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GIVING THE GIFT OF MUSIC
By Glenn Lovell
San Jose Mercury News
Feb 19 2005
Mercury News
Nahum Guzik leafed through a stack of e-mail printouts, looking for
the one about the Armenian baby and the 1989 earthquake.
"It's tear-jerking story, but it's true," he said. "The hospital in
ruins . . . the baby frozen, dead. . . . But then, when they bring
her home, she begins to cry."
Now, thanks to the 70-year-old Russian emigre -- founder of Guzik
Technical Enterprises in Mountain View and possibly Silicon Valley's
least-known arts benefactor -- that earthquake survivor is studying
piano in Vienna. She is one of hundreds of young Russian and Armenian
musicians whose training and, in some cases, international tours
have been made possible by more than $500,000 in gifts from Guzik's
foundation.
"No, I don't meet all the winners," said Guzik, a small, wiry man with
a deliciously droll sense of humor. "But that's fine, I don't need to
be remembered. I just give the scholarship winners a start. If they
are successful, if I draw them out of obscurity, I am grateful. My
job is done."
Last year's seven Guzik Foundation artists, ranging in age from 13 to
22, will perform Wednesday at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco,
and Thursday and Friday at the Florence Gould Theater at the Palace
of the Legion of Honor. Wednesday's and Friday's programs also will
feature the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. Winners Alexandre Bouzlov,
a cellist, and Haik Kazazyan, a violinist, will then make their
Carnegie Hall debuts in a Feb. 28 concert underwritten (for $90,000)
by the foundation.
"Haik has just signed with a big-concert agency, and Alexandre is
on his way to a major concert career," said Constantine Orbelian,
the music director of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, who, with Guzik's
pianist cousin Svetlana Gorzhevskaya, oversees the open auditions in
Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia, and in Erevan, Armenia.
Gifts big and small
Since it was established in 2001, the foundation has awarded
scholarships to 350 young musicians. Recipients receive anywhere from
a $100-a-month stipend to study at local conservatories to a $50,000
career grant for major concerts. Next year, the foundation plans to
mount a music festival at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
"Why do I give money? Because I think it's a good thing to do, and I
love music," explained Guzak, who still puts in a 50-hour work week
at Guzik Technical Enterprises, which makes test equipment for the
hard-disc-drive industry, including Hitachi GST. The Mountain View
plant reflects Guzik's notoriously spare lifestyle -- bare walls,
concrete floors, discount furniture. "I'm a slob," he apologized,
laughing. "But the walls are clean."
Road to Bay Area
Guzik ("button" in Polish) was born in Odessa in Ukraine but during
World War II fled with his family to the Urals, then Moscow. In 1972,
he emigrated to Israel. Ten months later, he arrived in the Bay Area.
He founded Guzik Technical Enterprises in 1982 and, in the years
since, has donated millions to cancer and stem-cell research. In 1996,
he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for his philanthropic
endeavors. He is not married and has a grown daughter at college.
While he has yet to return to Russia or his native Ukraine -- "I
have some bad memories, but mostly good ones" -- he has many Russian
friends in the Bay Area and an affinity for Russian culture. His
favorite composer: Dmitri Shostakovich.
"I know Russia, and I know the country is not in great economical
shape, so young talent is neglected, schools in disrepair," he said.
"Russia used to produce a lot of great musicians, and doesn't now.
So I try to participate to help."
`I was never musical'
Asked whether Guzik's largess stems from some unrealized childhood
dream to play great music, Orbelian said his boss is a brilliant
inventor-businessman with "an internal need for music."
"Sure, my mother wanted me to play piano -- I'm a Jewish kid," Guzik
said, laughing. "I escaped it. I never was musical."
Which is why he defers to Orbelian and cousin Gorzhevskaya's
scholarship choices.
"I like the music: It fills up the vacuum emotionally. But I cannot
tell what's good or bad, or judge their musical abilities. At same
time I am not bad judge of human qualities. You cannot run a small
company without that."
Though he has no plans to retire, and appears healthy enough, Guzik
describes himself as a workaholic diabetic who started smoking again
10 years ago. "When I croak," he said matter-of-factly, "whatever
I own will go to the foundation. What people will do with it, God
knows. But I hope they will follow what I started."
