Playbill March 2018 | The Philadelphia Orchestra · Just four days after its ... so we own eight...

15
March 2018

Transcript of Playbill March 2018 | The Philadelphia Orchestra · Just four days after its ... so we own eight...

March 2018

Dear Friends:

From its earliest days, The Philadelphia Orchestra has traveled beyond its hometown borders, introducing those from far and wide to its magnificent music-making. Just four days after its very first concert, in November 1900, the ensemble dipped its toes into the touring pool by performing in nearby Reading. Over the next 27 years the boundaries gradually expanded to include such metropolises as New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, and Detroit, as well as smaller cities such as Lima (OH), Meriden (CT), North Adams (MA), and Ypsilanti (MI).

Then, from April to May 1936, under Leopold Stokowski’s baton, the Orchestra undertook a mammoth transcontinental train tour, traveling 11,000 miles and performing 33 concerts in 30 days. Since then the Fabulous Philadelphians have become one of the most widely traveled orchestras in the world, performing across America, Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, Europe, Asia, and South America.

This spring the Orchestra returns to Europe, 69 years after its first time (and 70 years after the implementation of the Marshall Plan), a voyage by boat to Great Britain consisting of 28 concerts in 27 days. The 2018 Tour brings the Philadelphia Sound to devoted fans in Brussels, Luxembourg, Paris (a debut performance at the Jean Nouvel-designed Philharmonie de Paris), Düsseldorf, Hamburg (a debut performance at the Herzog & de Meuron-designed Elbphilharmonie), and Vienna.

Following the two concerts in Vienna, the Orchestra continues to Israel, with performances in Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem, all in celebration of Israel’s 70th anniversary. This leg of the tour, in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, marks only the second time the ensemble has traveled to Israel—the first was in 1992. In addition to the concerts, Orchestra musicians will participate in residency activities, collaborating with Israeli citizens, including students and musicians. The Philadelphia Orchestra is only the third major American symphony to visit the country since its founding. The 2018 Tour will be under Yannick’s brilliant direction, and will feature pianists Hélène Grimaud in Brahms’s First Piano Concerto and Jean-Yves Thibaudet in Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2.

Touring is an important part of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s mission as cultural diplomats, and our work has been recognized by the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and by numerous ambassadors and the Commonwealth. Cultural diplomacy benefits Philadelphia by bringing new arts and business opportunities to our region and the markets where we perform, and is uniquely fulfilling to our artists. Being on the road helps The Philadelphia Orchestra offer its music to patrons around the world, and creates real home-town pride for all Philadelphians.

Sincerely,

Ryan Fleur Matthew Loden Interim Co-President Interim Co-President

4

From the Executive Office

Ryan Fleur

Matthew Loden

6

Music DirectorMusic Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin is now confirmed to lead The Philadelphia Orchestra through the 2025-26 season, an extraordinary and significant long-term commitment. Additionally, he becomes the third music director of the Metropolitan Opera beginning with the 2021-22 season, and from 2017-18 is music director designate. Yannick, who holds the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Chair, is an inspired leader of The Philadelphia Orchestra. His intensely collaborative style, deeply rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to orchestral programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike. The New York Times has called him “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton, “the ensemble, famous for its glowing strings and homogenous richness, has never sounded better.”

Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most thrilling talents of his generation. He is in his 10th and final season as music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and he has been artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain since 2000. In summer 2017 he became an honorary member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He was also principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic from 2008 to 2014. He has made wildly successful appearances with the world’s most revered ensembles and has conducted critically acclaimed performances at many of the leading opera houses.

Yannick and Deutsche Grammophon (DG) enjoy a long-term collaboration. Under his leadership The Philadelphia Orchestra returned to recording with two CDs on that label. He continues fruitful recording relationships with the Rotterdam Philharmonic on DG, EMI Classics, and BIS Records; the London Philharmonic for the LPO label; and the Orchestre Métropolitain for ATMA Classique. In Yannick’s inaugural season The Philadelphia Orchestra returned to the radio airwaves, with weekly Sunday afternoon broadcasts on WRTI-FM.

