One artist, two instruments: Meet Ayke Agus

While Ayke Agus is perhaps best known as the pianist who accompanied the world-renowned Russian violinist Jascha Heifetz during the last fifteen years of his life, she is an equally accomplished violinist.

A native of Indonesia with Chinese, Dutch and Javanese ancestry, Ayke began her concert career on both violin and piano when she was only seven years old.  Today, she regularly participates in chamber music festivals throughout the United States, presents recitals worldwide, and appears as a guest artist with such internationally recognized ensembles as the Ysaÿe String Quartet and Jacques Thibaud String Trio. Also, as often as her busy schedule permits, Ayke performs with the California Philharmonic and The Pasadena Symphony. 

Whether playing the piano or the violin, Ayke is as comfortable in the recording studio as she is in the concert hall. Her most recent recordings, for Protone Records, include a piano solo disc, Musical Memories of Jascha Heifetz, and Ayke Agus Doubles, in which she accompanies her own violin performances of several Heifetz violin/ piano transcriptions.

It was when she auditioned for Jascha Heifetz’s Master Class at the University of Southern California that Ayke’s relationship with the virtuoso violinist began. The regular accompanist suddenly left …Ayke was asked to fill in…and the rest, as they say, is musical history. Ayke’s artistry on the piano so impressed Heifetz  that he hired her as his own accompanist – a partnership that lasted until his death in 1987. During this time, Ayke presented numerous chamber music concerts as well with Heiftetz and the Russian cellist Gregor Piatigorsky.

Since the publication of her memoir – Heifetz, As I Knew Him – in 2001,Ayke has been invited to give workshops and Master Classes at colleges and music festivals nationwide. She also draws upon her past experience with Heifetz when she presents Master Classes on The Art of Collaboration: What to Expect From Your Accompanist. 

For ten years, Ayke Agus served on the piano faculty at the University of Southern California – where she earned her Master’s Degree after studying in Buffalo, New York, becoming the youngest member of the Buffalo Philharmonic, and winning competitions in both piano and violin. She currently teaches violin at Antelope Valley College.