ENTERTAINMENT

Silverstein currently is the music director of the Utah Symphony.

Maestro!

Violinist Joseph Silverstein has studied
with and met the great and near great
throughout his music career

JOANNE ZUROFF

Special To The Jewish News

IF

, or virtuoso violinist
Joseph Silverstein, the
journey from Detroit to his
present home in Salt Lake
City, Utah, was via a cir-
cuitous route, with numerous pauses
along the way, each punctuated with
some degree of musical advancement,
accomplishment and acclaim. Today,
having achieved international

recognition as a conductor and
violinist, Silverstein hasn't forgotten
his beginnings, often fondly recalling
his old Detroit neighborhood on Clair-
mount and Linwood, about which he
says, "This is where I started . . . it's
my home."
And indeed, this was where the
three-year-old Silverstein first picked
up a violin, the instrument being
readily available because his father,
Bernard, taught it in the Detroit
Public Schools. "I began instructions

then with my father. It was formal in
that we had lessons every time I had
exhausted whatever material he had
given me at the last lesson," says
Silverstein.
He continued studying with his
father and when Joseph Gingold
became concert master of the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra, Silverstein
spent a year under his tutelage. His
next step at age 13 led him to the Cur-
tis Institute. in Philadelphia, where
his teachers included Ephrem
Zimbalist.
Silverstein subsequently returned
to Detroit only between school
semesters and during the summer of
1951 was a temporary member of the
DSO. Back in Detroit again briefly,
after his tour of duty in the service,
he studied with Mischa Mischakoff
and later worked with him at
Chautauqua Institute in western
New York state, in both the orchestra
and in Mischakoff's string quartet.
Describing the evolution of his
career in conjunction with generating
a livelihood, Silverstein explains,
"When I started in the musical pro-
fession 30 odd years ago, the only or-
chestra that had more than a winter
season type contract was the Boston
Symphony. The result of this was that
we (professional musicians) tended to
try to gravitate toward orchestras
that had longer work years, if possi-
ble. That was really a primary con-
cern."
With that in mind, Silverstein
first spent three seasons with the
Houston Symphony. In his next move
to the Philadelphia Orchestra, he
was, in his words, "Expanding the
number of weeks I was working, aside
from going to what was, arguably, one
of the great symphony orchestras."
After a year in Philadelphia,
Silverstein was offered the job of con-
cert master and assistant conductor
of the Denver Symphony and he
points out, "I wanted to have the
challenge of that kind of responsibili-
ty. After a year in Denver," Silverstein
continues, "It became apparent that
I needed the stimulation of something
a little bit more sophisticated in
terms of musical surroundings." So
Silverstein joined the Boston Sym-
phony Orchestra as a violinist in
1955.
Settled in Boston, Silverstein par-
ticipated in major international
music competitions and in 1959 was
silver medalist in the Queen
Elizabeth of Belgium Competition.
"Queen Elizabeth was great fun — an
absolutely once in a lifetime ex-
perience," says Silverstein, who also
won the Walter W. Naumberg Award.
After seven seasons as a member
of the violin section of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra, Silverstein was
promoted, through a series of audi-
tions, to concertmaster in 1961 and,
ten years later, was named assistant

GOING PLACES I

WEEK OF MARCH 4-10

COMEDY

DUFFY'S ON THE LAKE
3133 Cooley Lake Rd., Union
Lake, Bob Posch and John
Cionca, now through March 9:30
and 11:30 p.m. Fridays and
Saturdays, admission,
reservations, 363-9469.
COMEDY CASTLE
2593 Woodward, Bill
Kirchenbauer, now through
March Saturday, Soupy Sales,
Tuesday through March 12,
admission, 542-9900.

THEATER

THE UNIVERSITY OF
MICHIGAN
School of Music, Right You Are If
You Think You Are Thursday
through March 13, admission,
764-0569.
WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY
Bonstelle Theater, Detroit, The
Broken Calabash today through
March 13, admission, 577-2960.
WEST END
The Performance Network, Ann
Arbor, The Gingerbread Lady
today through Sunday,
admission, 435-7859.
MEADOW BROOK THEATER
Oakland University, Rochester,
Absent Friends today through
March 20, admission, 377-3300.
DETROIT REPERTORY
THEATER
13103 Woodrow Wilson, Detroit,
The Colored Museum now
through Sunday, 868-1347.
BIRMINGHAM THEATER
211 S. Woodward, Birmingham,
Social Security now through
March 30, admission, 644-3533.
HENRY FORD MUSEUM &
GREENFIELD VILLAGE
Henry Ford Museum Theater,
Kiss and Tell now through
March 19, admission, 271-1620.
WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY
Hilberry Theater, The Dresser
now through March 12,
admission, 577-2972.
WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY
Hilberry Theater, Detroit,
Tartuffe now through Tuesday,
admission, 557-2972.

MUSIC

MUSIC HALL CENTER FOR
THE PERFORMING ARTS
350 Madison Ave., Detroit, The
Vienna Choir Boys in concert, 8
p.m. today, admission, 963-7680.
LYRIC CHAMBER
ORCHESTRA
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