On the death of violinist and violin teacher Ursula Oppenheimer-Isler
In memory of Ursula Oppenheimer-Isler 22.11.1937 - 19.02.2025, a concert with the Spring Sonata and the Kreuzer Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven took place today, Tuesday, June 3, 2025 in Ascona.
Ursula Oppenheimer-Isler began playing the violin at the age of 7, first privately and then at the Winterthur Music School with Aida Piraccini-Stucki.
She obtained her teaching and concert diploma at the Zurich Conservatory with Prof. E. Morawec from Vienna. Master classes at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and study visits to Vienna complemented her training. She then continued her training with Yehudi Menuhin. In 1962, she played at the Gstaad Music Weeks in a soloist ensemble under the direction of Nadja Boulanger and Yehudi Menuhin.
In addition to her successful concert activities as a soloist, chamber musician (she particularly enjoyed duo evenings with violin and piano) and orchestral musician in the Eastern Switzerland Chamber Orchestra, she devoted herself with great dedication to violin teaching.
Through her marriage to Wolfgang Oppenheimer, she became a "Ticino native". In her new home, she performed and gave concerts on many occasions together with renowned colleagues from Ticino. After being primarily a mother for a few years, she also took up teaching again, initially in a private setting.
In 1978/1980 she was appointed violin teacher at the newly founded conservatory in Curio (Malcantone), now the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, where she taught until her retirement for health reasons in 1998.
She was an accredited SMPV/SSPM professional trainer and regularly acted as an expert at SMPV diploma examinations and intermediate examinations and as a juror at various regional competitions of the Swiss Youth Music Competition in Lugano.
In 1993, Ursula Oppenheimer-Isler was elected to the Central Board of the SMPV/SSPM as a representative of Ticino; from 1996 to 1999, she was even Vice President. She also had to step down from these posts in 1999 for health reasons.
She died suddenly but very peacefully in the early afternoon of February 19, 2025, after listening to three wonderful pieces from her much-loved violin literature that morning.
