Isaac Stern Quotes

Isaac Stern was born in Kremenets, Ukraine. He was a Ukrainian-born American violinist and music conductor. At age 6 he began taking piano lessons, but his interest soon turned to the violin. He studied at the San Francisco Conservatory and with the Russian violinist Naoum Blinder and in 1935 made his San Francisco Symphony debut. In 1960, he formed a trio with pianist Eugene Istomin and cellist Leonard Rose. His film "From Mao to Mozart Isaac Stern in China" won the 1981 Academy Award for best full-length documentary plus he did the movie soundtrack for "Fiddler on the Roof." He was awarded in 1991 the National Medal of the Arts and in 1992 the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George Bush. Japan gave Stern the highest award, The Order of the Rising Sun in 1997.