Famous musician dies

Press, 6 March 1985, Page 40

Famous musician dies

NZPA-AP Reno, Nevada The violinist and composer, Efrem Zimbalist sen. the father of the actor, Efrem Zimbalist jun., and grandfather of the actress, Stephanie Zimbalist, has died after a long battle with cancer. He was 95. Zimbalist died at his Reno home, said a Washoe County Coroner’s spokesman, Judy Kohler. The Russian-born musician earned a reputation as a violin soloist in Europe before he emigrated to the

United States in 1911. He made his American debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra that year, playing the first American performance of Glazunov’s Concerto in A minor. In 1941, he was appointed director of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, serving in that post until 1968. He also composed operas, musical comedy, and concertos. Bom on April 21, 1889, in Rostov, Russia, he studied

violin with his father, an orchestral musician, and at the St Petersburg Conservatory. He married the singer, Alma Gluck, in 1914. She died in 1938, and in 1943 he married Mary Louise Curtis Bok, founder' of the Philadelphia Curtis Institute. She died in 1970. In addition to his son and granddaughter, Zimbalist sen. is survived by a stepdaughter, five grandchildren, and seven great-grand-children. 1