canada, Europe, Israel, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Australia, Singapore, China, Japan, and Korea. |
|
After immigrating to Chile and graduating from the University of Chile, Kroumovitch held positions as first violin of the Santiago Chamber Orchestra, concertmaster of the Chilean Philharmonic Orchestra, and concertmaster of the Chilean Symphony Orchestra. In 1985 she received the "El Circulo de Criticos de Arte'' critics award for the best solo performance in Santiago, and a Fulbright Award in 1986. Kroumovitch is also active as a chamber musician and as a Duo with her husband, Alvaro Gomez. The duo have toured all over the world and received high accolades for their performances of concertos with orchestra and recitals. Composers like Talivaldis Kenins, Harold Blanchard, Federico Heinlein, and others have dedicated works to this Duo.
Kroumovitch has become internationally hailed for her "virtuoso brilliance" (Canberra, Australia), "clear sensitive tone" (Jerusalem Post) and "exquisite beauty of sound" (Straits Times, Singapore). Her solo performances appeared in Asian, South American, European, and North American radio, television, and live video recordings. |
|
|
In 1987, Kroumovitch and her family immigrated to the United States. After teaching various master classes in the New England area, she became the first violin of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and taught at the University of Central Arkansas. In 1989 Kroumovitch was appointed a professor of violin, viola, and chamber music at Stetson University's School of Music, where she teaches today.
Apart from being a Stetson University faculty member, Professor Kroumovitch continues to perform all over the world and her master classes are in high demand. She represents the United States as a judge in international violin competitions, and has been honored by repeated invitation to preside as a judge of the International Music Competition Dr. Luis Sigall, member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions in Chile. Professor Kroumovitch has been the concertmaster of many symphony orchestras and, since 1994, has been concertmaster of Winter Park’s Bach Festival Orchestra. She has participated as a soloist in festivals such as the Grand Tetons, the Florida International Festival, Fairbanks Summer Festival, Frutillar music festival in Chile, Schlern International Music Festival and Orfeo International Music Festival. |
|
Professor Kroumovitch has been featured on radio and television performances in Europe, Canada, USA, South America, and Asia. Besides performing a vast repertoire of major concertos and other solo works for violin, she has also premiered many contemporary works.
Professor Kroumovitch has been a soloist with the following conductors: Irwin Hoffman (USA), Victor Tevah (Chile), Juan Carlos Santos (Peru), Werner Torkanowsky (U.S.), Stuart Bedford (UK), Lazlo Halasz (Hungary), R. Henderson (U.S.), M. Benzecry (Argentina), U. Mayer (Canada), T. Sleeper (U.S.), Tovi Lifsics (Latvia), Kypros Markus (Greece), J. Sinclaire (U.S.) and many others. Professor Kroumovitch has collaborated with artists like Gidon Kremer, Philippe Hirshhorn, Oleg Kagan, Dmitri Kabalevsky, Andrew Marriner, Vladimir Landsman, Claudio Arrau, André Watts, Leo Fleisher, Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Joseph Kalichstein, and many others. |
|