A native of Montreal, Yannick studied piano, conducting, composition, and chamber music at Montreal’s Conservatory of Music and continued his studies with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini; he also studied choral conducting with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College. Among Yannick’s honors are a appointment as Companion of the Order of Canada; Musical America’s 2016 Artist of the Year; Canada’s National Arts Centre Award; the Prix Denise-Pelletier; and honorary doctorates from the University of Quebec in Montreal, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, NJ.

To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit philorch.org/conductor.

Chris Lee

The Philadelphia Orchestra2017–2018 SeasonYannick Nézet-SéguinMusic Director Walter and Leonore Annenberg Chair

Stéphane DenèvePrincipal Guest ConductorKensho WatanabeAssistant Conductor

First ViolinsDavid Kim, ConcertmasterDr. Benjamin Rush ChairJuliette Kang, First Associate ConcertmasterJoseph and Marie Field ChairYing Fu, Associate ConcertmasterMarc Rovetti, Assistant Concertmaster Barbara GovatosRobert E. Mortensen ChairJonathan BeilerHirono OkaRichard AmorosoRobert and Lynne Pollack ChairYayoi NumazawaJason DePueLarry A. Grika ChairJennifer HaasMiyo CurnowElina KalendarovaDaniel HanYiying LiWilliam Polk

Second ViolinsKimberly Fisher, PrincipalPeter A. Benoliel ChairPaul Roby, Associate PrincipalSandra and David Marshall ChairDara Morales, Assistant PrincipalAnne M. Buxton ChairPhilip KatesMitchell and Hilarie Morgan Family Foundation ChairBooker RoweJoseph Brodo Chair, given by Peter A. BenolielDavyd BoothPaul ArnoldLorraine and David Popowich ChairDmitri LevinBoris BalterAmy Oshiro-MoralesMei Ching HuangYu-Ting ChenJeoung-Yin Kim

ViolasChoong-Jin Chang, PrincipalRuth and A. Morris Williams ChairKirsten Johnson, Associate PrincipalKerri Ryan, Assistant PrincipalJudy Geist Renard EdwardsAnna Marie Ahn PetersenPiasecki Family ChairDavid NicastroBurchard TangChe-Hung Chen Rachel KuMarvin MoonMeng Wang

CellosHai-Ye Ni, PrincipalPriscilla Lee, Associate PrincipalYumi Kendall, Assistant PrincipalWendy and Derek Pew Foundation ChairRichard HarlowGloria dePasqualeOrton P. and Noël S. Jackson ChairKathryn Picht ReadRobert CafaroVolunteer Committees ChairOhad Bar-DavidJohn KoenDerek BarnesMollie and Frank Slattery ChairAlex Veltman

BassesHarold Robinson, PrincipalCarole and Emilio Gravagno ChairMichael Shahan, Associate PrincipalJoseph Conyers, Assistant PrincipalJohn HoodDavid FayDuane RosengardRobert KesselmanNathaniel West

Some members of the string sections voluntarily rotate seating on a periodic basis.

FlutesJeffrey Khaner, PrincipalPaul and Barbara Henkels ChairDavid Cramer, Associate PrincipalRachelle and Ronald Kaiserman ChairErica Peel, Piccolo

OboesRichard Woodhams, PrincipalSamuel S. Fels ChairPeter Smith, Associate PrincipalJonathan BlumenfeldEdwin Tuttle ChairElizabeth Starr Masoudnia, English HornJoanne T. Greenspun Chair

ClarinetsRicardo Morales, PrincipalLeslie Miller and Richard Worley ChairSamuel Caviezel, Associate PrincipalSarah and Frank Coulson ChairSocrates VillegasPaul R. Demers, Bass ClarinetPeter M. Joseph and Susan Rittenhouse Joseph Chair

BassoonsDaniel Matsukawa, PrincipalRichard M. Klein ChairMark Gigliotti, Co-PrincipalAngela Anderson SmithHolly Blake, Contrabassoon

HornsJennifer Montone, PrincipalGray Charitable Trust ChairJeffrey Lang, Associate PrincipalDaniel WilliamsJeffry KirschenErnesto Tovar TorresShelley Showers

TrumpetsDavid Bilger, PrincipalMarguerite and Gerry Lenfest ChairJeffrey Curnow, Associate PrincipalGary and Ruthanne Schlarbaum ChairAnthony PriskRobert W. Earley

