Naoum Blinder

Naoum Blinder (1889 – November 21, 1965) was a Russian-American virtuoso violinist and teacher, born in Yevpatoria (then Russian Empire, now Russia).

He graduated from the Imperial Conservatory of Odessa at 14, where he studied with Alexander Fiedeman. From 1910 to 1913, he attended the Royal Manchester College of Music, where he studied with Adolph Brodsky. After graduation, he took up a teaching post at the Imperial Conservatory of Odessa, and remained there until 1920.

In 1921 Blinder embarked on a concert tour in Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Leningrad, Moscow, and various other places and in 1926 went on a more extensive tour which included the Republic of Turkey, and Palestine, and returned to Russia by way of Siberia in January 1927.

In 1928 Blinder (later joined by his wife and daughter) went on a concert tour in Japan which included 7 concerts in Tokyo alone, and 23 concerts in other cities of Japan. Instead of returning to Russia, he went to the United States (via Honolulu and San Francisco) to record for Columbia Records in New York City. The Blinder family remained in New York City and Naoum taught at the Juilliard School between 1929 and 1931. Unfortunately around this time his only daughter contracted tuberculosis and died at only 13 years of age.

At the invitation of Issay Dobrowen in 1931, Blinder accepted the concertmaster position at the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, where he also played under Pierre Monteux and Enrique Jorda. He remained with the orchestra until 1957, and was a soloist with many orchestras around the country. He was one of the founders of the San Francisco String Quartet (1935), which was composed of members of the orchestra, including his cellist brother, Boris.

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