Daniel Heifetz

Daniel Alan Heifetz (born November 20, 1948) is an American concert violinist and the Founder and Artistic Director of the Heifetz International Music Institute. His career spans more than 40 years and has been focused on education and the art of communication through performance.

Daniel Heifetz was raised in Southern California, the son of Dr. Milton Heifetz and Betsy Heifetz (née Baron), and began violin studies at the age of six. At sixteen, Heifetz became a student of Efrem Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He was also coached by Jascha Brodsky and, upon Zimbalist's retirement, concluded his studies with Ivan Galamian. He made his New York orchestral debut at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center in a performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra. Heifetz was also mentored at the beginning of his career by both the Polish/Mexican violinist Henryk Szeryng, who introduced him to the Russian violinist David Oistrakh. It was Oistrakh who introduced him to the impresario Sol Hurok who took Heifetz under management. His younger brother is Ronald A. Heifetz, the Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership, co-founder of the Center for Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and co-founder of Cambridge Leadership Associates.

Mr. Heifetz was a prizewinner in both the Merriweather-Post Competition in Washington, D.C. and The International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. After the latter competition, Heifetz donated his prize money to the families of jailed dissidents Alexander Ginzburg and Natan Shcharansky. Richard L. Thornburgh, former United States Attorney General and Governor of Pennsylvania, held a state dinner to honor the gesture.

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