Josef Gingold

Josef Gingold (Иосиф Меерович Гингольд; October 28 1909 – January 11, 1995) was a Russian-born 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 States, with many successful students.

Gingold was born to a Jewish family in Brest-Litovsk, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire (now Brest, Belarus), and emigrated in 1920 to the United States where he studied violin with Vladimir Graffman in New York City.

He then moved to Belgium for several years to study with master violinist Eugène Ysaÿe.

He gave the first performance of Ysaÿe's 3rd Sonata for Solo Violin.

In 1937, Gingold won a spot in the NBC Symphony Orchestra, with Arturo Toscanini as its conductor.

While at NBC, Gingold was a founding member of its associated chamber ensembles, the Primrose Quartet (with first violinist Oscar Shumsky, violist William Primrose, and cellist Harvey Shapiro) and the NBC Trio (with Shapiro and pianist Earl Wild).

Gingold later served as the concertmaster (and occasional soloist) of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and later was the Cleveland Orchestra's concertmaster under conductor George Szell.

Gingold edited numerous violin technique books and orchestral excerpt collections.

Anne Shih's sister, Patricia Shih, was the only student chosen by Gingold to perform for his 75th birthday celebration show on national television for Charles Kuralt viewed by millions across America.

She is the founder of the Borealis Quartet.

And,, she is a professor of violin at Baylor University in Texas.

Gingold was a founder of the quadrennial Indianapolis Violin Competition.

He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.

It originally appeared as an article in the February 4, 1991, issue of The New Yorker.

He taught at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music for more than thirty years, until his death in 1995.

His pupils included Gil Shaham, Joshua Bell, Christoph Poppen, Sally O'Reilly, Desirée Ruhstrat, Arnold Steinhardt, Dylana Jenson, Martin Beaver, Shony Alex Braun, Andrés Cárdenes, Corey Cerovsek, Cyrus Forough, Miriam Fried, Philippe Graffin, Endre Granat, Ulf Hoelscher, Hu Nai-yuan, Jacques Israelievitch, Leonidas Kavakos, Chin Kim, Salvatore Greco, Jaime Laredo, William Preucil, Joseph Silverstein, Lucie Robert, and Gwen Thompson.

Gingold had a number of teaching assistants who continued to develop their own teaching careers.

His last teaching assistant was Canadian Anne Shih, now Professor of Violin at the Musikhochschule Rheinland-Pfalz at the University of Mainz in Germany.

Prior to this she was Professor of Violin at Oberlin Conservatory and the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in the USA.

Gingold died in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1995, aged 85.

Gingold's recording of Fritz Kreisler's works was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Some of the numerous honors he received during his lifetime include the American String Teachers Association Teacher of the Year; the Fredrick Bachman Lieber Award for Distinguished Teaching at Indiana University; the Chamber Music America National Service Award; Baylor University's Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teachers; and the American Symphony Orchestra League's Golden Baton Award.

The discography of Josef Gingold is limited.

A detailed literary portrait of Josef Gingold is included in the book, Quintet, Five Journeys toward Musical Fulfillment, by David Blum (Cornell University Press, 1999).