By Glenn Lovell
San Jose Mercury News
Feb 19 2005
Mercury News
Nahum Guzik leafed through a stack of e-mail printouts, looking for
the one about the Armenian baby and the 1989 earthquake.
"It's tear-jerking story, but it's true," he said. "The hospital in
ruins . . . the baby frozen, dead. . . . But then, when they bring
her home, she begins to cry."
Now, thanks to the 70-year-old Russian emigre -- founder of Guzik
Technical Enterprises in Mountain View and possibly Silicon Valley's
least-known arts benefactor -- that earthquake survivor is studying
piano in Vienna. She is one of hundreds of young Russian and Armenian
musicians whose training and, in some cases, international tours
have been made possible by more than $500,000 in gifts from Guzik's
foundation.
"No, I don't meet all the winners," said Guzik, a small, wiry man with
a deliciously droll sense of humor. "But that's fine, I don't need to
be remembered. I just give the scholarship winners a start. If they
are successful, if I draw them out of obscurity, I am grateful. My
job is done."
Last year's seven Guzik Foundation artists, ranging in age from 13 to
22, will perform Wednesday at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco,
and Thursday and Friday at the Florence Gould Theater at the Palace
of the Legion of Honor. Wednesday's and Friday's programs also will
feature the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. Winners Alexandre Bouzlov,
a cellist, and Haik Kazazyan, a violinist, will then make their
Carnegie Hall debuts in a Feb. 28 concert underwritten (for $90,000)
by the foundation.
"Haik has just signed with a big-concert agency, and Alexandre is
on his way to a major concert career," said Constantine Orbelian,
the music director of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, who, with Guzik's
pianist cousin Svetlana Gorzhevskaya, oversees the open auditions in
Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia, and in Erevan, Armenia.
Gifts big and small
Since it was established in 2001, the foundation has awarded
scholarships to 350 young musicians. Recipients receive anywhere from
a $100-a-month stipend to study at local conservatories to a $50,000
career grant for major concerts. Next year, the foundation plans to
mount a music festival at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
"Why do I give money? Because I think it's a good thing to do, and I
love music," explained Guzak, who still puts in a 50-hour work week
at Guzik Technical Enterprises, which makes test equipment for the
hard-disc-drive industry, including Hitachi GST. The Mountain View
plant reflects Guzik's notoriously spare lifestyle -- bare walls,
concrete floors, discount furniture. "I'm a slob," he apologized,
laughing. "But the walls are clean."
Road to Bay Area
Guzik ("button" in Polish) was born in Odessa in Ukraine but during
World War II fled with his family to the Urals, then Moscow. In 1972,
he emigrated to Israel. Ten months later, he arrived in the Bay Area.
He founded Guzik Technical Enterprises in 1982 and, in the years
since, has donated millions to cancer and stem-cell research. In 1996,
he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for his philanthropic
endeavors. He is not married and has a grown daughter at college.
While he has yet to return to Russia or his native Ukraine -- "I
have some bad memories, but mostly good ones" -- he has many Russian
friends in the Bay Area and an affinity for Russian culture. His
favorite composer: Dmitri Shostakovich.
"I know Russia, and I know the country is not in great economical
shape, so young talent is neglected, schools in disrepair," he said.
"Russia used to produce a lot of great musicians, and doesn't now.
So I try to participate to help."
`I was never musical'
Asked whether Guzik's largess stems from some unrealized childhood
dream to play great music, Orbelian said his boss is a brilliant
inventor-businessman with "an internal need for music."
"Sure, my mother wanted me to play piano -- I'm a Jewish kid," Guzik
said, laughing. "I escaped it. I never was musical."
Which is why he defers to Orbelian and cousin Gorzhevskaya's
scholarship choices.
"I like the music: It fills up the vacuum emotionally. But I cannot
tell what's good or bad, or judge their musical abilities. At same
time I am not bad judge of human qualities. You cannot run a small
company without that."
Though he has no plans to retire, and appears healthy enough, Guzik
describes himself as a workaholic diabetic who started smoking again
10 years ago. "When I croak," he said matter-of-factly, "whatever
I own will go to the foundation. What people will do with it, God
knows. But I hope they will follow what I started."