Juilliard Press release

     Dorothy DeLay
      March 31, 1917 - March 24, 2002



      Dorothy DeLay, Juilliard violin teacher since 1948, whose students are
among the most famous performers and teachers working around the world, died
yesterday morning (Sunday, March 24) at her home in Upper Nyack, New York,
after a more-than yearlong battle with cancer. She would have been 85 years
old on March 31. Miss DeLay, as she preferred to be called, began her
distinguished career as a teacher at The Juilliard School in 1948. She has
been described as the world’s foremost teacher of the violin by publications
as disparate as The New York Times, France’s Le Monde de la Musique, and
South Africa’s Die Volksblad. More than just a teacher of the violin, she
frequently also was mentor, confidant, career advisor, concert fashion
consultant, and even surrogate mother. Among her students are many
celebrated performers, including Itzhak Perlman, Cho-Liang Lin, Anne Akiko
Meyers, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Shlomo Mintz, Nigel Kennedy, Robert
McDuffie, Sarah Chang, Mark Kaplan, Rachel Lee, Midori, Gil Shaham, and
Kyoko Takezawa. Violinists of the Juilliard, Tokyo, Cleveland, American,
Takács, Mendelssohn, Blair, Fine Arts, and Vermeer String Quartets studied
with her. She taught concertmasters of the Berlin Philharmonic, the
Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the
Chicago Symphony, and many other major orchestras the world over. At
Juilliard alone, 14 current faculty members were former DeLay students.
Numerous other former students teach at outstanding conservatories in the
United States and abroad. First prizes were awarded to her students in every
major international competition, including the Tchaikowsky, the Queen
Elizabeth of Belgium, Montreal, Paganini, Thibaud, Menuhin, Wienawski,
Naumburg, Indianapolis, Queen Sofia of Spain, Chile International,
Leventritt, Sarasate, Hanover, and Nielsen competitions, among many others.

      Joseph W. Polisi, President of The Juilliard School stated today,
"Dorothy DeLay represented the highest level of violin teaching during the
second half of the 20th Century. Her legacy is reflected in the thousands of
violinists who currently are performing and teaching around the world. Her
presence and caring personality will be deeply missed worldwide."

      Miss DeLay held master classes in Europe, Korea, Israel, Japan, the
People’s Republic of China, and South Africa. At The Juilliard School she
occupied the Starling Chair, and her summers were spent teaching at the
Aspen Music School. Among her many honors are the Artist Teacher Award of
the American String Teachers Association, the King Solomon Award of the
America-Israel Foundation, and honorary doctorates from Oberlin College,
Columbia University, Michigan State University, Duquesne University, Brown
University, and the University of Colorado. She was a Fellow of the Royal
College of Music in Great Britain. In 1994 she received the National Medal
of Arts, presented by President Clinton at a White House ceremony. In 1995
she received the National Music Council’s annual American Eagle Award, and
in 1997 she received Yale University’s highest award for Distinguished
Contributions to Music, the Sanford Medal. "For her contributions to Japan’s
musical culture," Emperor Akihito bestowed on her the Order of the Sacred
Treasure.

      Miss DeLay is the subject of a biography by Barbara Lourie Sand,
Teaching Genius: Dorothy DeLay and the Making of a Musician, published in
2000. Miss DeLay also has been the focus of numerous articles, and
documentaries throughout her career. At Juilliard, she is Director of the
Starling-DeLay Institute, whose aim is to discover, train, and develop
artist-teachers of the violin. Last year she moderated the Starling-DeLay
Symposium on Violin Studies at Juilliard, How to Teach the Exceptional Young
Violinist, with master teachers Itzhak Perlman, Cho-Liang Lin, and Robert
McDuffie, Nadja Salerno-Sonneberg, Midori, Stephen Clapp, Cathy Cho, and
Brian Lewis attended by 250 young artists and string teachers from around
the world.

      Born in Medicine Lodge, Kansas, on March 31, 1917, Dorothy DeLay
attended Oberlin College, Michigan State University, and what was then
called The Juilliard Graduate School before beginning a concert career. That
career was interrupted by World War II when her husband, writer Edward
Newhouse (a regular contributor to the New Yorker for 30 years) was
transferred to a series of Air Force bases. After the war, they settled in
Rockland County, New York, where they still lived.

      In addition to her husband, Dorothy DeLay is survived by two children,
daughter Alison Dinsmore from Boston, and a son Jeffrey Newhouse from
Bronxville, NY; and four grandchildren, Molly and Susannah Dinsmore and Amy
Lee and Edward Newhouse.


      The family has requested that instead of flowers, contributions be
made to the Dorothy DeLay Scholarship in Violin at The Juilliard School.

      No funeral is planned, but a memorial service will be scheduled for
later this spring at The Juilliard School.


      Either print or digital photos are available by mail or e-mail. Please
contact Tiffany Kuo, communications@juilliard.edu.

      3/25/2002