Zvi Zeitlin (21 February 19222 May 2012) was a Russian-born American classical violinist and teacher. Born in Dubroŭna (now in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

), the son of Jewish parents: a doctor and amateur violinist, Zeitlin won a scholarship at the age of 11 to the Juilliard School of Music in New York, the youngest scholarship student in the institution's history. He subsequently read Judaic Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and served in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

from 1943 to 1946. Following World War II, he returned to Juilliard for additional studies, with such teachers as Sascha Jacobsen, Louis Persinger, and Ivan Galamian. The composers

Gunther Schuller Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician. Biography and works Early years Schuller was born in Queens, New York City ...

Paul Ben-Haim Paul Ben-Haim (or Paul Ben-Chaim, Hebrew: פאול בן חיים) (5 July 1897 – 14 January 1984) was an Israeli composer. Born Paul Frankenburger in Munich, Germany, he studied composition with Friedrich Klose and he was assistant conductor t ...

and Carlos Surinach composed violin concertos for Zeitlin, who premiered them. Zeitlin was the first to record George Rochberg's Caprice Variations in their entirety. He was also a particular champion of the violin concerto of Arnold Schoenberg and recorded this work commercially for

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

. Zeitlin taught for 45 years at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman. It offers Bachelor of Music ...

, from 1967 until his death in 2012. He gave his final recital at Eastman just before his 90th birthday. During his time at Eastman, he, pianist Barry Snyder, and cellist Robert Sylvester founded the Eastman Trio, and Zeitlin performed with this trio from 1976 to 1982. He also taught summer courses at 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 ...

in California, starting in 1973. From 1962 to 2002, he performed on a rare Cremonese violin by Giuseppe Guarneri ''del Gesù'', the 1734 "Prince Doria", which was initially gifted to him by the Lionel Perera family, before switching to a replica by the contemporary American violinmaker, Gregg T. Alf. Zeitlin and his wife Marianne Langner Zeitlin were married for 61 years. The couple had 2 children, Hillel and Leora. His widow and children, his sister Anba Kantor, and six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren survive him.

References

External links

University of Rochester page on Zvi Zeitlin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeitlin, Zvi 1922 births 2012 deaths American classical violinists Male classical violinists American male violinists Russian classical violinists American music educators Russian music educators Violin pedagogues 20th-century classical violinists 20th-century American male musicians Music Academy of the West faculty Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Soviet emigrants to the United States 20th-century American violinists Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni