Joseph Silverstein, Renowned Violinist and Conductor, Dies at 83
Image by Wikimedia Commons
Joseph Silverstein, a renowned violinist, concertmaster and conductor, has died.
Silverman died Nov. 22 in Boston of complications from a heart attack. He was 83.
Well known for his decades-long career with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where he served as concertmaster for 22 years and as its assistant conductor from 1971 to 1984, Silverstein also left his mark in the field of Jewish music, with two notable recordings for the Milken Jewish Music Archive.
Among his many recordings of Bach, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn, he was awarded the prestigious Naumburg Prize for his recording of the Bach Sonata in G Minor and Bartok Solo Violin Sonata.
When the Milken Archive was looking for a conductor on short notice for its recording of Joseph Achron’s little-known Violin Concerto No. 1, it called on Silverstein, by then also an acclaimed conductor and music director of the Utah Symphony Orchestra, according to Neil Levin, the Milken’s artistic director. Written by Achron, a Russian-Jewish emigre to the U.S. in 1925, and dedicated to his friend and mentor Jascha Haifetz, the piece is the first-known concerto based on Jewish biblical cantillation.
Silverstein’s masterful leading of that recording, featuring the award-winning soloist Elmar Oliveira, brought the concerto back from obscurity. It is now regularly performed by soloists, often as an encore, said Levin, professor of music at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
At the same time, Silverstein conducted a second recording for Milken, of Stefan Wolpe’s “The Man from Midian,” originally composed as a ballet score based on the life of Moses. Silverstein’s recording brought back to life a “significant piece of theatrical music work” by an important, if lesser known, 20th-century German-Jewish composer, according to Paul Schwendener, the Milken’s repertoire consultant. Wolpe, who fled Nazi Germany, lived for a time in prestate Palestine and eventually settled in the United States.
Levin recalled Silverstein telling him after the recording sessions, held in Berlin, that it was an honor to contribute something to his Jewish heritage, he told JTA.
Born in Detroit, Silverstein was the son of two Jewish musicians. His father, Bernard, was a public school music teacher and was the young Silverstein’s first violin teacher.
A revered teacher himself, Silverstein held numerous appointments including with the Tanglewood Music Center, the England Conservatory of Music, Yale University and the Curtis Institute of Music, among others. Many of his former students fill the violin chairs at orchestras throughout the country, with many at the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Daniel Stepner, first violinist of the Lydian String Quarter and a music professor at Brandeis University, knew Silverstein and was an admirer. He took a few lessons from Silverstein and played with him in concerts several times.
“He was sort of a model for me as I was growing up as a violinist,” Stepner told JTA in an email. “He was a wonderful teacher and a superb violinist.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
