Andor Toth

Andor John Toth (June 16, 1925 – November 28, 2006) was an American classical violinist, conductor and educator with a musical career spanning over six decades.

While he was still a graduate student at the Juilliard School, he launched his career in 1942 at age 17 as solo violinist with the original Ballets Russes.

[1] At Juilliard he studied with Hans Letz[3] (formerly of the Kneisel Quartet and a student of Joseph Joachim) and Ivan Galamian.

The couple had three sons: Andor Jr., a cellist; Thomas, a software engineer; and Chris, a programmer and network administrator.

In 1955, Toth formed the Oberlin String Quartet with violinist Matthew Raimondi, violist William Berman, and cellist John Frazer.

In Summer 1958 the Oberlin String Quartet won fourth prize in the Concours International de Quatuor, sponsored by Queen Elizabeth Music Competition, in Liege, Belgium.

[8] In 1963 Toth joined the Alma Trio with pianist Adolph Baller and cellist Gabor Rejto, following the death of violinist Maurice Wilk.

[10] In 1984, Toth founded the Stanford String Quartet with cellist Stephen Harrison, violinist Mayumi Ohira, and violist Don Ehrlich.

The orchestra played in South Korea, Japan and Singapore, drawing a tremendous response and setting the model for numerous tours since.

Toth frequently amused his students (among them Charles Barber, Jennifer Brown, Peter Jaffe, Christopher Lanz, Jeanine Wagar) with a wry wit and an astonishing command of stride piano.

As a teacher, Toth had very specific ideas about tone production, bow control, left hand finger placement and motion, vibrato, and all other facets of a well-developed artistic technique.