The Man
Timeline
- 1916 - 1929: The Prodigy
- 1930 - 1938: Jeunesse dorée
- 1939 - 1956: War and Peace
- 1957 - 1979: Festivals and Festivities
- 1980 - 1999: Music's Ambassador to the World
- 1999 Onwards: After Menuhin's Death
1957 - 1979: Festivals and Festivities
Yehudi with Ravi Shankar
Photo: © David Farrell
- 1957
- First Gstaad Festival: gives two concerts with Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears and Maurice Gendron
- 1959
- Artistic Director of the Bath Festival (until 1968); establishes Bath Festival Orchestra and performs and records extensively with them; introduces Jacqueline du Pré, aged 16, at 1961 festival
- 1963
- Establishes Yehudi Menuhin School in London, transferring to Surrey a year later
- 1965
- Made honorary Knight of the British Empire (KBE)
- 1966
- Conducts first opera, Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte at Bath Festival
- Performs and records duo improvisations with Ravi Shankar; their joint appearance at 1967 UN Assembly is 'a thunderous success' (Ravi Shankar)
- 1969
- Joint Artistic Director (with Ian Hunter) of Windsor Festival (until 1972)
- President of International Music Council, UNESCO (for three successive terms, until 1975)
- 1970
- Honorary Swiss citizenship
- At Windsor, conducts world première of Oliver Knussen’s Second Symphony
- 1971
- Supports Russian dissidents in Moscow speech
- First duet appearance with jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli
- 1972
- Publishes essays and speeches in Theme and Variations
- 1973
- World première of Frank Martin’s Polyptyque
- 1975
- Conducts Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for first time (becomes their President in 1982)
- 1976
- Plays at inaugural Bermuda Festival
- 1977
- Foundation of Live Music Now in Britain and the International Menuhin Music Academy in Gstaad
- Publishes autobiography Unfinished Journey
- 1978
- The Music of Man television series for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
- 1979
- Establishes Portsmouth International String Quartet Competition (later London International String Quartet Competition, the leading event of its kind)
- Visits China, named first ever Western honorary professor of Beijing Conservatoire; first Chinese students permitted to leave their country to study at the Menuhin School and Menuhin Academy