8

RosteR continues on pg. 10

TrombonesNitzan Haroz, PrincipalNeubauer Family Foundation ChairMatthew Vaughn, Co-PrincipalEric CarlsonBlair Bollinger, Bass TromboneDrs. Bong and Mi Wha Lee Chair

TubaCarol Jantsch, PrincipalLyn and George M. Ross Chair

TimpaniDon S. Liuzzi, PrincipalDwight V. Dowley ChairAngela Zator Nelson, Associate Principal

PercussionChristopher Deviney, PrincipalAnthony Orlando, Associate PrincipalAngela Zator Nelson

Piano and CelestaKiyoko Takeuti

KeyboardsDavyd Booth

HarpElizabeth Hainen, PrincipalPatricia and John Imbesi Chair

LibrariansRobert M. Grossman, PrincipalSteven K. Glanzmann

Stage PersonnelJames J. Sweeney, Jr.James P. Barnes

Where were you born? I was born in Elmhurst, IL. What is your most treasured possession? Besides my family, my five-octave Marimba One. It lives on the first floor of our house. Every other percussion instrument we own is stored in the basement!What’s your favorite Philadelphia restaurant? Any Steven Start restaurant. They have great food with fun themes. Tell us about your instruments. My husband and I are both percussionists, so we own eight timpani, three xylophones, two marimbas, two glockenspiels, a vibraphone, shelves of snare drums, rows of cymbals, and drawers of bells and whistles! What piece of music never fails to move you? Two pieces for two very different reasons: the second movement of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major because it gives me peace and serenity, and Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony because it terrifies me.When did you join the Orchestra? In 1999.Do you play any other instruments? Piano and I’ve also taken some organ lessons. I was looking for an instrument even louder than percussion. What’s your favorite type of food? I don’t have a favorite, but I miss my Chicago pizzas and Portillo’s beef.What books are on your nightstand? Hard copy or e-reader? I listen to audio books now since my commute into the city is long. My favorite author of the moment is Joyce Carol Oates.Do you have any hobbies? Driving a taxi—mom’s taxi.What’s the last recording you purchased? CD or download? I recently downloaded Lady Gaga’s album Joanne. My daughters and I are all “Little Monsters.” 

To read the full set of questions, please visit www.philorch.org/Nelson.

Musicians Behind the ScenesAngela Zator Nelson Associate Principal Timpani and Section Percussion

Jess

ica

Grif

fin

10 The Philadelphia Orchestra 2017–2018 Season

Tod Machover’s Philadelphia Orchestra Commission Philadelphia Voices Takes on a Bold New “Genre”

Crowds of Witnesses

By Paul Horsley

“Crowdsourcing” as a term for the tech age was coined as recently as 2005, but as a broad concept it’s as old as human society itself. Any social contract, any set of organizational by-laws, even any national Constitution, is the result of the coming-together of a multitude of ideas, opinions, voices: a “crowd of sources.” Wikipedia, which is quotable here perhaps only because it is itself a sort of modern triumph of crowdsourcing, defines the term as “a sourcing model in which individuals or organizations obtain goods and services, including ideas … from a large, relatively open, and often rapidly evolving group … to achieve a cumulative result.”

12

Jess

ica

Grif

fin

Composer Tod Machover getting some sound from the Drexel Young Dragons.

14 Crowds of Witnesses

In the arts, roots for crowdsourcing were planted, perhaps, by anthologies of stories by various authors, or by murals painted by multiple artists, or even (in music) by the variations that Anton Diabelli commissioned from 51 different composers in 1819 and published as a gigantic mish-mash. In the modern era, composers have taken this to a new level by including natural sounds, poetry, and storytelling—from the recorded bird calls in Respighi’s 1924 The Pines of Rome to the seemingly random chatter in Luciano Berio’s 1968 Sinfonia and the recorded conversations that morph into instrumental melodies in Steve Reich’s 1988 Different Trains.

Some might say that none of these relatively controlled settings constitute crowdsourcing per se. Certainly none of them could have prepared us for Tod Machover’s “crowdsourced symphonies,” which take to heart the concept of egalitarian openness by soliciting material from everyone and everywhere, which the composer then forms not only into the very building-blocks of his music, but into the text for the piece as well. The way these collected elements fit together, and the collaboration that evolves between all the participants, is at the core of Machover’s vision.

