Frederick Grinke

Frederick Grinke CBE (8 August 1911 – 16 March 1987) was a Canadian-born violinist who had an international career as soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. He was known especially for his performances of 20th-century English music.

Training Frederick Grinke started learning to play the violin at the age of 9, and studied with John Waterhouse and others in Winnipeg. He made his first broadcast at the age of about 12, and formed a trio at age 15. In 1927, he won a Dominion of Canada scholarship award to the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied with Rowsby Woof. He continued his studies (at age 21) for a summer with Adolf Busch in Switzerland, and afterwards in Belgium and London with Carl Flesch.

Career Hamilton Harty considered appointing him leader of the London Symphony Orchestra at the age of 21, but the offer was not made on account of his youth. From around 1930 to 1936, Grinke was second violin of the Kutcher String Quartet (in which John Barbirolli was for a time the 'cellist). In 1935, with pianist, Dorothy Manley, he gave the premiere of the Canadian composer Hector Gratton's Quatrieme danse canadienne. It was with Manley and Florence Hooton, both fellow students at the Academy, that Grinke formed his trio, Kendall Taylor later replacing Manley.

Boyd Neel Orchestra In 1937 he became concertmaster of the Boyd Neel Orchestra. His first performance with them was Salzburg Festival in 1937, giving the premiere of Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge By Benjamin Britten.

In 1940, he volunteered for the Royal Air Force, joining its Royal Air Force Symphony Orchestra, and toured with them worldwide, notably in the United States. On one occasion, he was flown back to England for a performance of the Arnold Bax concerto (with which he was particularly associated) at the Royal Albert Hall. He also performed before Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Harry S. Truman at the Potsdam Three-Power Conference. The trio also recorded the Phantasy trio of Frank Bridge and the Beethoven trio in E flat.

Ralph Vaughan Williams dedicated his Sonata in A minor, written in 1952, to Grinke, who recorded the composer's Concerto Accademico in D minor, and The Lark Ascending, with the Boyd Neel Orchestra. Grinke and David Martin (also a Canadian violinist) performed J.S. Bach's Concerto for two violins at Vaughan Williams's funeral. He made a broadcast of the Arnold Bax concerto from Australia. The National Portrait Gallery lists 8 portraits of Grinke in its collections. He is buried in the churchyard of St Mary, Thornham Parva, Suffolk.