born Sept. 30, 1908, Odessa, Ukraine, Russian Empire
died Oct. 24, 1974, Amsterdam, Neth.
Russian violinist.
After his debut in 1928, he entered and won a number of prestigious competitions. He performed for Soviet troops at the front during World War II and made debuts in the West in the 1950s. Dmitry Shostakovich dedicated both his violin concertos to him. Oistrakh taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1934; one of his most distinguished students was his son Igor (b. 1931), who himself joined the conservatory's faculty in 1958.