Violinist and pedagogue Zvi Zeitlin has died at the age of 90. He taught at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, for more than 40 years. As a performer he toured internationally, gave the world premieres of concertos by Gunther Schuller and Paul Ben Haim, and championed the Schoenberg Violin Concerto.

Zeitlin, who moved to Palestine from Russia when he was two years old, started learning the violin when he was six. At age 11 he became the youngest scholarship student in the history of the Juilliard School. Returning to Palestine on the eve of World War II, he joined the Jerusalem Radio Symphony and began giving concerto performances. In 1943 he joined the Royal Air Force and performed for British, American and Soviet troops across the Middle East.

Zeitlin returned to Juilliard in 1947 and resumed studies with Louis Persinger and Ivan Galamian. He made his New York recital debut in 1951 and soon developed an international solo career, performing with conductors including Bernstein, Mehta, Boulez and Maazel.

He joined the Eastman School faculty in 1967, and from 1973 he also taught at the Music Academy of the West. He gave masterclasses in Europe, Japan, Korea and China, and throughout the US and Canada.

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