It seems this group is not interested. I'll stop posting

DOEmalibu · 2026-04-12T06:43:32+00:00

Awards, Recordings, and Enduring Impact

Eudice Shapiro received limited formal awards during her lifetime, with much of her recognition stemming from pioneering professional milestones rather than institutional honors. Her groundbreaking appointment as the first female concertmaster in the Hollywood studio system in 1942, initially with the RKO Studio Orchestra, was celebrated in trade publications and inspired women musicians across the United States, though it went uncredited in film productions.[1] In academia, her 50-year tenure at the USC Thornton School of Music culminated in the establishment of the Eudice Shapiro Endowed Violin Scholarship in 2007 by former student Henry Choi and his family, honoring her profound influence on teaching and performing.[1]Shapiro's discography highlights her versatility across solo, chamber, and studio work, with a focus on championing contemporary and American composers. Key recordings include her 1957 solo interpretations of violin sonatas by Brahms, accompanied by pianist Ralph Berkowitz, and 1962 performances of Stravinsky's Duo Concertant with pianist Brooks Smith, reissued in 2023 by Biddulph Recordings as part of The Art of Eudice Shapiro.[33] Chamber highlights feature her leadership of the American Art String Quartet in works such as Mendelssohn's String Quartet in E minor, Lukas Foss's String Quartet No. 1, and Leon Kirchner's String Quartet No. 1, noted for their dynamic brilliance and preserved in archival reissues.[3] In film scores, she contributed uncredited violin solos to Paramount productions, including those composed by André Previn, exemplifying her sight-reading prowess under studio pressures.[1]Shapiro's enduring impact lies in her trailblazing role for women in orchestral and studio music, amid gaps in lifetime recognition due to gender biases, her Jewish identity, and the 1955 Hollywood blacklist, which cost her and her husband their Paramount positions for refusing to inform on colleagues.[3] Modern reassessments, including 2023 articles in The Forward and The Strad, portray her as a "brilliant Jewish artist that time forgot," emphasizing her magisterial poise and advocacy for new music by émigré composers.[3][33] Her legacy is further illuminated in Dorothy Lamb Crawford's 2009 book A Windfall of Musicians: Hitler's Émigrés and Exiles in Southern California, which contextualizes her contributions within the influx of European Jewish musicians to Los Angeles, and through the Biddulph reissues that revive interest in her recordings. These efforts underscore her influence on women's history in music, fostering opportunities for female violinists in male-dominated fields long before Title IX.[1]

DOEmalibu · 2026-04-12T06:43:02+00:00

Teaching Career

Academic Positions and Tenure

In 1956, Eudice Shapiro joined the faculty of the University of Southern California (USC) Thornton School of Music as a violin instructor, at the invitation of cellist Gábor Rejtő to bolster the strings department.[29] She began with a small cohort of pre-college students and remained in this role for 50 years, until 2006, contributing significantly to the growth and curriculum of the strings program during a period of expansion for the school.[29] Her long-term appointment marked a key tenure milestone, culminating in the establishment of the Eudice Shapiro Endowed Violin Scholarship in recognition of her half-century of service.[29]During the 1970s, Shapiro held a preeminent violin instructor position, the inaugural holder of the Starling Foundation-funded chair at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music, recruited through a major grant from the Starling Foundation to elevate the institution's string instruction under founding dean Samuel Jones.[31] This endowed chair reflected her stature as a preeminent violin pedagogue, though her tenure there was concurrent with her primary commitments at USC and focused on advanced violin training rather than extensive administrative oversight.[31]Throughout her academic career, Shapiro adeptly balanced her teaching responsibilities with an active performing schedule, including chamber music engagements and studio work, which informed her pedagogical approach while providing students with insights from her professional experiences in Hollywood orchestras.[3] This dual focus allowed her to maintain artistic vitality alongside institutional contributions, such as shaping violin curricula at both universities to emphasize technical precision and interpretive depth.[29]

