.. he was 81 when he died from congestive heart failure.
The Ukrainian-born violinist was fourteen months old when his family moved to San Francisco.
He received his first music lessons from his mother before enrolling at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 1928 where he studied until 1931 before going on to study privately with Louis Persinger. He returned to the San Francisco Conservatory to study with Naoum Blinder for five years.
Stern was best known for his recordings and for discovering new musical talent. Isaac recorded concertos by Mendelssohn, Brahms, Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Vivaldi and modern works by Barber, Bartók, Stravinsky, Bernstein and Dutilleux.
Press links below to view You Tube video performances:
-- "Anatevka" (from "Fiddler on the Roof")
-- "Tchaikovsky Piano Trio in A minor, Op.50 - part 1" (with Horowitz and Rostropovič)
-- "Piano Trio in B flat major, Op. 97 - "Archduke"" (Istomin-Stern-Rose Trio)
His discoveries include cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Jian Wang, and violinists Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman to mention a few. Among his many awards, he has been honored with 4 Grammy Awards for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with orchestra in 1962, 1963, 1965 and 1982; 2 Grammy Awards for Best Chamber Music Performance in 1971 and 1992; and received the Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 1987.
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