Ruggiero Ricci

Ruggiero Ricci (born July 24, 1918, San Francisco, California, U.S.—died August 6, 2012) was an American violinist known especially for his performances and recordings of Niccolò Paganini’s works.

Ricci was born into a musical family and studied as a child with Louis Persinger. He gave his first concert in San Francisco at the age of 10. After further study with Mischel Piastro and Georg Kulenkampff, he made a European tour in 1932. From 1933 to 1937 he studied with Paul Stassevitch, reaching maturity as an accomplished virtuoso with command of the 19th-century bravura repertoire. Playing his 1734 Guarneri violin, he appeared regularly in Europe and America. He premiered the concertos of Alberto Ginastera (New York, 1963) and Gottfried von Einem (Vienna, 1970) and introduced the rediscovered Concerto No. 4 of Paganini to American audiences (1971). He taught at Indiana University, the Juilliard School, and the University of Michigan.