Arnold Steinhardt (born 1937 in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

) is an American

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist, best known as the first violinist of the

Guarneri String Quartet The Guarneri Quartet was an American string quartet founded in 1964 at the Marlboro Music School and Festival. It was admired for its rich, warm, complex tone and its bold, dramatic interpretations of the quartet literature, with a particular aff ...

. Steinhardt made his debut with the

Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...

at the age of 14. He studied at the

Curtis Institute of Music The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on full scholarship. Hi ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

with

Ivan Galamian Ivan Alexander Galamian ( hy, Իվան Ղալամեան; April 14, 1981) was an Armenian-American violin teacher of the twentieth century who was the violin teacher of many seminal violin players including Itzhak Perlman. Biography Galamian w ...

and later in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

with

Joseph Szigeti Joseph Szigeti ( hu">Szigeti József, ; 5 September 189219 February 1973) was a Hungarian violinist. Born into a musical family, he spent his early childhood in a small town in Transylvania. He quickly proved himself to be a child prodigy on ...

and

Toscha Seidel Toscha Seidel (November 17, 1899 – November 15, 1962) was a Russian violin virtuoso. Biography Seidel was born in Odessa on November 17, 1899, to a Jewish family. A student of Leopold Auer in St. Petersburg, Seidel became known for a lush, rom ...

. In 1958 he won the Leventritt International Violin competition and consequently was invited by George Szell to take second chair in the Cleveland Orchestra's first violin section (next to concertmaster Josef Gingold). He was later appointed to the faculty of the Curtis Institute, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and University of Maryland. In 2009 he was appointed to the faculty of the

Colburn School The Colburn School is a private music school in Los Angeles with a focus on music and dance. It consists of four divisions: the Conservatory of Music, Music Academy, Community School of Performing Arts and the Dance Academy. It is located adjac ...

in Los Angeles. He has also performed extensively as a soloist. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is the author of two books; ''Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony'', an account of his life in the

, and ''Violin Dreams'', an autobiography about his life and experiences as a violinist. He appeared as himself in the 1999 film

Music of the Heart ''Music of the Heart'' is a 1999 American biographical film, biographical musical film, musical drama (film and television), drama film directed by Wes Craven and written by Pamela Gray, based on the 1995 documentary ''Small Wonders''. The film i ...

, starring

Meryl Streep Mary Louise Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Often described as "the best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throu ...

and also featuring violinists

Isaac Stern Isaac Stern (July 21, 1920 – September 22, 2001) was an American violinist. Born in Poland, Stern came to the US when he was 14 months old. Stern performed both nationally and internationally, notably touring the Soviet Union and China, and ...

and

Itzhak Perlman Itzhak Perlman ( he, יצחק פרלמן; born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist widely considered one of the greatest violinists in the world. Perlman has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that hav ...

. His wife, Dorothea von Haeften, is a supporting character in the film, played by

Jane Leeves Jane Elizabeth Leeves (born 18 April 1961) is an English actress. Leeves played Daphne Moon on the NBC television sitcom ''Frasier'' from 1993 until 2004, for which she was nominated for an Emmy Awards, Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Awards, Gold ...

. Arnold Steinhardt received an honorary degree from

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university with campuses in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, Vestal, New York, Vestal, and Johnson City, New Yor ...

Works

* Steinhardt, Arnold, ''Violin Dreams'', Houghton Mifflin, 2006, * Steinhardt, Arnold, ''Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony'', Farrar Straus Giroux, 1999,

References

External links

Official website of Arnold Steinhardt

In The Key of Strawberry
Official blog of Arnold Steinhardt *
KBAQ interview with Arnold Steinhardt
January 6, 2005
Artist-in-Residence bio at the University of Maryland
1937 births Living people American male violinists Curtis Institute of Music alumni American classical violinists Male classical violinists Jewish classical violinists Jewish classical musicians Jewish American classical musicians Prize-winners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition Leventritt Award winners Musicians from Los Angeles Classical musicians from California 21st-century classical violinists 21st-century American male musicians Guarneri Quartet members 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American violinists {{US-violinist-stub