Awsay Strok and His Asian Tours (1910−1950s)
The Activities of an Impresario from 1910s to 1950s
Photos, Programs, Newspaper Articles
Programs are in the collection of Osaka College Of Music
Chronology
Born on February 28, (Julian calendar) in 1875 (Julian calendar), in a small Jewish settlement in the suburbs of Daugavpils, Latvia (then known as Dünaburg, later Dvinsk).
Photo: Strok’s birthplace of Daugavpils (2017), an idyllic Jewish village in the lake district 230 kilometers southeast of Riga in Latvia
His father, a war veteran, was a professional musician, and he had eight talented children.
The youngest brother, Oscar or Oskar Strok, was a pianist and later a popular tango composer, and the younger brother, Leo Strokoff, was a professional violinist in the United States.
Photo: The tomb of his younger brother, Oscar Strok（Riga 2017）
Photo: The Commemorative plate of Oscar Strok（Riga 2017）
1880s: Stork was an orchestral musician and percussionist in Saint Petersburg, where he met violinist Efrem Zimbalist.
Around 1913: He left his home country, where political instability was increasing, and traveled with his wife to the Far East on the Trans-Siberian Railway, staying in Vladivostok. Eventually, he settled in Shanghai and got a job in the Public Band (later known as “Shanghai Municipal Orchestra”). He left the band before long.
1918: He started his career as a “concert manager.”
1919: Asian tour of Great Russian Opera Company.
1920s: Stayed in Shanghai, toured Asian countries with world-famous performers such as Elman, Heifetz, Thibaud, Segovia, etc.
Image (Osaka, December 8, 1923)
Photo: Zimbalist and Strok (December 8, 1924, ©︎Osaka, Osaka College of Music)
1928: The tango “Black Eyes” composed by his brother, Oscar Strok, became a big hit.
1929: Getta, his eldest daughter, married.
Fig. June 2, 1929 China Press
1930s: Toured Asian countries with Rubinstein, Chaliapin, and others. Strok traveled between Shanghai and Japan frequently.
Fig. Strok in Shanghai November 4, 1931 China Press
A.Strok and Hilary Napier on the ship to Singapore Jan. 26 1941 (provided by Hilary Napier's daughter Fiona Dunlop)
1937: “I am going to establish a national opera in Japan.”
(North China Herald June 23, 1937)
‘ “I am going to establish a national opera in Japan and am also going to bring out the best in English theatrical companies to the Far East,” said Mr. A. Strok, impresario, in the course of an interview with the North China Herald on June 19. Mr. Strok, who holds a special commission from the “Tokyo Asahi” and the “Osaka Asahi Shimbun,” two of Japan’s leading newspapers, is leaving for America and England on July 15, with these two main objects in view.’ (North China Herald June 23, 1937)
August 1937: The Second Shanghai Incident
Strok stopped touring and secluded himself in Shanghai.
December 8, 1941: Outbreak of Pacific War, Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor.
August 15, 1945: Japan lost the war, and the foreign settlement of Shanghai disappeared.
1945: Strok emigrated to the United States and opened a management office in New York
Image (With Meneghin)
Photo (The green building is a former office near the Lincoln Center )
Fig. Strok’s advertisement of his New York management office
1951: Menuhin's first tour in of Japan
Photo with Menuhin in 1951 （Showa University of Music Library Ohara Collection）
1954: DuPaul Black Chorus’s first tour of Japan
1955: Symphony of the Air’s (Symphony Orchestra)’s first tour of Japan and Asian cities.
July 2, 1956: Strok died in Tokyo. The musical funeral was held at Hibiya Public Hall on July 17. He is buried in Yokohama Foreign Cemetery.
Photo: July 17 1956 （Showa University of Music Library Ohara Collection）
After his death, Murayama Michi, the owner of the Asahi Shimnbun Company, followed the Stroke's advice and organized the Osaka International Festival in 1958. In 2008, this festival celebrated the its 50th anniversary.