Roman Totenberg (1 January 1911 – 8 May 2012) was a Polish-American violinist and educator. A child prodigy, he lived in Poland, Moscow, Berlin, and Paris, before formally immigrating to the U.S. in 1938, at age 27. He performed and taught nationally and internationally throughout his life. One of Totenberg's favorite instruments was the Ames Stradivarius, which was stolen from his office in the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts after a concert in May 1980. The instrument was recovered and returned to Totenberg's daughters on August 6, 2015. Early life Roman Totenberg was born in Lodz, Poland to a Jewish family, the son of Adam (an architect) and Stanisława (Winawer) Totenberg. He spent his early childhood years (1914–1921) in Moscow, where the family moved at the beginning of World War I. Totenberg was a child prodigy who made his concert debut at the age of eleven with conductor Grzegorz Fitelberg. Returning to Warsaw in 1921, he studied with Mieczyslaw Michalowicz, and made his debut at the age of eleven as soloist with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. He was also awarded the gold medal at the Warsaw Chopin Conservatory. By 1929, he had moved to Berlin, where he continued his studies with Carl Flesch. In 1932 he moved to Paris, where he studied with George Enescu and Pierre Monteux. He won the International Mendelssohn Prize. In 1935, he made his British debut in London and his American debut in Washington, D.C. In 1936, at age 25, he played at the White House for Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1938, at age 27, he formally immigrated to the U.S. under the distinguished artist visa program. Many of his family members were murdered in the Holocaust, though he managed to rescue his mother. His sister survived the Warsaw Ghetto, where her own husband had died. Professional life Totenberg toured South America with Franz Reizenstein in 1937, and gave joint recitals with Karol Szymanowski. He gave many concerts comprising the complete cycle of Beethoven sonatas and all Bach Brandenburg concertos. His diversified repertoire included more than thirty concerti. Among the many contemporary works he introduced are the Darius Milhaud Violin Concerto No. 2, the William Schuman Concerto in its final version, 1959, and the Krzysztof Penderecki Capriccio. He also premiered Paul Hindemith's Sonata in E (1935), the Samuel Barber Concerto (new version) and the Bohuslav Martinů Madrigal Sonata, as well