Albert Steinberg

Violinist, conductor, born Toronto 11 May 1910, died California 27 Feb 2003. His teachers in Toronto included Broadus Farmer, Luigi von Kunits, and Kathleen Parlow (violin) and Ettore Mazzoleni and Reginald Stewart (conducting). He also studied violin privately 1935-7 in New York with Michel Piastro and conducting in Maine with Pierre Monteux. After a debut at 14 on radio station CFCA, Toronto, he performed throughout Ontario and toured the USA 1927-8 on the Chautauqua vaudeville circuit and western Canada in 1929. He was a member 1936-46 of the TSO and conducted orchestras on the CBC radio programs 'Music Time' and 'Summer Concert' (1943), 'Thursday Concert' (1944), 'String Orchestra' (1945), and 'Variety Time' (1946). He was concertmaster 1946-51 of the Promenade Symphony Concerts orchestra and assistant conductor 1948-51 and concertmaster 1946-51 of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. He was also music director 1946-51 of the Vancouver Junior Symphony Orchestra, founder in 1947 of the Vancouver SO students' and children's concerts, and a founding member of the Vancouver Chamber Sinfonietta 1947-51, the Steinberg String Quartet 1947-51, and the Friends of Chamber Music in 1948. He left Canada to play 1952-6 in the Los Angeles Philharmonic. After 1956 he played in various studio orchestras, including that of Percy Faith. From 1967 to 1989 he was concertmaster and assistant conductor to David Rose for various TV series including 'The Red Skelton Show,' 'Bonanza,' 'Little House on the Prairie,' and several others. During the same period he was also concertmaster to conductor Nelson Riddle for his TV series, including 'Newhart,' and for his recordings with Linda Rondstat, Frank Sinatra, and Sammy Davis Jr. In 1985 he was soloist for a TV special, for release in Germany, involving works by David Rose, Henry Mancini, John Green, and David Raskin. He was music director 1973-8 for the Young Artists' Symphony of Los Angeles. In 1979 Steinberg was appointed music director and conductor of the AF of M Senior Symphony of Los Angeles, a position he continued to hold in 1991, though he had retired from active violin playing.