Fang Sheng
May 6, 2023
Current concertmaster Ms. Liu Ming honours Adler with performance of Hebrew Melody, Op. 33, by Jewish composer and violinist Joseph Achron
On May 6, 2023, the day of the 120th anniversary of Ferdinand Adler’s birth, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra installs a new memorial plaque for its former concertmaster. From 1939 to 1947, during Adler’s exile in Shanghai, he acted repeatedly as the concertmaster of the Shanghai Municipal Orchestra, which was the predecessor of today’s Shanghai Symphony. Adler also had a successful career as a soloist, chamber musician, and professor of violin of the Shanghai Conservatory and the Nanjing State Conservatory. Many of his students later became professionals and backbones of China’s major orchestras and operas.
Outside of the Shanghai Symphony’s concert hall, near the intersection of Mid-Fuxing Road and Baoqing Road, the orchestra has installed a Wall of Honour, paying tribute to a number of prominent musicians who made incredible contributions to the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and to China’s classical music. These include Mario Paci, Italian pianist and conductor, who transformed the orchestra from the “Shanghai Public Band” to a full symphonic orchestra dubbed as “No. 1 Orchestra of the Far East”; Arrigo Foa, Italian Jewish violinist and conductor, who directed the orchestra after Paci retired in 1942; Ferdinand Adler, Austro-Hungarian Jewish violinist, who acted as concertmaster and soloist after Foa became music director.
In addition to a memorial plaque for each musician, one unique feature of the Wall of Honour is on the metal bars of the fence. With stripes of each musician’s portrait painted on one side of the quadrangular bar, as the viewer walks pass to a certain angle, the stripes come together and reveal the full portrait. However, due to inadequate information, the years of Adler’s birth and death were marked as unknown. Later research confirms that Ferdinand Adler was born on May 6, 1903 and died on February 21, 1952.
Christina Adler, daughter of Ferdinand Adler, says in a video statement, “I am deeply touched, proud and honoured that 71 years after my father’s death he is still being remembered in Shanghai”.
The Chinese news story is posted on Shanghai Symphony Orchestra’s Wechat page:
Photos provided by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra
Video provided by Christina Adler
Mr. Liu Ming performing Hebrew Melody, provided by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra