Edith Peinemann

Edith Peinemann
Peinemann in the 1960s
Born	(1937-03-03) 3 March 1937 (age 80) Mainz, Germany
Nationality	German
Occupation	violinist, professor

Edith Peinemann (born 3 March 1937) is an internationally recognized German violinist and professor of violin. At age nineteen she won the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, and made her U.S. debut as soloist in 1962 with Max Rudolf, after which she became a protégé of George Szell. In 2005 she became president of the European String Teachers Association.

She made few recordings during her career, making her a "cult figure among violinists." Peinemann is considered one of the world's "finest violinists of her time."

Peinemann was born in Mainz, Germany, the daughter of a Mainz orchestra's concertmaster, with whom she learned violin until the age of fourteen. She later studied with Max Rostal in London, and would fulfill the "prophecy of violinist Yehudi Menuhin who, upon hearing her play when she was 19, predicted a 'brilliant and successful career'."

In 1956, she won the first prize in the International Competition of the German Radio in Munich. At that competition, conductor William Steinberg, who was among the judges, invited her to make her American debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, which she did in 1962. Word spread among Germany's conductors, such as Max Rudolf, about her achievements in the U.S., including her Cleveland debut where she played Dvorak's Violin Concerto. Reviews of that concert were positive, with Carl Apone noting that Dvořák's concerto was "a proving ground on which to separate the men from the boys:"

By the time Germany's Edith Peinemann, 24, had reached the end of the first movement, it was obvious that this serious musician had the situation well in hand. . . When Miss Peinemann had completed her evening's work, she was called back for six curtain calls . . some of the men in the audience, as impressed with her physical beauty as with her musical talent. . . The orchestra violinists raved about her playing in a manner not often heard here and swarmed around to congratulate her.