Josef Gingold

Josef Gingold (Russian: Иосиф Меерович Гингольд, romanized: Iosif Meyerovich Gingol'd; October 28 [O.S. October 15] 1909 – January 11, 1995) was a Russian and American classical violinist and teacher who lived most of his life in the United States. At the time of his death he was considered one of the most influential violin masters in the United States, with many successful students.

Gingold was born to a Jewish family in Brest-Litovsk, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire (now Brest, Belarus), and emigrated in 1920 to the United States 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. Gingold wrote about his experience for The Strad magazine. He gave the first performance of Ysaÿe's 3rd Sonata for Solo Violin.

In 1937,Gingold won a spot in the NBC Symphony Orchestra, based in Carnegie Hall in New York City with Arturo Toscanini as its conductor. He gave an extensive interview and story about Toscanini. While at the NBC Orchestra, he was a founding member of its associated chamber ensembles. One was the Primrose String Quartet, with first violinist Oscar Shumsky, violist William Primrose, cellist Harvey Shapiro. He also was in the NBC Trio with Shapiro and pianist Earl Wild).

He later joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as the concertmaster and occasional soloist. In 1947 he moved to the Cleveland Orchestra as concertmaster under conductor George Szell. He spent thirteen years in that position. Gingold was interviewed about his relationship and experience working with Szell.

Gingold taught at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music for more than thirty years, until his death in 1995. His pupils included Gil Shaham, Joshua Bell, Christoph Poppen, Sally O'Reilly, Desirée Ruhstrat, Arnold Steinhardt (who wrote about Gingold for the Strad Magazine), Dylana Jenson, Martin Beaver, Shony Alex Braun, Andrés Cárdenes, Corey Cerovsek, Cyrus Forough, Miriam Fried, Philippe Graffin, Endre Granat, Ulf Hoelscher, Hu Nai-yuan, Jacques Israelievitch, Leonidas Kavakos, Chin Kim, Salvatore Greco, Malcolm Lowe, Jaime Laredo, William Preucil, Joseph Silverstein, Lucie Robert, and Gwen Thompson (who wrote about him in the Strad Magazine).

Gingold was associated with another prominent American violin pedagogue, Ivan Galamian, and joined him to teach at the Meadowmount School. He also edited numerous violin technique books and orchestral excerpt collections, such as Orchestral Excerpts from the Symphonic Repertoire, volume 1-3.

Gingold was a founder of the quadrennial Indianapolis Violin Competition. He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.

He married Gladys Anderson 1932; she died in 1978. Gingold died in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1995, at the age of 85. He was survived by his son, George, and two grandchildren.