British viola player, a founding member of the Melos Ensemble, a leading chamber musician and an influential teacher at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music. In 1933 he began studying the violin in Durban with Stirling Robbins. After two years he came to England on an overseas scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music in London. In 1939 the war interrupted his studies and he spent the next six years in the army. When he returned to England he switched to the viola. In spring 1949 he was with the violas of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1950 he co-founded the Melos Ensemble. He played regularly with the London Mozart Players and was principal violist with the Goldsbrough Orchestra (later to become the English Chamber Orchestra). Benjamin Britten wrote many viola parts with Aronowitz in mind, particularly in his chamber operas and church operas. At the 1976 Aldeburgh Festival he and his wife Nicola Grunberg gave the first public performance outside Russia of Shostakovich's last work, the Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147, in the presence of Britten and Shostakovich's widow.
British viola player, a founding member of the Melos Ensemble, a leading chamber musician and an influential teacher at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music. In 1933 he began studying the violin in Durban with Stirling Robbins. After two years he came to England on an overseas scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music in London. In 1939 the war interrupted his studies and he spent the next six years in the army. When he returned to England he switched to the viola. In spring 1949 he was with the violas of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1950 he co-founded the Melos Ensemble. He played regularly with the London Mozart Players and was principal violist with the Goldsbrough Orchestra (later to become the English Chamber Orchestra). Benjamin Britten wrote many viola parts with Aronowitz in mind, particularly in his chamber operas and church operas. At the 1976 Aldeburgh Festival he and his wife Nicola Grunberg gave the first public performance outside Russia of Shostakovich's last work, the Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147, in the presence of Britten and Shostakovich's widow.
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