Born: March 21, 1932 (Detroit, MI)

Died: November 21, 2015 (Springfield, MA)

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Violinist Joseph Silverstein was a conductor, and violinist who was the concertmaster of the Boston Symphony for 22 years.

From 1983 to 1998, he served as the music director of the Utah Symphony Orchestra. He became assistant conductor in Boston in 1971, and principal guest conductor of the Baltimore Symphony in 1981.

He graduated from the Curtis Institute in 1950 where his teachers included Efrem Zimbalist, D.C. Dounis, William Primrose, Josef Gingold and Mischa Mischakoff. He joined second violin section of the Boston Symphony as its youngest player in 1955, becoming the orchestra's principal violinist in 1962. He worked with music directors Erich Leinsdorf, William Steinberg and Seiji Ozawa, and helped found the Boston Symphony Chamber Players in 1964.

In 1960, he won the Naumburg Award at the age of 28.

Silverstein also taught at Yale and Boston University, the New England Conservatory, Curtis, and at Tanglewood.

He performed on a 1742 Guarneri del Gesu.