Reb

ecca

Kle

inbe

rger

16 Crowds of Witnesses

Machover and members of The Philadelphia Orchestra at the Philadelphia Voices app launch in Perelman Theater in May 2017.

Pet

e C

hecc

hia This April 5-7 (at the Kimmel Center) and April 10 (at

Carnegie Hall), the Philadelphia Orchestra presents the world premiere of Philadelphia Voices, the seventh in Machover’s series of crowdsourced “City Symphonies” and perhaps the most comprehensive in scope so far. For nearly a year, the Juilliard-trained, MIT-based composer has spent countless hours in Philadelphia-area schools, community centers, museums, workshops, cafés—talking, listening, collecting, recording. Last May the Orchestra launched a Philadelphia Voices app (developed by Machover’s team at the MIT Media Lab) that has collected some 8,000 recorded entries—from poems and stories to natural sounds and urban chatter that represent the unique feel of the city that calls itself the cradle of American democracy.

“It’s an incredibly creative place, and I did get a huge amount of text,” says Machover, adding that he listened to every single one of the recordings from the app (some of which were quite lengthy). But he also says that his face-to-face conversations with Philadelphians from a broad spectrum were just as valuable, if not more. “And part of that is because it’s called Philadelphia Voices: We made it clear that we were looking for sounds of the city, yes, but we were also looking for the sounds of people’s voices. And I was really, really impressed with the variety of different things that people did with their voices. Some of them sang, a lot of people just made sounds with their voices, and some were actually speaking. And that’s exactly what I was looking for: stories about the people themselves, about their personal lives. Stories about Philadelphia that were unique and that could be conveyed with the voice. I took my favorite texts collected from throughout the city and created a kind of ‘libretto’ that forms the backbone of the symphony.”

To some extent, the emphasis on the voice grew from the enthusiasms of Orchestra Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who is also music director designate of the Metropolitan Opera and one of the great vocal conductors of today. (Yannick met Tod at the 2016 Musical America Awards, where the conductor was dubbed Artist of the Year and Tod was named Composer of the Year. After an animated conversation about music and orchestras, the two enthusiastically

agreed Tod should do a work for Philadelphia.) “First of all, I love the voice,” Yannick says. “Our Orchestra, of course, is at the center stage of this. But there’s so much vocal talent here as well, that we commissioned Tod, one of our most important composers, to write a community-oriented piece, a large-scale one that will have The Philadelphia Orchestra and all the talent of the city—of various origins and ages and backgrounds. Commonwealth Youth Choirs will be part of it, as will Sister Cities Girlchoir and the Westminster Symphonic Choir, and they all will collaborate with the Orchestra in this very special world premiere.”

Philadelphia Voices is part of a larger vision: Community Commissions is a pioneering initiative designed to meld community and artistic voices on stage on a regular basis. Driven by Nézet-Séguin himself, the program began with the establishment of Hannibal as the Orchestra’s Music Alive composer-in-residence and continues with the Machover premiere and a Hannibal commission, Healing Tones, scheduled for March 2019.

18 Crowds of Witnesses

Adjunct to the commissions is a series of concerts that regularly embed artistic partners from all backgrounds and genres into regular season performances: Bernstein’s MASS in 2015 invited such groups as the Temple University Concert Choir, the Rock School for Dance Education, and Temple’s Diamond Marching Band. More recently the Orchestra included bagpipers from the Philadelphia Police and Fire Pipes and Drums into performances of Peter Maxwell Davies’s An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise. Hannibal’s Healing Tones will include intimate collaborations with schools, churches, detention centers and other organizations.

Each of Machover’s “City Symphonies” is tailor-made for a community and its concerns. (He now counts Toronto, Edinburgh, Perth, Lucerne, Detroit, and Miami among the cities “covered,” and after Philly will come Boston.) For the Symphony in D, the Detroit Symphony invited poets and storytellers, including some who remembered the Motor City’s economic heyday, to appear onstage and recount their memories. In Lucerne, one of the city’s Fasnacht ensembles (a sort of Swiss version of the Mummers) was invited to interrupt the piece with a raucous parade-through.

