Efrem Zimbalist

Efrem Zimbalist was a Russian and American violinist, composer, and teacher. He was born in Rostov-on-Don on 28 March (9 April) 1889 into a musical family: his father was a professional violinist and conductor of the Rostov Opera Theatre, and Zimbalist received his first music lessons from him.

In 1901 he entered the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied with Leopold Auer. He graduated brilliantly in 1907, receiving the Great Gold Medal and the Rubinstein Prize. That same year he made his first appearances abroad, performing in Berlin and London.

Zimbalist achieved true international recognition in 1910, when he performed Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in Leipzig with an orchestra conducted by Arthur Nikisch. A year later he made his United States debut in Boston, playing Glazunov's concerto. The success of that concert, and the favorable response from audiences and critics, led him to remain in the United States.

In 1914 he married the opera singer Alma Gluck, with whom he often appeared in concert. From 1928 he taught at the Curtis Institute of Music, and from 1941 to 1968 he served as its director. In the following decades he continued to perform actively in many countries, including visits to the USSR in 1934 and 1935. Among his pupils were Oscar Shumsky and Norman Carol.

According to David Oistrakh, Zimbalist had an enormous influence on violin playing in the United States, in effect creating a violin school that became widely known throughout the world. In 1949 he announced the end of his performing career and gave a farewell concert in New York, but three years later he returned to the stage to perform the concerto that Giancarlo Menotti had dedicated to him. He continued to make occasional public appearances and from 1958 to 1970 served on the jury of the first four International Tchaikovsky Competitions in Moscow.

Zimbalist is regarded as one of the best-known representatives of Leopold Auer's violin school, alongside Mischa Elman and Jascha Heifetz. His playing was noted for depth of stylistic understanding, nobility of tone, and restrained tempos. Although it lacked excessive display of virtuosity, his technical command was extremely high, especially in the music of Niccolò Paganini. He also carried out an ambitious project consisting of five series of concerts covering major works of the violin repertoire across four hundred years.

As a composer, Zimbalist wrote the opera Landara (1956), the symphonic poem Portrait of an Artist (1945), concertos, chamber ensembles, and many works for violin, including fantasies on themes from the operas Carmen and The Golden Cockerel, as well as Sarasateana. He died in Reno, Nevada, on 22 February 1985.