- Roman Totenberg
Infobox Musical artist
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Name = Roman Totenberg
Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
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Born = birth date and age|1911|1|1
flagicon|PolandŁódź ,Poland
Died =
Instrument =Violin
Genre = Classical
Occupation = Violinist,pedagogue
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Notable_instruments =Roman Totenberg (born
January 1 ,1911 ) is a Polish-Americanviolin ist.He is the father of
National Public Radio journalistNina Totenberg .Early life
Born in
Łódź , Totenberg was a child prodigy, studied with Michalowicz inWarsaw , and made his debut at the age of eleven as soloist with theWarsaw Philharmonic Orchestra in 1923. He was also awarded the gold medal at the Chopin Conservatory/Warsaw and continued his studies with Carl Flesch in Berlin, where he won the International Mendelssohn Prize in 1932, and later withGeorge Enesco andPierre Monteux in Paris. He made both his British debut in London and his American debut in New York in 1935.Professional life
Totenberg has toured South America with
Artur Rubinstein , and has given joint recitals withKarol Szymanowski . He has given many concerts comprising the complete cycle of Beethoven Sonatas and allBrandenburg concertos . His diversified repertoire includes more than thirty concerti. Among the many contemporary works he has introduced are the Darius Milhaud Violin Concerto No.2, the William Schuman Concerto, and the Krzysztof Penderecki Capriccio. He also premiered thePaul Hindemith 's Sonata in E (1935), the Barber Concerto (new version) and the Martinů Sonata, as well as he gave the American premiere of Honegger's Sonate for violin solo. Under the patronage of the eminent violinistYehudi Menuhin , Roman Totenberg along with pianistAdolph Baller and cellistGabor Rejto formed theAlma Trio in 1942-43 at Menuhin's Alma estate inCalifornia .Totenberg has appeared with numerous American orchestras including the
New York Philharmonic , theBoston Symphony , the Cleveland, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and Washington Symphonies. In Europe he has performed with all major orchestras such as theBerlin Philharmonic , theLondon Philharmonic and the Concertgebouw. He performed with such a great conductors as Stokowski, Kubelik, Szell, Rodzinski, Fitelberg, Jochum, Rowicki, Krenz, Monteux, Wit, Steinberg and Golschmann. In recital he has appeared at theWhite House ,Carnegie Hall , theLibrary of Congress , theMetropolitan Museum of Art , and in every major American and European city. He has been featured with the most important music festivals of the world, notably at Salzburg'sMozarteum , the Aspen Music Festival,Tanglewood Music Center ,Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival , and at theMusic Academy of the West in Santa Barbara where he became chairman of the string department in 1947.Pedagogy
Beside his concert activities, Totenberg now holds the position of Professor of Music at
Boston University , where he headed the String Department from 1961 to 1978. He has also taught at thePeabody Conservatory of Music , theMusic Academy of the West , the Aspen School of Music, theMannes College of Music , and at theLongy School of Music inCambridge, Massachusetts , where he was the Director from 1978 to 1985."Noted Students:"
Yevgeny Kutik [http://www.yevgenykutik.com] , Mira Wang [http://www.mira-wang.de/mwang_hom.html] , Daniel Han [http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2005/09/04/6_minutes_to_shine/] , Na Sun [http://nyphil.org/meet/orchestra/index.cfm?page=profile&personNum=1161] , Ikuko Mizuno [http://www.bu.edu/cfa/music/]Recognition
In 1983 he was named Artist Teacher of the Year by the
American String Teachers Association and in April 2007 he was honored with theNew England String Ensemble 's Muses & Mentors Award for his great artistry and significant contributions to string education.In 1988 he was awarded the highest Medal of Merit by the Polish Government for his life-long contributions to Polish society.
Recording career
Totenberg has recorded under various labels including Deutsche Grammophon, Telefunken, Philips, Da Camera, Musical Heritage, Vanguard, Titanic and VQR.
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