Dorothy De Lay

Dorothy DeLay (31 March 1917, Medicine Lodge, Kansas — 24 March 2002, New York City) was an American classical violinist, sister of cellist Nellis DeLay, and renowned violin instructor who has taught for over fifty years at the Juilliard School, Sarah Lawrence College, the University Of Cincinnati, and other prominent US institutions. She grew up in a family of musicians and teachers and began studying violin at four. After one semester at The Oberlin Conservatory Of Music, Dorothy transferred to Michigan State University, earning her Bachelor's degree in 1937. DeLay continued her education at the Juilliard School with Louis Persinger and Felix Salmond. In 1939, Dorothy established the Stuyvesant Trio with her sister Nellis and pianist Helen Brainerd. She performed in The All-American Youth Orchestra, recently founded by Leopold Stokowski, touring in the opening season in 1940. In 1946, Dorothy DeLay joined Juilliard's faculty, deciding to retire from her stage career in favor of pedagogy; she worked as Ivan Galamian's teaching assistant in 1948. In subsequent years, she taught at Sarah Lawrence College (1947 to 1987), the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music (1971 to 2001), the New England Conservatory Of Music, and the Aspen Music Festival. Some of DeLay's notable students include Itzhak Perlman, Nigel Kennedy, Midori Goto, Dmitri Berlinsky, David Chan, Sarah Chang, Robert Chen, Angèle Dubeau, Simon Fischer, Anton Miller, Shlomo Mintz, Anne Akiko Meyers, Mark Peskanov, Philippe Quint, and Jaap van Zweden, to name just a few.