David Nadien was an American virtuoso violinist and violin teacher. He was concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic from 1966 to 1970. His playing style; characterized by fast vibrato, audible shifting noises, and superb bow control; has been compared to that of Jascha Heifetz, who is considered by many to be the greatest violinist of all time.
Life
David Nadien was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 12, 1926, the son of Armenian-American George and Bertha Nadien. His father was a local boxer who went by the last name "Vanderbilt." He started learning violin with his father, then entered the Mannes School of Music; he also studied at the Juilliard School. His teachers included Adolfo Betti, Demetrius Constantine Dounis, Adolf Busch and Ivan Galamian. When he was 18 he was drafted into the US Army, and played with the Army Service Forces Orchestra upon the recommendation of Philadelphia Orchestra principal bassoonist Sol Schoenbach, who recognized his talents. He made his first concert appearance with the New York Philharmonic at the age of 14, and at the age of 20 won the Leventritt Award. Nadien won the prestigious Leventritt Award, judged by a panel that included Arturo Toscanini, at 20. Afterwards, he worked mainly as a freelance studio musician until in 1966 he was invited to audition and eventually selected by Leonard Bernstein to replace the retiring John Corigliano Sr., the father of the composer, as concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic. Although he had little experience of orchestral playing, Bernstein praised his unusually acute sight-reading skills and called him "an extraordinary violinist", and he had previously received an offer from George Szell to be principal second violin of the Cleveland Orchestra. As concertmaster, Nadien was engaged as a soloist with the orchestra frequently and featured in several of Bernstein's "Young People's Concerts." He left the orchestra in 1970 and resumed studio work in New York, which was far more lucrative than the concertmaster post. As a violin teacher, he worked at the Mannes College of Music and taught privately. Nadien owned the "Prince of Orange, Wald, Hoffmann" violin, made by Guarneri del Gesù in about 1743. He is well known for his recordings of Parts 1 to 4 of the "Suzuki violin method". He died of pneumonia aged 88 on May 28, 2014.
