Michael Tree

Biography[edit]

Tree was born in Newark, New Jersey. His principal studies were with Efrem Zimbalist on violin and viola at the Curtis Institute of Music. Zimbalist insisted that Tree change his name from Applebaum (German for "apple tree") to advance his career.^[1] Subsequent to his Carnegie Hall recital debut at the age of 20, Tree appeared as violin and viola soloist with major orchestras, including the Philadelphia, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and New Jersey. As a founding member of the Marlboro Trio and the Guarneri Quartet, he played throughout the world and recorded more than 80 chamber music works. Prominent among these were ten piano quintets and quartets with Artur Rubinstein. Tree served on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music, The Juilliard School, Bard College Conservatory of Music, Manhattan School of Music, University of Maryland School of Music and Rutgers University, and regularly performed at the Marlboro Music School and Festival. He appeared as himself in the 1999 film Music of the Heart, starring Meryl Streep and, among other famous violinists, fellow Guarneri Quartet member Arnold Steinhardt, who, with his photographer wife Dorothea von Haeften, played an important role in the real-life story.


Tree played a circa 1780 43.25 cm (17 inch) Domenico Busan viola from Venice, Italy.^[2] He also played violas of the modern Japanese-American luthier Hiroshi Iizuka. During his early years with the Guarneri Quartet, Tree played on a viola made by mid-20th century luthier Harvey Fairbanks of Binghamton, New York.^[3]


Michael Tree received an honorary degree from Binghamton University.^[4]


Tree's father, Samuel Applebaum, was a nationally known violin pedagogue who wrote many articles and books about music and composed or edited extensive teaching materials.


Tree died of Parkinson's disease at his Manhattan apartment on March 30, 2018, at the age of 84.^[5]