Arnold Steinhardt (born April 1, 1937 in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

) is an American

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist, best known as the first violinist of the Guarneri String Quartet. Steinhardt made his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra 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, a Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on a full scholarshi ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

with

Ivan Galamian Ivan Alexander Galamian (; 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 and Kyung Wha Chung. Biography Galamian was born in ...

and later in Switzerland with Joseph Szigeti and

Toscha Seidel Toscha Seidel (November 17, 1899 – November 15, 1962) was a Russian violinist 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, romantic to ...

. 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 Josef Gingold (; January 11, 1995) was a Russian and American classical violinist and teacher who lived most of his life in the United States. At the time of his death he was considered one of the most influential violin masters in the United St ...

). 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 performing arts 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 Trudl Zipper Dance Instit ...

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 Guarneri String Quartet, 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''. A dramati ...

, starring

Meryl Streep Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Known for her versatility and adept accent work, she has been described as "the best actress of her generation". She has received numerous accolades throughout her career ...

and also featuring violinists

Isaac Stern Isaac Stern (July 21, 1920 – September 22, 2001) was an American violinist. Born in Ukraine, Stern moved to the United States when he was 14 months old. Stern performed both nationally and internationally, notably touring the Soviet Union a ...

and

Itzhak Perlman Itzhak Perlman (; born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist. He has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that have included a state dinner for Elizabeth II at the White House in 2007, and at the First ina ...

. His wife, Dorothea von Haeften, is a supporting character in the film, played by Jane Leeves. 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 in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...

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 Curtis Institute of Music alumni American male classical violinists Jewish classical violinists Jewish American classical musicians Prize-winners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition Leventritt Award winners Musicians from Los Angeles Classical musicians from California 21st-century American male musicians Guarneri Quartet members 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American classical violinists {{US-violinist-stub