Donald Weilerstein (born 1940) is an American violinist and

pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

Early life and education

Weilerstein was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and raised in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

. He began playing the violin at the age of four and earned a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music from the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...

Career

In 1969, he founded the

Cleveland Quartet The Cleveland Quartet was a string quartet founded in 1969 by violinist Donald Weilerstein, at the time an instructor at the Cleveland Institute of Music, whose director Victor Babin had secured funding for an in-resident quartet (the institute's f ...

, becoming its first violinist, a position he held until 1989. Since 2004, he has been the Dorothy Richard Starling Chair in Violin Studies at

New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music Music school, conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The ...

and since 2001, he is a faculty member at the

. His students have won first prize in the

Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists The Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists (or simply the Menuhin Competition) is an international music competition for violinists under the age of 22. It was founded by Yehudi Menuhin in 1983 with the goal of nurturing you ...

and first prize in the

International Violin Competition of Indianapolis The International Violin Competition of Indianapolis (IVCI) is a Classical music, classical violin competition which takes place once every four years in Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana. Since its founding in 1982, "The Indianapolis" has bee ...

. In addition, he is a member of the Weilerstein Trio with his daughter,

Alisa Weilerstein Alisa Weilerstein (born April 14, 1982) is an American classical cellist. She was named a 2011 MacArthur Fellow. Life and career Weilerstein was born in Rochester, New York. to a secular Jewish family. She started playing the cello at age four. ...

, and wife, Vivian Hornik Weilerstein. Weilerstein is a fellow of the

Music Academy of the West The Music Academy is a classical music training program in Montecito in Santa Barbara County, California. Overview The academy hosts an annual eight-week summer music festival, highlighted by concerts and workshops directed by famous composer ...

References

American classical violinists Male classical violinists American male violinists Jewish classical violinists Violin pedagogues Juilliard School faculty Living people 1940 births Music Academy of the West alumni 21st-century classical violinists 21st-century American male musicians People from Berkeley, California Musicians from Berkeley, California 21st-century American violinists {{US-classical-musician-stub