Story in the Air

The commemorative book Eudice Shapiro: A Life in Music; 50 Years of Teaching at USC was published in 2006 by the USC Thornton School of Music. It chronicles the life of violinist Eudice Shapiro, virtuoso soloist, chamber music player, teacher and intrepid champion of modern works who was for more than 20 years the only woman concertmaster in the Hollywood recording studios.

I wrote this book as part of a celebration of a new scholarship at the USC Thornton School of Music in Shapiro’s name. Her career in the Hollywood studios and her constant championing of modern music put her in contact with some of the most famous artists in postwar Los Angeles. The list of musicians and composers with whom she worked includes everyone from Jascha Heifetz to Igor Stravinsky. The years she spent in Los Angeles, from 1941 until her death in 2007, are a chronicle of the growth of classical music in the city.