Josef Gingold

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Josef Gingold (October 28, 1909 — January 13, 1995) known as the "second greatest teacher" of his time 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. He then moved to Belgium for several years to study with master violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. In 1937, Gingold won a spot in the NBC Symphony Orchestra, with Arturo Toscanini as its conductor; he then 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. He taught at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music for more than thirty years, until his death in 1995. His most celebrated pupil was Joshua Bell; others included Miriam Fried, Sho-Mei Pelletier,who is currently in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in Texas,Shony Alex Braun, William Preucil, Yuval Yaron, Sherban Lupu, Andres Cardenes, Leonidas Kavakos, Phillip Grossman, Elisa Barston, Nai-Yuan Hu, and Corey Cerovsek. Gingold died in Bloomington, Indiana in 1995.

Gingold's recording of Fritz Kreisler 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.

Josef Gingold was also a founder of the quadrennial Indianapolis Violin Competition.

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