In Philadelphia, Machover was supplied with such an abundance of choral and miscellaneous vocal talent that he decided to set many of the spoken entries to song. “We have 250 people onstage, as kind of my choral collaborators.” In addition to texts and recorded sounds (bird-cries at the Philadelphia Zoo, traffic, cheesesteak meat sizzling at Pat’s), the various choirs he’s been working with all year “have become collaborators in a way that is deeper than in any of the other projects.”

Machover says he wants to utilize both the poetic and the vocal gifts that he was hearing throughout Philadelphia to express what was, for many, the crux of the city’s legacy: “The birthplace of democracy.” He encouraged contributors to “reflect a little bit on what it meant to have had the country start here, and to be where we are now. And does Philadelphia have any particular role to play in rethinking where we’re going at this particular moment?” What he found was an enormous variety of commentary about the subject,

The Philadelphia Voices app with some entries.

20 Crowds of Witnesses

Machover talks with an actor dressed as James Madison at the Constitution Center’s National Constitution Day in 2017.

Paul Horsley is performing arts editor of the Independent in Kansas City and writes for several publications nationwide. During the 1990s he was program annotator and musicologist for The Philadelphia Orchestra and subsequently served as music and dance critic for the Kansas City Star.

but also plenty of opinion “about how people treat each other in Philadelphia, and about how the structure of the neighborhoods is so important to people’s identity.” And about SEPTA—which received both opprobrium and (mostly begrudging) praise. “Philly is a place where people are in their neighborhoods,” Machover says, “but they also feel like the whole metropolitan area is open to them, and that they have the resources and the public transportation to get there.”

He was also struck by the extent to which William Penn’s ideals, and the genius of the American Constitution itself, seemed to be “more in the DNA here than anywhere else.” It wasn’t an accident that the country started here, he says, and even jaded locals are proud of that. “So I really went in wanting to know how much of that has persisted, how it is shown in the institutions, and what it means for people today.”

To no one’s surprise, Philadelphians—from savvy teens to pensive, fast-talking adults—were more than willing to speak. In the Philadelphia Voices finale, which the composer describes as “a kind of hymn to brotherly and sisterly love,” Machover said he found himself inexorably drawn to a forthright poem by a 16-year-old from the

Xi W

ang

Mighty Writers program: “She basically cries out, ‘When are you going to f**king listen!?’ Because when we come right down to it, we’ve never had a period where democracy is actually in question. Who would have thought? So it seemed important to look at Philadelphia through the lens of democracy.”

In particular, he says: “How do we set up a situation where we’re willing to listen to anyone, let alone someone who disagrees with us? That’s part of the feeling that I want to come across. That here we are, listening to this symphony, but we’re listening to each other onstage, listening to each other in the city. … Having a place where we feel what it’s like to hear other voices happens to be a value I think we should leave people with, at the end. A value that is central to Philadelphia, and to me.”

Tod Machover’s Philadelphia Voices receives its world premiere April 5-7. For more information and to purchase tickets please visit www.philorch.org.

22

Beyond the Baton

What is it about Schumann’s music that you love? I was originally a pianist, so Schumann was my bread and butter for many years as a student. Nowadays, he is much more associated with chamber music, piano music, smaller pieces, or collections of smaller pieces that are absolute masterpieces for the piano, and also for the voice. His symphonic production is really important and his four symphonies are crucial in the development of the German symphonic repertoire. However, Schumann’s symphonies still have a bad reputation, that they are supposedly not very well orchestrated. Actually, I disagree. When I did the first Schumann symphony with this Orchestra it was the “Spring” Symphony a few years ago. Last season we programmed the Second, and now the Fourth. I work with the musicians to not only retain the richness of their sound but also to have them approach it more with their ears. It’s about the balance and the chamber music, and also maybe even more crucially, the kind of freedom Schumann has with rhythm. Usually with symphonies we tend to make everything very square so that everything stays together. But Schumann is this wonderful Romantic man, who in one split second can change from being this dreamy and contemplative artist to someone who is completely ready to conquer the world and is in a frenzy, like talking too fast to get the words out of his mouth. Those split-personality moments are so effective in Schumann’s piano music. In this Fourth Symphony, there are such intimate moments, such as in the second movement when the cello, oboe, and violin solos have a dialogue as if they were alone onstage, with the rest of the orchestra gently supporting them. And then fast forward two movements and the transition between the third and fourth movements is this gigantic and slow rise—it feels almost like the call for the last judgement. Within a few moments you go from this intimacy to the greatest vision, and this is what I deeply love about Schumann. I feel honored to explore more and more of this repertoire in general. To combine my vision of this composer with The Philadelphia Orchestra, which recorded this repertoire with Wolfgang Sawallisch before me, makes it a very, very interesting way of sharing ideas and maybe even having more Schumann fans in the world.

