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Dan Adams
Dan Adams
Cut to the chase and go to Dan's web site
This is the long story from conversations Dan & I had driving to and from Harold
Thompson's Blackwater Recording Studio.
Dan Adams came to the US in 1993 from Chernovtsy in the Bukovina region of
Moldova. He plays the violin with a control and freedom usually known only
to jazz musicians. And in fact, Dan is one of the few musicians with
classical qualifications as long as your arm who can play jazz. But our
story starts back in the early 1920's in Benham, a coal camp near Lynch KY.
Dan's Great-grandfather ________________ Ungurean came to America by himself
to work and save some money for has family back in Bukovina. He took a
liking to a young hardworking miner, Nick _________________. After they
became friends, Ungurean showed Nick pictures of his daughter Elizabeth and
they arranged a marriage. Elizabeth and Nick made a good couple and had
three children, John, George and Victoria (born in 1926). Elizabeth was
homesick and convinced the family to take a ship back to Bukovina for a
visit. This is the period when Rumania and the Ukraine were in dispute
over who Bukovina belonged to at the moment.
On the way to Bukovina, the ship was lost at sea for five weeks. By the
time they got back to Bukovina, funeral services had been held for all of
them. At first Elizabeth was too scared to put her family on a ship again to
return to Kentucky.
By the time they were ready to go back, America had closed its doors. They
could have gone to Canada, but only Nick and the three children could go back to
America. Finally Nick returned to Benham and stayed eight years before
returning to what was now Russia. They had two more children, Dimitri and
Michael.
Things were good for a while. Nick was industrious and bought property.
That turned out to not be a good move as the Soviet collective farms
confiscated everything but the house. Nick was known all his life for his
wearing of American bib overalls. He always spoke fondly of America and the
American way. Nick came perilously close to having his life totally
destroyed. If it were not for a mining accident, which cost him much of his
sight, he would have been sent to Siberia. Instead he went into business
making bricks and lived to tell his grandchildren about America.
In 1947 Victoria married Adam Onofreichuk, a postman. They had six children,
George, John, Mariana, Vivi, Dan (1962), and Cornel.
When Dan was 7 years old he started with his first teacher, Ion Cocha
who was 83 years old. Dan studied with Mr. Cocha for only one year and was
his last student. Mr. Cocha recorded all their lessons, which Dan credits
with his learning of self-control.
Then Dan studied for a year with Willi Zelta who later went to Australia.
Dan was 13 years old when his father died. He had to go out and bring some
income home to support the family. Fortunately the arts are valued
differently in the old world and Dan could earn the wage of a workingman by
playing several jobs per week. And while doing this, Dan gained the kind of
experience that a teacher cannot give.
Laisa Weinstein was Dan's next teacher. She had been trained at the Moscow
Conservatory. Dan remembers her little tiny fingers. Mrs. Weinstein was
hard on him when she caught him playing by ear instead of reading from the
music. Things would go well until she would say something like "let's go
back to letter B". Dan has a bad astigmatism and could not get proper
glasses in Russia. So he memorized the music while listening to it. While
this did not please his teacher, this is probably how Dan became free from
the music page. When he came to the US he was able to get proper glasses
and is also a good reader. But in all Dan's years of playing by ear, he has
learned to think in terms of chords and progressions, which liberates him to
improvise.
Dan studied from age 17 to 24 with Dimitri Shobany. Mr. Shobany was a Gypsy
and that is one of the influences in Dan's playing. Five of his other
teachers were Jews, which also affected the way Dan hears and plays music.
Growing up in Bukovina, an area of thriving musical interaction, he was
influenced by Gypsy and Klezmer music, as well as Romanian, Moldovian,
Hungarian, Ukrainian, Russian and Armenian.
Dan also entered Beltzi College of Music in Moldova at age 17. His teacher
there was Henry Gaber. Dan won 1st prize for violin performance at the
National Competitions of Moldova in 1984. He received degrees in teaching and
performance at age 22. In 1985 he received an award for performance
excellence at the International Festival in Moscow and in 1996 at T'bilisi,
Georgia. Also in 1985 he started a two-year stint playing first chair with
a 23-piece orchestra called the Lautari Band, which was part of the Moldova
National Philharmonic. Then 15 members left to form Moldova, an all-star
band. He was soloist and first chair with them for 3 or 4 years. Vasily
Goia was their pianist and conductor. After that he played a year or two
with Balada in Kishinev, the capital of Moldova. They were a nine-piece
band with two singers and played two or three concerts a day. In 1989,
after returning to Bukovina from a tour in Canada, he formed Bukovina Hora.
His unique improvisational style developed while performing with East
European musical legends such as Garo Hayrabedian, Sandor Lakatos, Dimitry
Ciobanu, and Yuri Blischuk. He also collaborated with distinguished artists,
composers, and conductors Ivan Popov, Vasili Goya, and Nikolai Botgros. For
seven years, he held various positions, including first chair violinist in
National Philharmonic Orchestras such as Lautari, Doina Moldovei, and Balada
which toured throughout Europe, Asia, and America. He also collaborated with
ensembles such as Johk, Flueras, and Ciocirlia. For several years, he
conducted the Fedkovich University Orchestra and also the Bukovina Hora
in Chernivtsi, Ukraine. Early in his career, he received an award for
performance excellence at the International Festival in Moscow and also at
Tíbilisi, Georgia. In July 1993 he gave up those activities to come to the
US. George and Mariana followed Dan to the US in 1995 or 1996. John and Vivi
stayed in Russia.
Dan came to Roanoke because the mountains reminded him of home. His first gig
was not digging the music. It was digging the foundations for the new Cox
Cable building here in Roanoke. Dan was playing at several restaurants when
George Moore of Fincastle hired him to play their 29th wedding anniversary.
When George opened Millie's Place in Fincastle, Dan played there for four
years. They were blissful years, as Mr. Moore truly loved the music.
Dan Adams is a violinist, composer, and arranger who seamlessly combines the
worlds of classical music and jazz with a hint of gypsy style. The result is
a tapestry woven from light classical, jazz, klezmer, hot club, and
Traditional East European music. He has brought his distinct style of music
to Roanoke, Virginia, where he has found the opportunity to work with a wide
range of professionals, ranging from duos and quartets, all the way to
international collaborations. His latest recording was made with New Friends
& Old Friends, Al Broholm, Bob Bowen, Bob Peckman, Victor Dubenco and Victor
Cebotari. It is truly eclectic and electrifying.