Obituary: former Chicago Symphony Orchestra concertmaster, Samuel Magad

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The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) has announced the death of its former concertmaster, Samuel Magad. He died on 25 May 2026 in Buffalo Grove, IL, aged 94.

Magad was born in Chicago on 14 May 1932. He made his solo debut with the CSO at the age of eleven, having won the CSO Youth Auditions. He received a bachelor’s degree from DePaul University as a student of Paul Stassevitch, and later served in the US Army Orchestra in Washington DC.

He joined the CSO first violin section in 1958 at the invitation of Fritz Reiner and was promoted to assistant concertmaster in 1966 by Jean Martinon. In 1972, he was appointed to concertmaster by Georg Solti, the position he held until his retirement in 2007.

Magad appeared as soloist with the CSO during his concertmaster tenure, first performing Mozart Violin Concerto no.5 in 1972. He also performed concertos by Bartók, Beethoven, Berg, Brahms, Bruch, Haydn, Korngold, Mendelssohn, Panufnik, Shostakovich, Stravinsky and Vivaldi, among others.

Magad also performed in numerous chamber music concerts, appearing with his CSO colleagues as well as Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Daniel Barenboim, Maxim Vengerov and Mstislav Rostropovich.

His concertmaster solos were captured on several CSO recordings, including Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben and Also sprach Zarathustra, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Beethoven’s Missa solemnis.

Elsewhere, Magad founded the Northbrook Symphony, serving as the orchestra’s artistic director and conductor for 20 years. He also served as concertmaster of the Grant Park Orchestra and Aspen Festival Orchestra, where he performed for more than a dozen seasons as soloist, chamber musician and conductor.

From his alma mater, DePaul University, Magad received the Distinguished Alumni Award for achievement in the arts, a Doctor of Humane Letters (2010) and the Pro Musica Award, in recognition of extraordinary contributions to music and the arts (2017).

Other accolades included the Governor’s Award from the Recording Academy for a lifetime of outstanding service to the art of music, Conductor of the Year award from the Illinois Council of Orchestras in 1998, and he was inducted into the 2000 North Shore Walk of Fame in recognition of his accomplishments as a violinist and conductor.