“George Neikrug—a renowned cello teacher who was also principal cellist with the Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles orchestras—has died, the day after turning 100,” reads an unsigned Monday (3/14) obituary in The Strad. “Born in New York, Neikrug studied with the legendary cellist Emanuel Feuermann…. Aged 24, Neikrug met D.C. Dounis—a Greek pedagogue, whose revolutionary approach had a profound influence on the young cellist…. It was thanks to his studies with Dounis that Neikrug resolved to devote his life to teaching at schools including Detmold, Oberlin, the University of Texas-Austin and Boston University, whose arts faculty he joined in 1971. In 1960, Neikrug performed Bloch’s Schelomo with the NBC Symphony at Carnegie Hall and Leopold Stokowski, who described the cellist’s performance as ‘unforgettable.’ Neikrug also appeared as a soloist with conductors Leonard Bernstein, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Bruno Walter and Yehudi Menuhin…. In 1995 he received the Artist-Teacher Award from the American String Teachers Association. The following year he was awarded Indiana University’s Chevalier du Violoncelle accolade—in recognition of his outstanding lifetime achievement. Neikrug is survived by his sons, the composer Marc Neikrug and the actor Barry Neikrug.”
Posted March 14, 2019
