Richard M. Burgin

Richard Burgin (October 11, 1892 – April 29, 1981) was a Polish-American violinist, best known as associate conductor and the concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO).

Early life Burgin was born in Siedlce, Poland, and first performed in public at age 11, as a soloist with the Warsaw Philharmonic Society. In 1906 he studied with Joseph Joachim in Berlin, and from 1908 to 1912 with Leopold Auer at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Then he worked in Helsinki, Stockholm and Oslo.

Concertmaster Burgin was appointed concertmaster of the BSO in 1920 when Pierre Monteux was the principal conductor, and assistant conductor in 1927 early in Serge Koussevitzky's tenure as principal conductor (1924–1949).

Earlier, he had been concertmaster of the Leningrad Symphony, Helsinki Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic and Stockholm Concert Society. He played under renowned conductors Max Fiedler and Arthur Nikisch, and composers Richard Strauss and Jean Sibelius.

As a violin soloist, he played the U.S. premiere of Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1, in D major, Op. 19, on 24 April 1925, with the BSO under Serge Koussevitzky. Koussevitzky had conducted the world premiere of that masterpiece in Paris a couple of years earlier in one of his Concerts Koussevitzky, with his concertmaster Darrieux playing the solo part after the otherwise great Bronislaw Huberman had spurned it as not virtuosic enough for his taste.

From 1963 to 1968, he conducted the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts, in the Naumburg Bandshell, Central Park, in the summer series.

Teaching and chamber music performance Within a year of coming to Boston, Burgin founded his own Burgin String Quartet. He also headed the string department of the New England Conservatory, a block away from the home of the BSO, Symphony Hall, teaching both violin and conducting and, in 1953, conducting its student orchestra. Starting in 1959, he also taught at Boston University, where he lectured and conducted its chamber orchestra; and at the Berkshire Music Center, where he taught conducting.

Awards Burgin was a chevalier officer of the French Légion d'honneur, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Family Burgin married Ruth Posselt on July 3, 1940. Their son, Richard W. Burgin, was the author of numerous short-story collections and novels.

He died in Gulfport, Florida, on April 29, 1981.