Eva Janzer Memorial Fund
This fund was established in 1979 by famed cellist and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Distinguished Professor Janos Starker to honor the memory of his friend and fellow artist, Eva Janzer. Eva Czako Janzer was born April 7, 1926 in Calcutta, India. She studied cello at the Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary, where she earned a Diploma of Virtuosity in 1943. It was at the academy that she met Janos Starker. Recalling their first meeting, Professor Starker said, "I was the first person to put a cello in her hands. She was six and I was eight. We practiced together for many years and she became like a little sister to me." After graduating from the academy, Mrs. Janzer established a brilliant career as a soloist and a chamber musician. With her husband, violist George Janzer, she was a member of the internationally famous chamber ensembles, the Grumiaux Trio and the Vegh Quartet. She taught at the University of Hanover before coming to the United States with her husband in 1972 to join the faculty at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. After her death in 1978, the Eva Janzer Memorial Cello Center was established as a tribute to a great artist and much loved teacher.
The Eva Janzer Memorial Cello Center provides scholarships to assist young cello students. In addition, each year the board of directors of the Center selects one or more outstanding cellists to be honored for their contributions to cello playing and teaching. The honorees present a day of master classes at the university.