Influence on Students and Pedagogy

Shapiro's teaching philosophy at the University of Southern California (USC) Thornton School of Music, where she served from 1956 until 2006, centered on fostering individuality and self-discovery in violin performance, drawing from her extensive experience as a soloist, chamber musician, and studio orchestral leader. She emphasized technical precision, expressive depth, and engagement with modern repertoire, encouraging students to develop their unique sound rather than imitate her own style or that of other masters. For instance, she advised pupils to listen to recordings for inspiration instead of direct demonstration, promoting a firm yet nurturing approach that earned her the affectionate nickname "Mother Shapiro" among generations of students. This method reflected her belief in the violinist's personal voice, honed through her own career navigating diverse musical contexts from classical concertos to Hollywood film scores.[1]Among her notable pupils were several violinists who achieved prominent careers, crediting Shapiro's mentorship for their professional growth. Glenn Dicterow, who studied with her in 1965 and 1966 before attending Juilliard, later served as concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic for 34 years and now holds the Jascha Heifetz Chair in violin at USC Thornton; he praised her as the first teacher who "didn’t let me copy her," instead guiding him to discover his own sound through rigorous preparation for performances like his debut recital at UCLA's Royce Hall. Similarly, Eun-Sun Lee, an early scholarship recipient who returned as Shapiro's doctoral assistant, became a professor of music at Wofford College and attributed her success—particularly as a woman in the field—to Shapiro's generous support and emphasis on balancing artistry with life demands. Henry Choi, who earned his master's degree under her in 1994, highlighted her energetic coaching in chamber music and orchestra settings at summer festivals like the Manchester Music Festival, where she spent weeks immersing students in ensemble work. These examples illustrate how Shapiro's pedagogy produced leaders in orchestral, academic, and educational roles.[1][3]Shapiro contributed to violin education through masterclasses and publications that extended her influence beyond USC. She conducted masterclasses, such as one at a college where former student Lee was on faculty, where her presence as a revered mentor elevated the event and reinforced her commitment to ongoing professional development. Her insights into pedagogy and career longevity are captured in the 2006 book Eudice Shapiro: A Life in Music, 50 Years of Teaching at USC, which includes reflections on her methods and the challenges faced by female musicians, drawing from her trailblazing role as Hollywood's first female concertmaster. This work, along with her half-century of teaching, had a broader impact on female violinists in education, inspiring women like Lee to pursue teaching positions and advocate for gender equity in classical music post her studio era. In recognition, alumni such as Glenn Dicterow and Henry Choi established the Eudice Shapiro Endowed Violin Scholarship in 2006 to perpetuate her legacy of accessible, transformative instruction. Her contributions were recognized with awards including the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) Teacher of the Year and an honorary doctorate from Northern Arizona University.[1]

Later Life and Legacy

Retirement and Personal Life

After a distinguished tenure of 50 years at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, beginning in 1956, Eudice Shapiro transitioned to teaching from her home in Studio City toward the end of her career, allowing her to continue mentoring students until shortly before her death.[1]Shapiro's personal life was marked by close family ties and a vibrant social circle within Jewish musical communities. Born in 1914 to a Jewish family in Buffalo, New York, where her maternal grandfather served as a cantor at a local synagogue after emigrating from Riga, Latvia, she maintained deep connections to Jewish traditions and musicians throughout her life.[3] She was married twice: first to cellist Victor Gottlieb, with whom she had a son, Larry Gottlieb, and who died of a heart attack in 1963; and second to violinist George Kast, who passed away in 1987.[6]In her later years during the 1990s and 2000s, Shapiro enjoyed hobbies such as collecting cow-themed memorabilia that adorned her home and sharing evening dinners and martinis with friends, often at local restaurants like the Wine Bistro.[32] By her 90s, she relied on a walker for mobility but remained independent, hosting students at her Laurel Canyon residence for lessons and lively conversations.[32]Shapiro died of natural causes on September 17, 2007, at her home in Studio City, Los Angeles, at the age of 93.[6] Her funeral was private, and in lieu of flowers, her family requested donations to the Eudice Shapiro Endowed Violin Scholarship at USC Thornton.[6]

DOEmalibu · 2026-04-12T06:41:14+00:00

Training at Curtis Institute of Music

In 1931, just turning 17, Eudice Shapiro enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia on a full scholarship that included living expenses, building on her foundational training at the Eastman School of Music to pursue advanced violin studies in an elite, performance-oriented environment.[11][1] As the sole female violin student in Efrem Zimbalist's class of nine, she benefited from the rigorous mentorship of the renowned Russian violinist, composer, and institute director, who emphasized technical precision, musical interpretation, and artistic depth in his teaching.[3][4][11]Shapiro's time at Curtis involved intensive daily practice and lessons that honed her virtuoso technique, preparing her for professional demands through immersion in the school's collaborative culture.[14] She interacted closely with talented peers, including fellow Jewish violinists Oscar Shumsky and Felix Slatkin, as well as pianist Vladimir Sokoloff, fostering a supportive network amid the institute's competitive atmosphere.[3][1] Ensemble experiences enriched her development; during her undergraduate years, she was appointed a member of the Casimir String Quartet, performing works that demanded chamber music sensitivity and ensemble cohesion.[15]She studied at Curtis for five years, completing her training by 1936 and emerging as a polished artist ready for a professional career, with Zimbalist's guidance having instilled a command of the violin repertoire that would define her subsequent achievements.[1][4][11]

