Jorge Risi

Uruguayan musician, a violinist born to Italian parents. Already an accomplished violinist, he went to Germany to study, 1963. He tells a story that when he arrived, JFK had just been assassinated and everyone gave me condolences because he was a "South American." Jorge was a committed Marxist from youth, a member of the Frente Amplio group (Open Front). While in Germany, Jorge met his wife, an Uruguayan language student. They returned to Uruguay specifically to raise their children in their culture. He was the leading violinist of the city's cultural life. When his country went under the rule of a military dictatorship, in way of protest, he announced a recital but without the details of the program. At the time of the concert, he walked onstage with a pile of music and said, "I am prepared to play these pieces of Bach, Beethoven, etc but I want you to choose the program because I do not believe the musician should dictate what the audience hears." Shortly after, a military figure appeared at this home, and holding a gun to Risi's head, informed him that he was to leave the country immediately. He left with his violin, but his wife remained to have their third child. His 12-year political exile from Uruguay began on 4/14/1972. He moved to West Germany in 1973 where his wife joined him two years later with the family. He performed as concertmaster in an orchestra. In 1980 the Mexico City Philharmonic played a concert in Cologne. When he heard them he realized how deeply he wanted his children to be raised in Latin America, so he applied for and became concertmaster in 1981. He fathered the Cuartetto Latin-American with a debut in Mexico City 3/12/1982. He developed a program of teaching violin by way of video tapes to be broadcast on TV. As a Marxist, he believed that everyone should have the opportunity to learn music, and in so doing combined his two great loves. These tapes are still available at the turn of the century and are being used in Latin America. When Uruguay resumed democracy, Risi returned to his homeland and was named Minister of Culture. Not content to be a bureaucrat, he continued to perform and teach. In 1990, he had a heart attack while performing in Spain and 1/25/1991, had a quadruple by-pass in Montevedeo. By 2001, Risi took the post of the Director of the Department of Music at the National University. His marriage concluded several years prior. Of average height, Risi is beautifully proportioned and has a thick shock of hair that literally turned white overnight when he went into exile. On 9/11/2001, he underwent a thrombosis and angioplasty, Montevideo, Uy.