Andor Toth

Andor John Toth (June 16, 1925 – November 28, 2006) was an American classical violinist, conductor and educator with a musical career spanning over six decades. Toth played his violin on the World War II battlefields of Aachen, Germany; performed with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini in 1943 at age 18; and formed several chamber music ensembles, including the Oberlin String Quartet, the New Hungarian Quartet, and the Stanford String Quartet. For 15 years he was the violinist in the Alma Trio. Toth conducted orchestras in Cleveland, Denver and Houston. In 1969, he was the founding concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under Neville Marriner. Toth taught at five important colleges and universities, and recorded for Vox, Decca Records and Eclectra Records.

Born in Manhattan in 1925, Andor Toth began playing violin as a child. While he was still a graduate student at the Juilliard School, he launched his career in 1942 at age 17 as solo violinist with the original Ballets Russes. In 1943 at age 18, he joined the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini. At Juilliard he studied with Hans Letz (formerly of the Kneisel Quartet and a student of Joseph Joachim) and Ivan Galamian.

Andor Toth was married to Louise Rose, a soprano, who died in 2005. The couple had three sons: Andor Jr., a cellist; Thomas, a software engineer; and Chris, a programmer and network administrator. He formed the Toth Duo (violin and cello) with Andor Jr., his eldest son; they recorded the Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7, by Zoltán Kodály. Andor Jr. died in 2002 following a year-long battle with cancer.

...
Wikipedia