Klara Berkovich is a Soviet and American violinist and master violin teacher who divided her career between the Soviet Union and the United States. Klara Berkovich was born in Odessa, Ukraine, the only child of Yefim Gordion, a machinist, and Adele R Tesler, a teacher of Russian language and literature. In 1934, Klara at age 7 began to study violin at Special Music School, a former student of Stolyarsky who in addition to teaching played in theatre orchestras. Alongside her musical studies, Klara pursued regular academic studies in the public schools of Odessa. When Klara was 13, the German army invaded the Ukrainian SSR and the Soviet Union. Klara and her mother wound up in the village of Kafkas, where they stayed for a year. During that time Klara taught her first violin student. In August 1942, with the Germans advancing more deeply into the Soviet Union, Klara and her mother left Kafkas. They arrived in the Siberian town of Novosibirsk in October. Klara attended public high school in Novosibirsk for her academic work and resumed musical studies in the Novosibirsk Special Music School. There her new violin professor was, a fine and experienced teacher. He refined her playing along lines of greater ease and relaxation and prepared her for conservatory studies. In 1945 Klara graduated from high school in Novosibirsk. With the Nazis defeated and departed, she and her mother returned to find a devastated Odessa. Klara, now 17, auditioned for the Odessa Conservatory. Klara pursued a five-year program that led to her master's degree in Chamber Music and Teaching in 1951, at the age of 23. The year she graduated, she won a section position as first violinist in the Orchestra of the Odessa Theatre of Opera and Ballet. After two years in the Odessa opera orchestra, Klara met Adam Berkovich, a 25-year-old army engineer who was visiting his parents in Odessa. They soon married. Adam was based in Leningrad, so Klara left Odessa and joined him there. Arriving in the city in 1953, she wanted to teach, but she lacked connections in the music community. At the end of the school year, her work was examined by the musical authorities in Leningrad, and she was awarded a permanent teaching position at the Special School for the Musically Gifted in the Leningrad. At that Special School, from 1954 to 1978, she focused on students in grades 1-8, preparing them for admission to the elite preparatory high school of the Leningrad Conservatory. Over that time she became one of the most esteemed teachers of young violinists in the city. The Berkoviches, they decided to emigrate. After a four-month wait in Leningrad, in March 1979 the Berkoviches obtained visas and left for Vienna. In June 1979, the Berkovich family flew to Baltimore, Maryland. With no musical contacts in the Baltimore community, Mrs. Berkovich began teaching violin to the children of other Soviet immigrants in the community for free. In September 1980, she became a regular part-time instructor at the Peabody Preparatory. Shortly thereafter, she found a second part-time position, this one giving violin lessons to talented students from several public schools in Baltimore at two locations: City College High School and Roland Park Elementary School. Her part-time status lasted less than a year. In May 1981, both the Peabody Prep and BTEC invited her to join their faculties as a regular teacher and offered her full benefits. In the United States, Mrs. Berkovich's reputation as a teacher grew quickly, supported both by the playing of her students and by her clear and musical way of teaching in repertoire and master classes. In May 1989, she was named "String Teacher of the Year" by the Maryland/D.C. chapter of the American String Teachers Association. In 1990 Klara Berkovich retired from teaching at the Baltimore Talent Education Center, and in 1992 she retired from the Peabody Preparatory. She maintained a small private studio of students well into her 80s.

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