Born in Los Angeles, Arnold Steinhardt, received his early training from Peter Meremblum and Toscha Seidel. At age fourteen he made his solo debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra . He continued his studies with Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute of Music and under the sponsorship of Georg Szell with Joseph Szigeti in Switzerland.

Winner of the Philadelphia Youth Competition in 1957, the 1958 Leventritt Award, and Bronze Medalist in the Queen Elizabeth International Violin Competition in 1963, Steinhardt has appeared throughout America and Europe as a recitalist and soloist with various orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Since 1964 Arnold Steinhardt has been the first violinist of the internationally acclaimed Guarneri String Quartet. He has recorded extensively for RCA Victor, Philips, Arabesque and Sheffield Lab among others. His most recent releases are an all Robert Fuchs CD on Biddolph Records featuring him on both violin and viola with his brother, pianist Victor Steinhardt, and a reissue of unaccompanied Bach works on the Town Hall label.

Arnold Steinhardt is Professor of Violin at the University of Maryland, Rutgers University, and The Curtis Institute of Music. He has received Honorary Doctorates from the University of South Florida and Harpur College.

Author of numerous articles that have appeared in Chamber Music America, Musical America, and Keynote, Arnold Steinhardt has recently written his first book "Indivisible By Four, a String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony," published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc.