Stanley Plummer

Violinist. Born: 24 August 1927. Died: 11 November 2000. Stanley Ellison Plummer, 73, concert violinist who taught and performed at UCLA, UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Fullerton. A child prodigy who won several international competitions in his youth, Plummer was cited repeatedly by Times critics for his technique as he made his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in the Hollywood Bowl, and played at such venues as the Shrine Auditorium and UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall. He became known, too, for the storied violin he played for much of his career--a 1745 instrument made in Milan by Giovanni Batista Guadagnini, a pupil of Stradivari. The rare Guadagnini had been purchased in 1914 by one of Plummer’s teachers, renowned Pasadena violinist Vera Barstow, who played it on the front lines during World War I. Plummer acquired the violin when he was 23 and the concertmaster of the Pasadena Civic Orchestra. He used it in his debut recital as Occidental College’s “young artist of the year.” Born in San Jose, Plummer began studying violin at age 4 and performing at 6. By his 20s, he was winning competitions around the world--the Associated Concerts Bureau contest at Carnegie Hall in 1948, the UCLA Young Artists’ Competition in 1950, first prize in the National Federation of Music Clubs Auditions in 1951, and the Sir Arnold Bax Medal in Manchester, England, in 1955 for outstanding performance of contemporary music. He served in both Army and Navy orchestras. During his decades of teaching, Plummer also performed in studio orchestras, contributing to about 1,500 motion picture and television program soundtracks and record albums. On Nov. 11 in Santa Monica of complications from Parkinson’s disease.