Ljerko Spiller

Ljerko Spiller
Ljerko Spiller in his twenties
Born	(1908-07-22)July 22, 1908 Crikvenica, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, (now Croatia)
Died	November 9, 2008(2008-11-09) (aged 100) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Nationality	Croat, Argentine

Ljerko Spiller (July 22, 1908 – November 9, 2008) was a famous Croat and Argentine violinist.

Spiller was born in Crikvenica to a Croatian Jewish family. After World War I Spiller moved with his family to Zagreb, where he studied violin at the Music School of Croatian Music Institute under Vaclav Huml.

As a scholar of the French government Spiller perfected his knowledge of education at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, starting in 1928 when he began to study under Gaston Poulet, and continued his study under famous Jacques Thibaud. On Thibaud's recommendation Spiller played in freshly based chamber orchestra by Alfred Cortot, along with Zino Francescatti and Maurice Vieux. When Francescatti Spiller replaced him place as a concertmaster. Spiller graduated in 1930 and soon after his graduation he got a job as a lecturer at the Paris École Normale de Musique. He achieved great success in 1935 at Warsaw Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition, one of the top competitions in the world in general.

On the eve of the World War II, Spiller left Europe to escape, as a Jew, the Nazi persecution. He moved to Buenos Aires where he began his life of a violinist, teacher, conductor and organizer of musical life. Spiller became active in a lengthy list classical groups, organizations and related professions, including: symphony orchestra concertmaster for LRA Radio del Mundo and the Amigos de la Musica; conductor, founder and artistic director of the Conjunto de Cámara; associate professor emeritus at the University of La Plata; and conductor and violinist of festival in Córdoba. He also taught in the discipline in San Carlos de Bariloche, and among his students was the virtuoso and Camerata Bariloche conductor, Alberto Lysy.