David Sheinfeld

'Music is mankind's greatest accomplishment. It's an untranslatable language, a world in itself.' - David Sheinfeld

American composer, conductor, teacher and violinist David Sheinfeld was born in St Louis to Ukrainian immigrants on 20 September 1906.

He studied violin as a child, began composing as a teenager and became inspired by astronomy and particle physics, later composing a piece called e=mc2. He studied harmony and counterpoint in Chicago and was a composition student of Respighi in Rome (1929-1931).  Later he studied conducting with Pierre Monteux. He played violin in the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra from 1945-1971. He became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

David Sheinfeld died from cancer on 9 June 2001, aged ninety-four.

Kent Nagano championed Sheinfeld's orchestral music and gave the first performance of his last work - Different Worlds of Sound, a symphony-concerto for solo percussion and orchestra - later in 2001.