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Note: N3 Henry Joseph Brahinsky was for many years a leading member of Dallas'smusical community.
Henry was born January 6, 1917, in Kansas City, Missouri, the son ofRussian-Ukrainian immigrants Nathan Brahinsky and Doris ShapiroBrahinsky. During his childhood in Kansas City and St. Joseph, Missouri,and Marysville and Concordia, Kansas, Henry proved to be a young prodigyas a violinist, winning numerous local, state, and regional contests.
Following his graduation from Marysville (KS) High School, Henry enteredthe University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where he studied violin with thenoted pedagogue Emanuel Wishnow. He earned a Bachelor of Music inEducation degree.
Upon his graduation, Henry was appointed assistant concertmaster of theDallas Symphony Orchestra, at the age of 22. His career was interruptedby World War II, in which he served in the United States Army, seeingaction in Europe as a private first class in an artillery unit of theThird Army, under the ultimate command of General George S. Patton.During the war, Henry played with USO shows as they passed through theareas where he was stationed. When he returned to the States, Henry wasappointed assistant principal second violin of the Dallas SymphonyOrchestra.
As a member of the DSO, Henry worked under the batons of such legendarymusic directors as Jacques Singer, Antal Dorati, and Walter Hendl.During this time he married Muriel Silberman, a Dallas physician, withwhom he raised three sons, all of whom became professional violinists.
In 1954, Henry ended his tenure with the Dallas Symphony. He became afull-time music teacher, at the same time remaining highly active as afree-lance performing musician and contractor. At the age of 40 hereturned to school and earned a Master of Music Education degree fromNorth Texas State College (now the University of North Texas) in Denton.
Throughout his career Henry maintained a small but highly successfulprivate violin studio. He taught orchestra and instructedstring-instrument classes from the elementary to high-school levels inmany of the public schools in Dallas, and also briefly served on thestring faculty at Texas Woman's University in Denton. He was an activemember of the Dallas Music Educators Association, for which he served aterm as president, and of the Texas Music Educators Association. He alsobelonged to the Classroom Teachers of Dallas.
During the 1950s Henry performed violin solos on a weekly program on WFAAradio in Dallas. During his career he served as concertmaster of theFort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the Richardson Symphony Orchestra, and theCasa Manana Summer Musicals in Fort Worth, and was also SecondConcertmaster of the Fort Worth Opera Orchestra. He was a longtimemember of and musician contractor for the Wichita Falls SymphonyOrchestra. He played shows regularly for the Ice Capades and for theVenetian Room at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, and had steady work withsmall ensembles at the Village Club and the Hyatt Regency Hotel inDallas. He was a Life Member of the American Federation of Musicians.
After 1979, Henry spent his retirement from public-school teaching byenjoying his granddaughters and also--until debilitating medicalproblems made traveling difficult--seeing the world with his wife,Muriel. From 1996 until his death he lived at the Twelveoaks RetirementCenter in Dallas.
Henry Brahinsky died February 15, 2001, in Dallas.
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