Joseph Silverstein

Joseph Silverstein stands among America’s most esteemed musicians, having shaped the nation’s musical landscape through his roles as violinist, conductor, artistic advisor, and teacher ever since he first entered the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Beyond his own appearances in concert and on disc, he has served countless organizations as a valued source of guidance, drawing on the insight accumulated across his many positions. His preparation on the violin was exceptionally thorough. He entered Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute in 1945 and worked there with Efrem Zimbalist, the Auer-trained virtuoso celebrated for refined taste and flawless execution. He subsequently studied with two other distinguished performer-pedagogues, Josef Gingold and Mischa Mischakoff. The period of training produced the silvery, full-bodied tone and rock-solid technique that would characterize all his later solo and ensemble playing. When he joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1955, he was its youngest member. The Naumburg Foundation Award he received in 1960 opened the way to a New York debut the following year. The BSO turned to Silverstein in 1962 to fill its vacant concertmaster chair. In that post he appeared not only in the violin passages written into the orchestral repertoire but also as a featured soloist on stage and in recordings. Beginning with Charles Münch, whose leadership of the BSO ended in 1963, Silverstein earned recognition under four successive music directors as one of the finest solo voices among concertmasters. With Erich Leinsdorf, music director from 1963 to 1968, he made distinguished recordings of the Stravinsky and Bartók concertos; under Seiji Ozawa his interpretation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons stood out equally. In conjunction with his BSO duties he chaired the faculty of the Tanglewood Music Center. Academic commitments multiplied in the 1970s when he joined the faculties of Yale and Boston universities. After becoming assistant conductor of the BSO in 1971, he also began accepting guest engagements and posts with other ensembles. In 1980 he took the music directorship of the Worcester, MA, symphony orchestra; the next year he was named principal guest conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In 1983 he succeeded Varujan Kojian as conductor of the Utah Symphony Orchestra. He remained artistic director there for fifteen years, relinquishing his BSO concertmaster title shortly after assuming leadership in Salt Lake City. In November 2001, following the abrupt departure of James Judd, who had guided the Florida Philharmonic for fourteen years, Silverstein was named acting music director. At the time he already served as artistic advisor to ten orchestras in the United States and Canada. The interim appointment was set for eighteen months to allow a search for a permanent music director. By January 2002 he was already leading performances. Silverstein continues to teach at both the Curtis Institute and the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA.