Berl Senofsky

Berl Senofsky was a Russian violinist and teacher (most people would say American) born (in Philadelphia) on April 29, 1926 – one source gives his year of birth as 1925.  He was known for his strong, focused sound and his strong convictions, whether on music topics or otherwise.  He actually emerged from the ranks of orchestra players to become a concert violinist and teacher.  Joseph Fuchs did essentially the same thing, though he spent many more years in an orchestra than did Senofsky.  Senofsky began his violin studies at age 3, with his father, who himself had studied with Efrem Zimbalist and Mischa Elman.  At age 6 (1932) he began studying with Louis Persinger, who was teaching Yehudi Menuhin, Ruggiero Ricci, Isaac Stern, Hermilo Novelo, Guila Bustabo, Camilla Wicks, and many other violinists at about the same time.  According to one source, Senofsky also studied with Paul Stassevitch at the Mannes School of Music from age 9.  Persinger began teaching at Juilliard (New York) in 1930.  Senofsky may have been studying privately with Persinger since he did not enroll at Juilliard until age 12.  From then on, his teacher was Ivan Galamian.  Senofsky’s career was interrupted by World War II in 1944.  However, after his brief military service, he made his debut in New York in 1946.  He was 20 years old.  He had by then won the Walter Naumberg Award, one of the top prizes for violinists.  After further study with Galamian – an additional 4 years – he concertized for a short while.  He first appeared with the New York Philharmonic on July 11, 1950, playing the Brahms Double concerto.  The cellist on that occasion was Shirley Trepel.  Senofsky eventually took a position with the Cleveland Orchestra in 1951, as assistant concertmaster.  Joseph Gingold was the concertmaster at the time.  He was there until 1955.  In that year, he won the Queen Elizabeth competition in Belgium.  From that point on, he concertized far and wide, focusing his initial (and extensive) concert activities on Russia.  On January 15, 1959, he again played with the New York Philharmonic.  The concert was repeated four times and the work he played was the Brahms concerto.  With William Walton on the podium, Senofsky appeared with the same orchestra on August 8, 1963, playing the Walton concerto.  On July 28, 1973, he was for the last time featured with the New York Philharmonic, performing the Scottish Fantasy by Max Bruch.  He was 47 years old.  From 1965 until 1996, Senofsky had a teaching job at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.  He was also concertizing around the world during all that time.  Although he recorded for four (or five) different labels, Senofsky only recorded sporadically, but his recordings can still be easily found.  A YouTube audio file is here.  Among other violins, Senofsky played a 1771 Tomas Balestrieri violin which was later played by Ruggiero Ricci and a 1757 Carlo Landolfi later on.  He loved playing chamber music but I could not find any mention anywhere indicating he actually played chamber music in public.  A quote attributed to Senofsky goes something like this: "To me, music is a higher calling than just a profession or living. It is an effort in understanding something bigger than yourself--it is an effort at striving to be something bigger than you are. You can define religion that way too."  Senofsky died on June 21, 2002, at age 76.