TEMIANKA, HENRI

TEMIANKA, HENRI (1906–1992), U.S. violinist and conductor. Born at Greenock, Scotland, Temianka studied with Blitz in Rotterdam (1915–23), at the Berlin Hochschule fuer Musik in Berlin (1923–34), and with carl flesch and Rodjinsky (conducting) at the Curtis Institute, Philadelphia. He made his debut as violinist in New York in 1928. He was leader of the Scottish orchestra (1937–38), and the Pittsburgh SO (1941–42), but he essentially devoted himself to a career as a soloist and appeared throughout Europe and the United States. In 1935 he was a prizewinner at the Wieniawski Competition in Warsaw and was invited to play in the USSR. In 1946 he founded the Paganini String Quartet and was its leader and first violinist until 1966; the quartet gave premieres of works by castelnuovo-tedesco , milhaud , and Lees, and counted Beethoven's Razumovsky Quartets among its finest recorded performances. In 1958 he founded the Temianka Chamber Symphony Orchestra, which he conducted. He was also musician-in-residence at the University of California and professor of music at California State College. Temianka made a number of educational films, edited several quartets, and published an autobiography, Facing the Music (1973). In his elegant interpretations he combined the best elements of the French tradition and the Flesch school. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Grove Music Online. (Amnon Shiloah (2nd ed.)