Roman Totenberg

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Roman Totenberg (born January 1, 1911 in Łódź) is a Polish-American violinist.

Around the world Roman Totenberg has been singled out by critics for praise as a fabulous violinist and a sensitive and distinguished musician.

Totenberg, was a child prodigy, studied with Michalowicz in Warsaw and he made his debut at the age of eleven as soloist with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra in 1923. He was also awarded the gold medal at the Chopin Conservatory/Warsaw and continued his studies with Carl Flesch in Berlin where he won the International Mendelssohn Prize in 1932, and later with George Enesco and Pierre Monteax in Paris. He made both his British debut in London and his American debut in New York in 1935.

Totenberg has toured South America with Artur Rubinstein, and has given joint recitals with Karol Szymanowski. Acclaimed for interpretations of both classical and contemporary music, he has given many concerts comprising the complete cycle of Beethoven Sonatas and all Brandenburg Concerti. His diversified repertoire includes more than thirty concerti. Among the many contemporary works he has introduced are the Darius Milhaud Violin Concerto No.2, the William Schuman Concerto, and the Krzysztof Penderecki Capriccio. He also premiered the Paul Hindemith's Sonata in E (1935), the Barber Concerto (new version) and the Martinu Sonata, as well as he gave the American premiere of Honegger's Sonate for violin solo.

Totenberg has appeared with numerous American orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and Washington Symphonies. In Europe he has performed with all major orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic and the Concertgebouw. He performed with such a great conductors as Stokowski, Kubelik, Szell, Rodzinski, Fitelberg, Jochum, Rowicki, Krenz, Monteux, Wit, Steinberg and Golschmann. In recital he has appeared at the White House, Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in every major American and European city. He has been featured with the most important music festivals of the world, notably at Salzburg's Mozarteum, the Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival and at the Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara where he became chairman of the string department in 1947.

Beside his concert activities, Totenberg now holds the position of Professor of Music at Boston University where he headed the String Department in the years of 1961-1978 as well as he has taught at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, the Music Academy of the West, the Aspen School of Music, the Mannes College of Music, and at the Longy School of Music, Camridge, Massachusetts which he was the Director from 1978 to 1985. In 1983 he was named Artist Teacher of the Year by the American String Teacher Association.

Totenberg has recorded under various labels including Deutsche Grammophon, Telefunken, Philips, Da Camera, Musical Heritage, Vanguard, Titanic and VQR. In 1988 he was awarded the highest Medal of Merit by the Polish Government for his life-long contributions to Polish society.

His daughter is the National Public Radio journalist Nina Totenberg.