Anshel Brusilow facts for kids

Anshel Brusilow (born August 14, 1928 – died January 15, 2018) was an American violin player, conductor, and music teacher. He taught music at universities for many years.

Early Life and Learning

Anshel Brusilow was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1928. His parents, Leon and Dora Brusilow, were immigrants from Ukraine.

He started playing the violin when he was five years old. He learned from teachers like William Frederick Happich and Jani Szanto. When he was eleven, he joined the Curtis Institute of Music. There, he studied with a famous violinist named Efrem Zimbalist.

For most of his childhood, people knew him as "Albert Brusilow." Later, he went back to using his birth name, Anshel.

Brusilow also went to the Philadelphia Musical Academy. At just sixteen, he was the youngest student ever accepted by the famous conductor Pierre Monteux. In 1949, he won fourth prize in a big violin competition called the Jacques Thibaud-Marguerite Long Violin Competition. He played as a solo artist with many major orchestras in the United States.

Music Career

As a Violinist

From 1954 to 1955, Brusilow was the main violinist, called the concertmaster, and an assistant conductor for the New Orleans Symphony.

Then, from 1955 to 1959, he was an associate concertmaster for the Cleveland Orchestra. From 1959 to 1966, he was the concertmaster of the famous Philadelphia Orchestra.

He made some well-known recordings with the Philadelphia Orchestra. These included Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.

While he was concertmaster in Philadelphia, Brusilow started his own group in 1961. It was called the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra. This group was made up of musicians from the Philadelphia Orchestra. He conducted this group from 1961 to 1965. In 1964, he decided to leave his job as concertmaster. This was because the Orchestra Association did not want musicians to form their own separate groups.

As a Conductor

In 1965, Brusilow started a new group called the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia. He led this group from 1965 to 1968. They performed many concerts and recorded six albums with RCA Records. However, in 1968, the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia had to close. It did not have enough money, partly because there wasn't enough support for a second orchestra in Philadelphia.

In 1970, Brusilow became the main conductor and director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He led the orchestra on its first tours to Central America and South America. He also started the popular "pops" concert series, which the orchestra still performs today. A notable recording from this time was Dallasound, an album of pops music. In 1973, after a successful tour, Brusilow left the Dallas Symphony. There were concerns about how some music was chosen to be performed by the orchestra's board of directors.

He was also the music director of the Richardson Symphony Orchestra in Richardson, Texas. He held this position from 1992 until he retired in 2012.

As a Music Teacher

Brusilow taught orchestral studies at North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas). He taught there from 1973 to 1982, and again from 1989 to 2008. Between these times, from 1982 to 1989, he taught at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

He retired from teaching at North Texas in 2008. Before he retired, he conducted his last concert with the University of North Texas Symphony Orchestra. This concert was on April 23, 2008, in Denton, Texas. To honor him, a large fund was created. This fund helps create a special teaching position called the Anshel Brusilow Chair in Orchestral Studies.

Awards and Honors

• 1947: He earned an Artist's diploma from the Philadelphia Musical Academy.
• 1968: He received a Doctor of Music degree (MusD) from Capitol University.
• (n.d.): He became a National Patron of Delta Omicron, a music fraternity.
• 2015: He won a Gold Award for his book, Shoot the Conductor: Too Close to Monteux, Szell, and Ormandy. This book was about his life and experiences.

Brusilow's Special Violin

After becoming concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Brusilow bought a very special violin. It was made in 1743 by a famous maker named Guarneri del Gesu. This violin is now known as "The Brusilow."

This violin was once owned by a French violinist named Jacques Pierre Rode. He played for Napoleon. Brusilow owned this violin from 1959 to 1966. He also owned special bows made by famous bow makers like François Tourte and John Dodd. He preferred the Dodd bow.

Discography

Family

Anshel Brusilow's parents were Leon and Dora Brusilow. They were born in Ukraine and later became citizens of the United States. They came to the U.S. in 1922 with Anshel's older brother, Nathan.

Anshel Brusilow married Marilyn Rae Dow on December 23, 1951. They had three children together.

See also

• University of North Texas Symphony Orchestra