Music
Joseph Silverstein
1932–2015 · violinist, conductor
Detroit-born violinist, the son of a Detroit school music teacher, who was concertmaster of the Boston Symphony for 22 years and music director of the Utah Symphony.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
aged 83- Birth name
- Joseph Harry Silverstein
- Also known as
- Joey Silverstein
- Detroit years
- 1932–1944
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Silverstein was born in Detroit in 1932 and learned the violin from his father, Bernard Silverstein, a public school music teacher. At twelve he left for Philadelphia to study at the Curtis Institute, never formally finishing high school but graduating from Curtis in 1950. Among his teachers were two violinists who both served as concertmasters of the Detroit Symphony, Josef Gingold and Mischa Mischakoff. After section jobs in Houston, Philadelphia and Denver he joined the Boston Symphony in 1955 as its youngest member, won a silver medal at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1959 and became the orchestra's concertmaster in 1962, a post he held for 22 years while also serving as assistant conductor. From 1983 to 1998 he was music director of the Utah Symphony, and he taught at the New England Conservatory, Yale, Boston University, Tanglewood and the Curtis Institute.
Highlights
- Concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1962–1984
- Music director of the Utah Symphony, 1983–1998
- Silver medal, Queen Elisabeth Competition (1959); Naumburg Award (1960)
- First lessons from his father, a Detroit public school music teacher