Mozart Violin Concertos

Oscar Shumsky, who was born in Philadelphia in 1917 and plays a famous 1715 Stradivarius, known as the "Ex Pierre Rode" or "Duke of Cambridge", was an infant prodigy, making his concert debut under Leopold Stokowski at the age of eight. His teachers included Leopold Auer and Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute. His widely acclaimed career as a soloist has led him to perform with most of the leading American orchestras, besides being leader of the Primrose Quartet and from 1959-67 music director of the Canadian Stratford Festival. He has also held numerous academic appointments and has earned an enviable reputation for his expert direction of small chamber ensembles. His felicitous partnership with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra under Yan Pascal Tortelier, son of the famous French cellist and himself a virtuoso violinist as well as a conductor, lends an especial authority to these performances in which the listener can encounter Mozart's ever-fresh concertos in a new and invigorating light.