Siegel was born in Chicago and studied at DePaul University. Before joining the St. Louis Symphony, he played with the New Orleans Philharmonic. He was on the faculty of the string department at the Cleveland Music School Settlement, where he was appointed department head in 1988.

According to the Plain Dealer, the Seigels said in a joint interview before their 1995 retirement that playing under Szell was particularly stressful. Bert Seigel said, "Sometimes it was agonizing. We would make jokes that we were going to rehearse finger by finger."

Retirement didn't slow down the musical activities of the Siegels, who continued to perform chamber music and served as members of Florida's Sarasota and Fort Myers Symphonies.Classical Music