Arthur Leavins (b. 14 July 1917, Leicester, England — d. 7 January 1995) was a British violinist. He was concertmaster of the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, that performs and produces primarily classic works. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable ...

for most of the 1950s under conductor Sir Thomas Beecham; after which he played with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and served as concertmaster of the BBC Concert Orchestra for 17 years. A child prodigy, he began his performance career as the age of 4 in New Zealand and by the age of 14 was a violinist with the

Leicester Symphony Orchestra Leicester Symphony Orchestra is based in Leicester, England. The orchestra was founded by Malcolm Sargent in 1922 along with Grace Burrows as orchestra leader. Sargent continued to conduct the orchestra until 1939. In these early years, the orchest ...

. He studied with

Arthur Catterall Arthur Catterall (25 May 1883 – 28 November 1943) was an English concert violinist, orchestral leader and conductor, one of the best-known English classical violinists of the first half of the twentieth century. photo of Wills's cigarette card ...

at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

, and became a member of Catterall's string quartet after earning his diploma. He was married to pianist Mary Baddeley whom he met while playing with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra during the 1940s. They had two sons. As a soloist, he was particularly admired for his performances of

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

's ''

Violin Concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

''.

References

1917 births 1995 deaths British violinists {{UK-music-bio-stub