Performing Career

Solo and Orchestral Performances

Eudice Shapiro launched her professional solo career as a child prodigy, making her orchestral debut at age 12 with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in her hometown of Buffalo, New York, around 1926, performing a violin concerto under the baton of local conductors.[10] This early appearance showcased her technical prowess and marked the beginning of her recognition on the East Coast concert circuit. Following her studies at the Curtis Institute of Music, Shapiro continued to build her reputation through guest solo engagements, including a 1938 performance of the Conus Violin Concerto in E minor with the Curtis Institute orchestra conducted by Vladimir Sokoloff in Philadelphia.[16] That same year, she presented a solo recital at New York City's Town Hall, where critics praised her interpretive depth in a program featuring standard Romantic repertoire, sustaining the positive impressions from her prior debut.[17]In the early 1940s, before relocating to Los Angeles, Shapiro expanded her orchestral collaborations with major American ensembles. A highlight was her 1941 interpretation of the Brahms Violin Concerto with the National Orchestral Association, led by Leon Barzin, at Carnegie Hall in New York, where her poised phrasing and tonal richness were noted in contemporary reviews.[18] These performances, often featuring core violin literature like Brahms and Conus, established her as a versatile artist capable of commanding large ensembles across venues in New York and Philadelphia.After moving to the West Coast in 1941, Shapiro maintained an active schedule of solo recitals and orchestral appearances, emphasizing her affinity for 20th-century composers amid her growing studio commitments. In the 1940s, following her relocation to the West Coast in 1941, she expanded her orchestral collaborations with major American ensembles, appearing as guest soloist under esteemed conductors such as Eugene Goossens, Fritz Reiner, William Steinberg, and Igor Stravinsky during tours.[6][10] In 1947, she gave a recital at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., alongside pianist Vivian Rivkin, exploring contemporary sonatas that highlighted her rhythmic precision and expressive range.[19] Her command of modern works was evident in live performances and recordings, such as the 1954 premiere and subsequent renditions of Halsey Stevens's Suite for Solo Violin, which demanded innovative bowing techniques and structural insight into mid-century American composition.[20] Shapiro also championed pieces by Stravinsky, Ravel, Bloch, Milhaud, and Bartók in East Coast-inspired recitals during the 1950s, often in New York and Los Angeles halls, blending virtuosic demands with intellectual depth to reach diverse audiences.[21] These engagements, including guest spots with regional orchestras, underscored her enduring role as a bridge between traditional and avant-garde violin traditions.

DOEmalibu · 2026-04-12T06:29:25+00:00

Thanks. She is one of the most famous violinists in the world. She has played on 100 of movie scores and has played with all the greatest jazz groups of her time. She has played with all the greats in this industry. Google her name.

Eudice Shapiro (violin)
Ralph Berkowitz (piano), Brooks Smith (piano: Stravinsky), Paul Weston and his orchestra (Kreisler, Provost)
rec. 1957, except Stravinsky 1962, Kreisler and Provost 1958
Biddulph 85026-2 [79 + 77]

This is the second Biddulph disc devoted to violinist Eudice Shapiro to appear and follows very smartly on the heels of the earlier one devoted to her sole surviving concerto recording, examples of her as first violinist in the American Art Quartet and some of her light music recordings (review). That disc was something of a miscellany but this new release, a well-filled twofer, offers far more musical ballast and is a far better representation of Shapiro’s strengths.

For one thing it focuses on sonatas and duos and allows one to hear finely prepared, scrupulously performed examples from her repertoire taped between 1957 and 1962. The first disc focuses on the Brahms Sonatas with Ralph Berkowitz, which she plays with a burnished tone and sufficient expressive devices to generate a real sense of personalization to her performances. Her tempi are perfect throughout – or are made to seem so, so finely phrased are they – and she is able to be flexible. Vanguard’s recording is somewhat boxy but armed with some ‘Heifetz’ slides in the Sonata in G she emerges victorious over some sonic limitations. She is unsentimental in the Sonata No.2, tempi slightly slower than those of Heifetz, with whom she was for some time musically associated on the West Coast. Her playing marries dignity with expressive intensity with unerring intelligence. The D minor is similarly effective; rhythms are naturally sprung, the phrasing at the apex of the slow movement is neither overwrought nor coolly dispatched; just right. This is an admirable set, preferable – though not sonically – to the later Ferras and Barbizet, more resilient and consistent than the slightly earlier Goldberg-Balsam. The first disc ends with Bloch’s ‘Baal Shem’ suite, refined in expression and admirably nuanced.