Schumann’s writing is very vocal in a way. The vocal element in Schumann is crucial, like it is in Schubert, for example. Brahms is important in that sense, too. I believe that always imagining there is a singer, a soloist, someone who has these gorgeous melodies, and imagining words with these melodies when we play them—whether it’s the oboe, the cello, the violin, or even the trumpet or the horn—helps very much to get to the core of the special spirit of Schumann.

Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 will be performed March 16-18.

To read previous Beyond the Batons, please visit www.philorch.org/baton.

Chr

is L

ee

This Month Yannick Talks about Schumann’s Symphony No. 4.

Philadelphia born and bred, city arts official and Philadelphia Orchestra Board member Kelly Lee vividly recalls the first time she heard her world-class hometown orchestra. It wasn’t at a concert. “I was watching the classic Disney film Fantasia when I was young. At the time I didn’t realize it was The Philadelphia Orchestra! But I really enjoyed the entire experience of the animation, because of its connection to the music.”

Who knows what sets people on their career path? But that early encounter with the Fabulous Philadelphians surely had an effect on Kelly. School at Germantown Friends led to the University of Pennsylvania, and then a fascinating series of positions promoting and supporting the arts. “I’ve worked at Innovation Philadelphia, a non-profit that supported technology-based creative businesses. I also worked in economic development at PECO Energy and the City of Philadelphia Department of Commerce, promoting the arts as a business attraction strategy. As director of communications of the Pennsylvania Convention Authority, I leveraged the arts in Philadelphia in marketing the Convention Center and the city, to attract conferences and conventions to the Pennsylvania Convention Center.”

Today, Kelly is head of Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy. “That title is all-inclusive in that the office focuses on the diversity of creative industries, both nonprofit and for profit. Creative economy includes the support of professionals in the sector, and those who will be in the sector in the future.”

Two years into her tenure, Kelly points to progress in several areas: “Expanding high-quality performances in neighborhoods where people live; collaborating with other city departments including Parks and Recreation and the Mayor’s Office of Adult Education, to infuse the arts in their activities; and promoting the high-quality, free programming that arts organizations are doing all around the city, to provide access to everyone.”

Kelly also serves on The Philadelphia Orchestra Association’s Board of Directors. “I’m relatively new to the Board, and consider my seat a privilege. I would love to highlight the other work the Orchestra does besides perform, such as its educational and youth programs. Not many people know that the Orchestra offers programs like these through partnerships with the School District of Philadelphia. I’m very excited about the work the Orchestra does, and look forward to helping them to reach their goals to increase visibility and diversity.”

For more on Kelly Lee’s story visit www.philorch.org/lee.

In the SpotlightA Monthly Profile of Orchestra Fans and Family

Kelly Lee

24

The Philadelphia Orchestra mourns the passing on January 15 of Anshel Brusilow, concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra from 1959 to 1966. Mr. Brusilow was born in Philadelphia and began his violin studies at the age of five. At age 11 he entered the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Efrem Zimbalist. He attended the Philadelphia Musical Academy and at age 16 won The Philadelphia Orchestra’s Youth Competition, making his Orchestra debut in November 1945 with the Glazunov Concerto. Also at 16 he was accepted into Pierre Monteux’s summer conducting school. He served four years as associate concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell before being named concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy. During his

time with the Orchestra he also founded the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia, conducting more than 100 performances a year and making recordings with RCA Victor. Famous recordings to come from his tenure with The Philadelphia Orchestra included Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade, and Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben. In 1970 he left Philadelphia for Dallas, where he was appointed conductor of the Dallas Symphony. Mr. Brusilow was director of orchestral studies at the University of North Texas College of Music from 1973 to 1982, and again from 1989 to 2008. Between 1982 and 1989 he held a similar post at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Noted in Passing

44

Bac

hrac

h

Anshel Brusilow