Peter Shidloff, a Jewish refugee who helped to found the world’s longest surviving string ensemble, has died aged 65.
Shidloff, viola player in the Amadeus Quartet, came to Britain from Austria in 1938 when he was 16 years old. With the outbreak of war he was, like many German and Austrian Jews, confined in an internment camp as an enemy alien.
There he met fellow refugee violinists, Norbert Bainin and Sigmund Nissel, and in 1948, with English cellist Martin Lovett, they founded the Amadeus Quartet in honor of their great hero Mozart. They were recognized as the leading quartet in Europe and admired throughout the world. With Shidloff’s death the quartet will now be disbanded.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
