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Born: September 29, 1921 - Chicago, Illnois,USA
Died: December 8, 2010 - Seattle, Washingon, USA |
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The American violinist and conductor, Paul C. Shure, was born in Chicago but came to Los Angeles. as a child. He graduated with honors from Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute and also studied with Russian violinist and composer Joseph Achron. At 18, he became the youngest member of the Philadelphia Orchestra under conductor Leopold Stokowski. His career was interrupted by Navy service during World War II.
After the war, Paul Shure joined the 20th Century-Fox staff orchestra and became its assistant concertmaster. In 1948, with Fox concertmaster Felix Slatkin, Shure helped launch the legendary Hollywood String Quartet (HSQ), widely considered to be the first American chamber-music group to have an international impact through its Capitol recordings. With Slatkin and Shure on violins, Slatkin’s wife Eleanor Aller on cello and Paul Robyn (later Alvin Dinkin) on viola, the Hollywood String Quartet became one of the nation’s leading chamber ensembles, playing a wide variety of works that ranged from L.v. Beethoven to Paul Hindemith. From their foundation until the end of the 1950's, they explored a massive amount of chamber music repertoire that had largely been ignored, not only in America but Europe as well, introducing several pieces in their definitive interpretations on record (for the Capitol label). Frank Sinatra, a fan of their work, hired the HSQ to accompany him on his 1957 album "Close to You." The HSQ toured the USA and Europe during its decade-long existence, and disbanded in 1961. In 1997, as its sole surviving member, Shure accepted a lifetime achievement award at the Cannes Classical Awards, voted by an international panel of record reviewers.
In 1959 Paul Shure joined the faculty of Ohio’s Oberlin Conservatory. He returned to Hollywood in 1961, becoming concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (from 1972 to 1987) and serving in a similar capacity with the California Chamber Symphony, the Long Beach Symphony, Pasadena Symphony and others.
Paul Shure was also active in the 20th-Century Fox studio orchestra (conducted by Felix Slatkin). He served as concertmaster on hundreds of movie scores over more than 50 years. As concertmaster for such top film composers as Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, Bernard Herrmann, Ernest Gold, Bill Conti, Charles Fox and Gerald Fried, he led the string sections and often played violin solos. His wife Bonnie Douglas, whom he married in 1966, was also a top violinist in film and TV ensembles. Both often played in the Academy Awards orchestras. He was an acclaimed violinist who not only played on film and TV scores but also performed classical repertoire throughout his long career, under such famed classical conductors as Arturo Toscanini, Bruno Walter, Fritz Reiner, Igor Stravinsky and Neville Marriner.
In the late 1990's, Paul Shure and his wife moved to Seattle, where they continued to play in opera and chamber ensembles. He died on December 8, 2010 at his home in Seattle. He was 89. Survivors, in addition to his wife, include four children and two grandchildren. |
