Max Rostal was a Polish-British violinist, violist, and teacher. He was born in Cieszyn into a Jewish merchant family. At six, he played before Emperor Franz Joseph. In 1913, his family took him to Vienna to study music; in 1920, he moved to Berlin to complete his musical education with Carl Flesch.
From 1924, Rostal toured internationally and made many recordings. In 1930, he became the youngest professor at the Berlin Academy of Music. He later moved to Britain, where he resumed performing and teaching. In 1945, he helped establish the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition. In 1958, he moved to Switzerland and held professorships in Bern and Cologne.
During the 1950s and 1960s, he performed in a piano trio with Heinz Schröter and Gaspar Cassadó, and later with Siegfried Palm. His repertoire was broad; his interpretation of early 20th-century modernist music, particularly Béla Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2, was regarded as a peak of his artistry. He also performed viola parts, including the solo in Richard Strauss’s symphonic poem Don Quixote.