Stephen Maxym (July 17, 1915 – October 12, 2002) was an American bassoonist.
Born in New York City, he attended the Institute of Musical Arts (now The Juilliard School) before Joining the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as Principal Bassoon under Fritz Reiner. After serving in the US Merchant Marine during World War II, he auditioned for Erich Leinsdorf to become Principal Bassoon of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, a position he maintained until he retired from his active orchestral career. While at the Metropolitan Opera, he performed under many of the great conductors of his day, including Herbert von Karajan, Karl Böhm, Rafael Kubelík, Leonard Bernstein, Georg Solti, et al. He was also a distinguished teacher of both bassoon and chamber music, serving on the faculties of the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, the Banff Centre, and the University of Southern California, the New England Conservatory, the Yale School of Music, and the Hartt School of Music.
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.
Frederick Martin "Fritz" Reiner was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century. Hungarian born and trained, he emigrated to the United States in 1922, where he rose to prominence as a conductor with several orchestras. He reached the pinnacle of his career while music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the 1950s and early 1960s.
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
Julius Baker was one of the foremost American orchestral flute players. During the course of five decades he concertized with several of America's premier orchestral ensembles including the Chicago Symphony and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
James Conlon is an American conductor of opera, and symphonic and choral works. He is Music Director of Los Angeles Opera and Principal Conductor of the Italian RAI National Symphony Orchestra. From 1979 to 2016, he was Music Director of the two-week Cincinnati May Festival, and his tenure remains the longest music directorship in the festival's history. From 2005 to 2015, he was Music Director at the Ravinia Festival, the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has also achieved recognition for bringing greater attention to the music of composers oppressed by the Nazi regime.
Samuel Hans Adler is an American composer, conductor, author, and professor. During the course of a professional career which ranges over six decades he has served as a faculty member at both the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School. In addition, he is credited with founding and conducting the U.S. Seventh Army's Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra which participated in the cultural diplomacy initiatives of the United States in Germany and throughout Europe in the aftermath of World War II.
Eric Ewazen is an American composer and teacher.
Timothy Cobb is the current principal double bassist with the New York Philharmonic and the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center. He previously taught at the Peabody Institute of Music, and joined the Manhattan School of Music faculty in 1992. Cobb also currently teaches at SUNY Purchase, Lynn University, Rutgers University: Mason Gross School of the Arts, YOA Orchestra of the Americas, and Mannes School of Music Preparatory Division. He is the current chair of the double-bass department at the Juilliard School, where he has been on faculty since 2002.
Judith LeClair, from Newark, Delaware, is an American bassoonist.
Gulnara Mashurova was born in Almaty, Kazakhstan. She started piano studies at the age of 6 and by age 9 was chosen to study harp at the Pre Moscow Conservatory with Natalia Sibor. From 1991–93 she studied with Vera Dulova at the Moscow Conservatory. ashurova received a bachelor's and master's degree in harp performance from the Juilliard School as a Jerome Green full scholarship recipient studying under Nancy Allen, Principal Harpist of the New York Philharmonic. She received her second Masters in Orchestra Performance with a full scholarship from the Manhattan School of Music studying under Deborah Hoffman, Principal Harpist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Arthur Weisberg was an American bassoonist, conductor, composer and author.
Ricardo Morales is a classical clarinetist of Puerto Rican descent. Since 2003, he has been the principal clarinetist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Prior to that, he was the principal clarinetist at the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He currently serves on the faculties of the Juilliard School, Temple University and the Curtis Institute of Music.
Orin O'Brien is an American double bassist. She has been a member of the New York Philharmonic since joining in 1966 under the direction of Leonard Bernstein; she was the first woman to join the orchestra. She currently teaches at the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and Mannes College The New School for Music. O'Brien is also currently on the Preparatory Division faculty at the Manhattan School.
Stuart Sankey was a pedagogue of the double bass. His students included Gary Karr, the first bass player of the modern era to make a career as a solo artist, and Edgar Meyer. He taught for nearly 50 years at the Aspen Music School. He also held teaching positions at the University of Texas, Indiana University, and the University of Michigan. He made a large number of transcriptions for the double bass, increasing the literature for the instrument. Sankey was born in Los Angeles, Calif., in 1927. He attended the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and the Juilliard School of Music. His teachers included Frederick Zimmermann, Jean Morel and Henry Brant.
Ransom Wilson is an American flutist and conductor. Studying at the Juilliard School in New York City, he formed a close friendship with Jean-Pierre Rampal. His other flute teachers have included Alain Marion, Severino Gazzelloni, Julius Baker, Christian Lardé, Philip Dunigan, and Arthur Lora. These days, he is active in conducting, including the New York City Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, and he is also the founder and conductor of Solisti New York Orchestra. In 2010 he formed a new ensemble in New York City, Le Train Bleu. The group performed actively until recently. His conducting teachers include Roger Nierenberg, James Dixon, Otto-Werner Mueller and Leonard Bernstein. He is the former Director of Orchestras at his alma mater, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music. He is the current Music Director of the Redlands Symphony, and on the faculty of the Yale School of Music.
Dr. Philip Jameson graduated from Wooster High School in 1959 and attended Baldwin Wallace College for one year. In the Fall of 1960 he was accepted by audition to The Juilliard School of Music on a full scholarship. He was subsequently appointed principal trombone with the Juilliard Orchestra, a position he held for the next five years. He graduated from Juilliard with a Bachelor of Music Degree in 1964 and a Master of Science degree in 1965. He then enrolled in Columbia University (NYC) and received a Master of Music Education Degree in 1967 and completed his Doctorate of Music in 1980. His PhD dissertation was entitled "The effect of timbre conditions on the prompted and simultaneous pitch matching of three ability groups of trombone performers". It is available from Dissertation Abstracts.
Jon Manasse is an American clarinetist.
Marvin-Matis P. Feinsmith, bassoonist, is a native New Yorker, a graduate of the Mozarteum University of Salzburg, the Juilliard School, and the Manhattan School of Music as first bassoonist with a master's degree. Marvin has studied bassoon with Simon Kovar for five years and Elias Carmen one year. He studied reed making with Harold Goltzer and Norman Hertzberg and chamber music at Juilliard with Julius Baker and privately with Harold Gomberg.
Steven Fox is an American conductor of classical music. Currently Steven Fox is the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of New York’s Clarion Music Society and Founder of Musica Antiqua St. Petersburg in Russia.
Ward Stare is an American conductor. Stare is currently the Music Director for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and was formerly the Resident Conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra – a position created for him in the fall of 2008 by Music Director David Robertson – and concurrently acted as Music Director of the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Richard Fleischman is an American viola and viola d'amore player, conductor and pedagogue.
Erik Ralske is an American classical horn player. He has been principal horn of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 2010, following seventeen seasons as third horn of the New York Philharmonic. He was featured horn soloist of the MET's production of Wagner's Ring Cycle, and was a soloist on several occasions with the New York Philharmonic. He is also a member of the orchestra's Philharmonic Quintet of New York.
Samuel Krachmalnick was an American conductor and music educator. He first came to prominence as a conductor on Broadway during the 1950s, notably earning a Tony Award nomination for his work as the music director of the original production of Leonard Bernstein's Candide. He went on to work as a busy conductor of operas and symphony orchestras internationally during the 1960s and 1970s. He was particularly active in New York City where he held conducting posts with the American Ballet Theatre, the Harkness Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera, and the New York City Opera. His later career was primarily devoted to teaching on the music faculties of the University of Washington and the University of California, Los Angeles.