Born: April 19, 1926 (Philadelphia, PA)

Died: June 21, 2002 (Baltimore, MD)

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The American violinist Berl Senfosky started playing violin at age 3. His parents were both violinists who moved to this country from Russia. His father studied with Mischa Elman and Efrem Zimbalist. At age 6, he won a scholarship to study with Louis Persinger and at age 12, he entered Juilliard where he studied with Ivan Galamian.

Senofsky served in the military during World War II. Following the war, in 1946, he was a winner of the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation. From 1951-1955 he served as assistant concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell. In 1955, he became the first American to win the Queen Elisabeth Competition of Belgium. Orchestras Senofsky performed with were: New York Philharmonic, American Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, and many others.

Senfosky was a longtime faculty at the Peabody Institute, 1965 to 1999. In 1983, he was invited to China by Shanghai Conservatory to teach, perform, and start a music program. He founded the First Tuesday Concert Society in Baltimore; its name later changed to Opus One, performing chamber music with colleagues pianist Leo Fleisher, pianist Ellen Mack, violist Karen Tuttle and cellist Stephen Kates, and others.

Senofsky played a 1771 Balestrieri violin and a 1775 Landolfi violin.

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