JOSEF GINGOLD

'Josef Gingold' (1909-1995) was born in Brest-Litovsk, Russian Empire and emigrated to the United States in 1920 where he studied violin with Vladimir Graffman in New York City and then moved to Belgium for several years to study with master violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. In 1937 he won a spot in the NBC Symphony Orchestra with Arturo Toscanini as its conductor, then was the concertmaster (and occasional soloist) of the Detroit Orchestra, and later was the Cleveland Orchestra's concertmaster under conductor George Szell. He has edited numerous violin technique books and orchestral excerpt collections. He taught at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music for more than thirty years until his death in 1995. Amongst his more celebrated pupils are Joshua Bell, Shony Alex Braun, Sho-Mei Pelletier, William Preucil, Yuval Yaron, Sherban Lupu, Andres Cardenes, Leonidas Kavakos, Elisa Barston, Nai-Yuan Hu, and Corey Cerovsek. His recording of Fritz Kreisler works was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Some of the numerous honors Gingold 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. He died in Bloomington, Indiana in 1995.
A wonderful literary portrait of Josef Gingold is in David Blum's book, Quintet, Five Journeys toward Musical Fulfillment (Cornell University Press, 1999). It originally appeared as an article in the 4 February 1991 issue of The New Yorker.