 Georg Kulenkampff was the son of a well-to-do merchant family in Bremen.He took an interest in the violin from a very young age, and from 1904 (aged 6) began to receive instruction from the concertmaster of the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra, and afterwards with its conductor Ernst Wendel.He then received lessons and encouragement from Leopold Auer (teacher of Mischa Elman, Efrem Zimbalist, Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein and others) in Dresden, and made a concert debut in 1912 as solo violinist.