Louis Persinger

American violinist and pianist, born 11 February 1887 in Rochester, Illinois and died 31 December 1966 in New York, New York. Persinger became concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony in 1915 at age 28, where he was also an associate conductor. He held this post for eleven seasons, 1915-1925. He organized the Persinger String Quartet in about 1918. While in San Francisco he had a number of famous San Francisco violin students, including Yehudi Menuhin (whom Persinger began teaching at age six), Ruggiero Ricci and Isaac Stern. In 1930, Persinger relocated to New York, succeeding Leopold Auer at the Institute of Musical Art (predecessor of the Juilliard School). His son, Rolf Persinger, was an accomplished violist. They concertized together and made several recordings recordings together.