Definition of "concertmaster" [concertmaster]

• The first violinist in a symphony orchestra. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The concertmaster is the de facto leader of the orchestra, responsible for all communications between the ensemble and the music director."
• "Prices of scores were prohibitive -- and though in such works as the Brahms symphonies, for instance, the 'concertmaster's' part should be studied from score, in its relation to the rest of the _partitura_ -- often, merely to obtain a first violin part, I had to acquire the entire set of strings."
• "In addition to teaching, he played in a string quartet and was concertmaster of the St. Louis Philharmonic Orchestra."