Childhood and education Harvey Shapiro was born in New York City to Russian immigrant parents in 1911. He began cello lessons at age 7 with . Willeke was the director of the
South Mountain Music Festival and
Walter W. Naumburg Foundation, as well as the president of The Bohemians, a New York music club. He was invited at the age of 8 to study with
Julius Klengel in Germany, but was forced to decline on account of his family's lack of financial resources. For a time, economic hardship led Shapiro and his family to move to
San Francisco; he later returned to New York City where he settled permanently. He also won the Willem Willeke Scholarship to continue graduate studies at Juilliard, with a fellowship in conducting. While Harold A. Strickland of the
Brooklyn Times-Union appraised Shapiro's tone as "not yet agreeable of texture" and criticized his interpretative skills as "limited,"
Winthrop Sargeant of the
Brooklyn Daily Eagle was more positive: [O]ne was able to perceive that Mr. Shapiro is a talented and thoughtful young musician, not yet capable of interpreting the great works of the repertoire with all the authority of a mature artist, but, nevertheless, showing seriousness of purpose and mechanical resourcefulness that promise well for the future.
NBC Symphony and Primrose Quartet In 1937, Shapiro was selected by
Arturo Toscanini to join the cello section of the
NBC Symphony Orchestra; he was appointed principal cello in 1943 and remained with the ensemble until 1946. During the late 1930s, Shapiro also played in orchestras at
Radio City Music Hall and the
New York World's Fair. In 1939,
William Primrose founded the Primrose String Quartet, whose members were all colleagues from the NBC Symphony. Shapiro was one of the quartet's founding members, who were also all neighbors in the same apartment building, Shapiro also played in an ensemble called the NBC Trio, with violinist
Josef Gingold and pianist
Earl Wild. They also played the American premiere of
Anton Bruckner's
String Quartet, a performance that was organized in collaboration with the score's publisher,
C. F. Peters. The WQXR Radio Quartet also participated in their
namesake station's first stereophonic broadcast in 1952. Since Toscanini, [the WQXR Radio Quartet] has been the last bulwark of live, good music on the air. [...] Needless to say, because of the quartet's exceptional performances and superior standards, these weekly broadcasts have become one of the most anticipated listening hours for those who seek the finer performances in the chamber music field. His solos on a 1961
RCA Victor LP with
Leopold Stokowski conducting the
Symphony of the Air, which was made up of former members of the NBC Symphony Orchestra, earned the cellist praise from the
San Francisco Examiner, who called him a "first-rate artist and master of his instrument." Shapiro's playing of the cello solo in a recording of
Johannes Brahms'
Piano Concerto No. 2 he made with pianist
Artur Rubinstein drew congratulations from record engineer
John Pfeiffer, as well as his fellow Symphony of the Air musicians. at the former institution he was a replacement for
Raya Garbousova, who wanted to spend time with her family during the summer instead of teach. and his 80th birthday in 1991. He was partnered respectively with pianists
Ruth Laredo He remained an active teacher into his 90s, despite health problems, including arthritis, broken hips, failing eyesight, and cancer. He devised alternate fingerings in order to mitigate his arthritis. In March 1998 he gave a very well received recital at the
Prinzregententheater in Munich. He continued to give master classes in Europe, notably in Salzburg, Vienna, Engelberg and Florence until 2006. ==Teaching==