Institute, Philadelphia, Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore, Yale University, and, from 1953, the Juilliard School in New York. From 1959 to 1967, he co-directed the Stratford Festival (in Ontario) with Glenn Gould, with whom he played regularly at the festival and made some recordings for T.V. broadcast. Around this time, he appeared regularly as a soloist with American orchestras. His conducting debut was in 1959 with the Canadian National Festival Orchestra; he later conducted the Orchestral Workshop of Westchester, the Westchester Symphony Orchestra, and the Empire Sinfonietta in New York, and the New Jersey Colonial Symphony Orchestra. He joined the Bach Aria Group in the early 1960s. He was granted a Ford Foundation Award in 1965. He returned to concerts and recordings in 1981, performing in the USA and in Britain for the first time in 30 years; a programme he gave for solo violin led to great acclaim: He recorded Eugène Ysaÿe's solo violin sonatas op.27 and Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin, the Beethoven violin concerto, Bach's single and double violin concertos, Mozart's 4th and 5th violin concertos, and other works, including the two Brahms Viola Sonatas on the viola. Many of these recordings have not been released on CD. Many fellow violinists consider him to be one of the great violinists of the century; David Oistrakh called him "one of the world's greatest violinists" and the New Grove dictionary says of him: 'He was a player of virtuoso technique, pure style and refined taste; yet never sought recognition as a soloist, preferring to concentrate on teaching, chamber music playing and conducting.' References Boris Schwarz/Margaret Campbell: 'Shumsky, Oscar', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 2007-06-25), http://www.grovemusic.com/ Robin Stowell: notes to Shumsky's recording of Pierre Rode: 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, ebs 6007 Further reading M. Campbell: The Great Violinists B. Schwarz: Great Masters of the Violin J. Creighton: Discopaedia of the Violin, 1889–1971 (Toronto, 1974) D. Rooney: Unshaken Ideals, in The Strad XCVIII (1987) External links http://www.shumskymusic.com/ - biography, discography, photos Obituary - The Guardian 1917 births 2000 deaths American classical violinists Male classical violinists American male violinists American classical violists American music educators Musicians from Philadelphia American people of Russian-Jewish descent United States Navy personnel of World War II Yale University faculty Jewish classical musicians 20th-century classical violinists Classical musicians from Pennsylvania 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American violinists 20th-century violists