Max Bendix

Max Bendix (March 28, 1866 – December 6, 1945) was an American concert violinist, conductor, and teacher. He was the first concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and was also the concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera orchestra. Bendix wrote several works for orchestra and some incidental music as well as songs. In 1899, the Musical Courier called Bendix "the finest American violinist".

Early life Bendix was born in Detroit, Michigan on March 28, 1866. He was the son of German-born Jewish parents, Bertha (née Tobias) and William Bendix, a composer. His mother was a cousin of the German composer Felix Mendelssohn and was an heir to his estate.

Bendix first performed as a soloist violinist when he was eight years old. He attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio, graduating with the gold medal when he was fourteen years old in 1880.

On October 30, 1891, he was the soloist for the United States premiere of Dvořák's Violin Concerto in a performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with Theodore Thomas conducting. After leaving the Chicago Symphony in 1897, he gave concert tours across the United States for two years. He was president of the World's Fair Orchestral Association from 1897 to 1898. He was also the conductor for the Broadway shows Girofle-Girofla (1926) and Sari (1930) and wrote incidental music for Experience (1914). At Midway, he developed a schedule that included opera on Mondays, popular music on Tuesdays, symphony on Wednesdays, requests on Thursdays, and Wagner on Fridays. One of his brothers was the composer and musical director Theodore Bendix.

He was a member of numerous clubs in New York City, including The Bohemians, Deutscher Press, The Lambs, the Liederkranz of the City of New York, and the Lotos Club. He lived at The Lambs from 1914 to 1918. He was also a member of the Savage Club in Chicago, Illinois.

Bendix moved to Chicago in 1933. In his later years, he lived in the Home for Aged Jews on Drexel Road. Bendix died of a stroke while at the Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago on December 6, 1945, at the age of eighty years. He was buried in the Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago.