Mark Frankel

Instrument

Violin

When did you start playing your instrument?

The third grade.

What do you do when you’re not playing in the LSO?

I am the COO of Cogent Energy Systems, a new technology company providing small systems that create electricity from Municipal Solid Waste.

When, or how, did you come to join the orchestra?

This is my second tour of duty with the LSO. I played with this orchestra in the 80’s and 90’s and then took leave for several years before rejoining in 2004.

Do you play in any other musical groups?

I am concertmaster of the pit orchestra for the Rose Valley Chorus and Orchestra, a group that stages a Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta in the fall and a Broadway Musical in the Spring, and has been doing that for over one hundred years.

Do you come from a musical family?

Not particularly.

Does the instrument you play on have a story?

My violin was given to me by Alvin Rudnitzky, my teacher and a concert violinist. He had used this violin while touring in Europe entertaining the troops duringWWII. When he purchased a new violin, he sold me his.

Are you originally from Lansdowne/Philadelphia?

I grew up in Elkins Park, went to school in Boston and did my graduate work at Jefferson Medical School here in Philadelphia.

Who is your favorite superhero?

Leonardo Da Vinci.