Violinist Yfrah Neaman, a distinguished teacher of the instrument and a friend and colleague of the late Yehudi Menuhin, died Jan. 4 of cancer, his office said. He was 79.
Neaman came to public notice with a sensational London debut in 1944 when he stood in for Max Rostal with the London Symphony Orchestra after Rostal broke his wrist.
As director and chairman of the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition, Neaman brought Menuhin and other leading figures onto the jury and helped launch the prestigious London International String Quartet Competition, of which he and Menuhin were joint artistic directors.
The son of a Bible scholar who emigrated to Palestine from the Ukraine, Neaman was born in Sidon, Lebanon, and showed early signs of musical talent; by age 9 he was studying at the prestigious Paris Conservatoire and at 14 became the youngest student to win the school's Premier Prix.
He later studied with Flesch and Carl Thibaud and started making public appearances in his late teens.
After the Germans occupied northern France, Neaman left for England, where he worked in a factory making goggles for Royal Air Force pilots. He continued his studies and played in a series of wartime concerts at the National Gallery organized by the celebrated pianist Myra Hess. He also played for Britons seeking shelter in air raid shelters and subway platforms.
A champion of British composers, he tutored generations of young performers over 40 years at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Soloists and teachers he launched included Krzysztof Smietana, Philip Dukes, Andrew Watkinson, Simon Fischer and Takashi Shimuzu, and two winners of the Carl Flesch competition, Mincho Minchev and Xue Wei.
In 1972, he founded the European String Teachers Association and from 1975 ran an acclaimed annual summer school near Bury St. Edmunds in eastern England.
Neaman was made a Freeman of the City of London in 1980 and three years later was made Officer of the Order of the British Empire, or OBE.
He is survived by his wife Gillian and a son and a daughter.
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