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Mishel Piastro was born June 19, 1891 in Kerch, Russia (now in the Ukraine). His father, also Mishel, was a student of Leopold Auer and he taught his son Michel the violin. Piastro also studied with Auer from 1906-1911 while at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. In 1914, Piastro toured, and arrived in San Francisco in early April, 1920, after having traveled via Shanghai and Canada. Piastro then also toured the U.S., and made his New York debut in Carnegie Hall on October 3, 1920, to good reviews. Piastro became a citizen in San Francisco in 1927. He became Concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony in 1925, under Alfred Hertz, remaining for five seasons, until the end of 1929-1930. In 1931, Piastro became Concertmaster of Toscanini's New York Philharmonic, remaining 1931-1943. Under Barbirolli, Piastro took up conducting, as Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic beginning in 1941. This lead to Mishel Piastro being appointed conductor of the Longines Symphonette, a radio broadcasting orchestra. In 1943, Artur Rodzinski was appointed Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, and he fired 14 orchestra musicians, including the Concertmaster, Mishel Piastro, and 6 other first-desk musicians 38. After the New York Philharmonic, Mishel Piastro continued his conducting with the Longines Symphonette into the late 1940s. Mishel Piastro also continued his teaching (Sidney Harth was one of this students 39). In the 1950s and 1960s, Mishel Piastro concentrated more on his conducting activities, and continued conducting and recording light classics into the early 1960s, including after the demise of the Longines Symphonette. Mishel Piastro died in April 1970 in New York City.
