Edgar Ortenberg

Who was Edgar Ortenberg?

Edgar Ortenberg was a violinist in the Budapest String Quartet and taught violin at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Born Eleazar Ortenberg in Odessa, his teachers included Naoum Blinder at the Odessa Conservatory and Jacques Thibaud in Paris. He was concertmaster of the Odessa Opera Orchestra. In 1926 he adopted the first name "Edgar" and formed the Berlin String Quartet.

In 1933 he moved to Paris, and in 1940, to New York, where he played for the WQXR Orchestra. He played for the Budapest String Quartet as its second violinist from 1944 to 1949. He then moved to Philadelphia where he taught violin at the Settlement Music School until 1988. He died on May 16, 1996.