Shumsky, Oscar

▪ 2001

      American violinist, conductor, and teacher (b. March 23, 1917, Philadelphia, Pa.—d. July 24, 2000, Rye, N.Y.), was a virtuoso violinist and one of the 20th century's greatest interpreters of Bach, Mozart, and Brahms. He played the violin from the age of three, and at age eight he began studying under renowned Hungarian-born violinist Leopold Auer. Later Shumsky studied under one of Auer's star pupils, Efrem Zimbalist. In the late 1930s and early '40s, Shumsky was a member of the internationally acclaimed NBC Symphony and Primrose Quartet. He also embarked on a solo career, which was interrupted by service in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Shumsky eventually tired of the commercial demands placed on soloists, and from the early 1950s he gave concerts only sporadically. Instead, he turned his attention to conducting and, especially, to teaching. Shumsky conducted, among other orchestras, the San Francisco Symphony and Canada's National Festival Orchestra. He held teaching posts at the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia; the Juilliard School, New York City; and Yale University. A revival of interest in Shumsky's work occurred in the 1980s, ignited in part by a series of triumphant performances the violinist made in Europe in 1981. He also gave four enthusiastically received concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1987.

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