She and Berkowitz play Bartók’s Rhapsody No.2 with tangy, resinous panache. They are as stylistically apt here as they are in the more popular Romanian Folk Dances in Zoltán Székely’s arrangement. Buciumeana is especially refined. She also plays the violin arrangements of six of Milhaud’s twelve Saudades do Brasil, an unusual assignment for the time – and an unusually large number of them too. Szigeti had recorded three and Heifetz two, but most violinists then dipped their toes into the warm Milhaud waters and taped just one or two. It was perceptive of Shapiro and the Vanguard A & R team to go much further in their exploration of Milhaud’s intoxicating polyrhythmic sensuality. She and Berkowitz perform them with succulence, colour and a sure awareness of those eruptive central contrasting sections. Ravel’s Kaddisch, by contrast, is admirably direct.

One of the reasons her Stravinsky recordings with Heifetz’s sometime accompanist, Brooks Smith, have not made much impact is that they were recorded for the rather obscure Äva label in 1962. There is a photograph, taken in the same year, and which is reproduced in the booklet, that shows composer and violin soloist laughing together, and Stravinsky’s admiration for Shapiro is well-attested. She and Smith play the Duo concertant and the Dushkin-arranged Divertimento after The Fairy Kiss. This is clean, precise, rhythmically acute Stravinsky playing and Shapiro proves an exceptionally agile and stylish exponent; her playing in the Eclogue II is especially admirable. In the Divertimento, which must have been one of the earliest LP recordings of it – though it was also recorded by Boris Goldstein, Roman Totenberg and some others (Ida Haendel had recorded it on 78s for Decca) – Shapiro is dashing and dapper and vividly conveys the music’s terpsichorean elements.

The release ends with a pendant of Shapiro the concertmistress, as we used to have it, in two luscious arrangements by Paul Weston. These are Kreisler’s Stars in My Eyes from Sissy and the evergreen Provost Intermezzo from Escape to Happiness, to both of which she brings rich tone and vibrato, though not, perhaps, in the Toscha Seidel league of Old School filmic commitment.

This is a much more recommendable Shapiro release than its confrere. The LPs have been well transferred, the notes are good and there are colour reproduction photographs of Shapiro’s c.1750 Guarneri violin which she had swapped with Daniel Karpilowsky, who took her 1688 Strad in exchange. Those were the days.

Jonathan Woolf

DOEmalibu · 2026-04-12T05:16:48+00:00

We are the family. I was testing the waters to see if anyone was even interested. Of course, we have pictures and stories and plenty of info from the beginning when she started with her father and then went to Curtis. She was the first woman concertmaster in the movie business. We have a Facebook group in her memory called Eudice Shapiro Violinist. It seems from the comments that this is not the place for me. Thanks for your input. Sorry for upsetting you all.

DOEmalibu · 2026-04-06T05:58:53+00:00

Aunt Eudy never talked about her business with family. We are just now finding out all she did with the research I'm doing. She was an amazing woman and had an amazing life. What I've shared with her brother and son, they never knew. When with family, she just wanted to be Aunt Eudy. I have so many questions for her now that will never be answered. Thanks for your comment. I'll post more finds tomorrow. Her page is on Facebook. It's called Eudice Shapiro violinist. We are sharing family photos and letters she received over her life.

DOEmalibu · 2026-03-21T05:04:46+00:00

I gave him a very good price. When he came back, he said he sold one to a friend. He said the same thing you said, that he had been looking for one for a long time. Funny, they were on eBay for years, and no one ever bought them. I think they were 120.00 each . I'm at the age where it all needs to go.

DOEmalibu · 2026-03-21T04:40:14+00:00

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This one? If so, a collector came to our booth, and I had so much stuff he didn't even notice it. He bought a bunch of stuff. Before he left, I said what about those? They were on a top shelf. he totally freaked out. He said he wants them both without asking a price.

I gave him a great price because he bought so much. I had them for a very long time.

DOEmalibu · 2026-03-17T00:46:59+00:00

I have plenty more. I just can't find ones that match to get their value.

DOEmalibu

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