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The Chicago Symphony Orchestra family joins the music world in mourning the loss of Canadian soprano Erin Wall, who died yesterday evening, October 8, 2020, following a long illness. She was forty-four.
Erin Wall in 2015 (Kristin Hoebermann photo)
Wall began her professional career in Chicago, as a member of the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, and in her first season there, she also made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on a special New Year’s Eve concert. She most recently appeared with the Orchestra in December 2018, as soloist in Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs.
“I have wonderful memories of her collaboration in Bruckner’s Te Deum and of her great qualities as a singer and as a musician,” commented Riccardo Muti, speaking from Bologna, Italy. “There are no words for such a premature loss.”
A complete list of her appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is below.
December 31, 2001, Orchestra Hall
MOZART Temerari! . . . Come scoglio from Così fan tutte, K. 588
MOZART E Susanna non vien! . . . Dove sono from The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492
LEHÁR Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiss from Giuditta
Carlos Kalmar, conductor
April 1 and 2, 2004, Orchestra Hall
NIELSEN Symphony No. 3, Op. 27 (Sinfonia espansiva)
Alan Gilbert, conductor
Wayne Tigges, bass-baritone
November 17, 18, 20, and 23, 2004, Orchestra Hall
BEETHOVEN Egmont, Op. 84
Mikko Franck, conductor
John Mahoney, narrator
Erin Wall in 2015 (Kristin Hoebermann photo)
August 6, 2005, Ravinia Festival
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor
Meredith Arwady, contralto
Joseph Kaiser, tenor
Robert Pomakov, bass
Milwaukee Symphony Chorus
Lee Erickson, director
July 18, 2009, Ravinia Festival
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 in D Minor Op. 125
James Conlon, conductor
Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano
Anthony Dean Griffey, tenor
Morris D. Robinson, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
October 25, 26, and 27, 2012, Orchestra Hall
BEETHOVEN Missa solemnis in D Major, Op. 123
Bernard Haitink, conductor
Bernarda Fink, mezzo-soprano
Anthony Dean Griffey, tenor
Hanno Müller-Brachmann, bass-baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
June 23, 25, and 26, 2016
BRUCKNER Te Deum
Riccardo Muti, conductor
Okka von der Damerau, mezzo-soprano
Steve Davislim, tenor
Eric Owens, bass-baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
December 6, 7, 8, and 11, 2018
STRAUSS Four Last Songs
Edward Gardner, conductor
A personal account of Wall’s journey with breast cancer, written by her in February 2019, is posted on the Canadian Opera Company‘s website, here.
Numerous tributes have been posted online, including Opera News, Chicago’s Daily Herald, and The Telegraph, among several others.
Bernard Haitink leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Orchestra Hall on October 31, 2013 (Todd Rosenberg photo)
Wishing a very happy ninetieth birthday to the legendary Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink!
In addition to serving as the Chicago Symphony’s principal conductor from 2006 until 2010, Haitink also launched the Orchestra’s CSO Resound record label with the recording of Mahler’s Third Symphony in 2007. A complete list of his appearances and recordings is below.
March 3, 1976, Orchestra Hall
BACH Air from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068*
RAVEL Alborada del gracioso
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat Major, K. 456
Judith Burganger, piano
MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 56 (Scottish)
*Performed in memory of Jean Martinon, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s seventh music director, who died in Paris on March 1, 1976
March 4, 5, and 6, 1976, Orchestra Hall
BACH Air from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068*
RAVEL Alborada del gracioso
STRAVINSKY Symphony in Three Movements
MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 56 (Scottish)
*Performed in memory of Jean Martinon, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s seventh music director, who died in Paris on March 1, 1976
March 8, 1976, Uihlein Hall, Milwaukee
RAVEL Alborada del gracioso
STRAVINSKY Symphony in Three Movements
MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 56 (Scottish)
March 11, 12, and 14, 1976, Orchestra Hall
COWELL Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 3
BRUCH Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 26
Silvia Marcovici, violin
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 43
January 9, 10, 11, and 12, 1997, Orchestra Hall
BRAHMS Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56a
TURNAGE Some Days
Cynthia Clarey, mezzo-soprano
BRAHMS Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73
Mark-Anthony Turnage‘s Some Days was recorded live and released by Decca.
January 16, 17, 18, and 21, 1997, Orchestra Hall
BACH Air from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068*
MAHLER Symphony No. 2 in C Minor (Resurrection)
Sylvia McNair, soprano
Markella Hatziano, mezzo-soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
*Performed on January 18 only in memory of Ardis Krainik, general manager of Lyric Opera of Chicago, who died on January 18, 1997
March 2, 3, and 4, 2006, Orchestra Hall
WEBER Overture to Der Freischütz
HINDEMITH Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes by Carl Maria von Weber
BRAHMS Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73
March 9, 10, and 11, 2006, Orchestra Hall
WEBERN Passacaglia for Orchestra, Op. 1
DEBUSSY La mer
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92
October 19, 20, and 21, 2006, Orchestra Hall
MAHLER Symphony No. 3 in D Minor
Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano
Women of the Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
Chicago Children’s Choir
Josephine Lee, chorus director
Recorded live. For CSO Resound, James Mallinson was the producer, and Christopher Willis was the engineer; editing engineering by Classic Sound Limited, UK.
May 10, 11, 12, and 15, 2007, Orchestra Hall
BEETHOVEN Coriolan Overture, Op. 62
LUTOSŁAWSKI Chain 2: Dialogue for Violin and Orchestra
Robert Chen, violin
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 7 in E Major
Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony was recorded live. For CSO Resound, James Mallinson was the producer, Christopher Willis was the engineer, and John Newton was the assistant engineer; editing and mixing by Classic Sound Limited, UK.
Haitink along with the Orchestra and Chorus acknowledge applause following a performance of Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe on November 8, 2007 (Todd Rosenberg photo)
October 18, 19, 20, and 23, 2007, Orchestra Hall
WAGNER Siegfried Idyll
MAHLER Symphony No. 6 in A Minor
Mahler’s Sixth Symphony was recorded live. For CSO Resound, James Mallinson was the producer, and Christopher Willis was the engineer; editing and mixing by Classic Sound Limited, UK.
October 25, 26, and 27, 2007, Orchestra Hall
MOZART Symphony No. 25 in G Minor, K. 183
TURNAGE Chicago Remains
BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 83
Emanuel Ax, piano
Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Chicago Remains was a world premiere, composed in memory of Sir John Drummond. The work was co-commissioned for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by the Edward F. Schmidt Family Commissioning Fund and the Koussevitzky Music Foundation.
November 8, 9, and 10, 2007, Orchestra Hall
POULENC Gloria
Jessica Rivera, soprano
RAVEL Daphnis and Chloe
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
Recorded live. For CSO Resound, James Mallinson was the producer, and Christopher Willis was the engineer; audio post-production by Classic Sound Limited, UK.
May 1, 2, and 3, 2008, Orchestra Hall
May 15, 2008, Carnegie Hall
RAVEL Menuet antique
LIEBERSON Neruda Songs
Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano
MAHLER Symphony No. 1 in D Major
Mahler’s First Symphony was recorded live in Orchestra Hall. For CSO Resound, James Mallinson was the producer, and Christopher Willis was the engineer; audio post-production by Classic Sound Limited, UK.
May 8, 9, 10, 11, and 13, 2008, Orchestra Hall
May 16, 2008, Carnegie Hall
HADYN Symphony No. 101 in D Major (The Clock)
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 4 in C Major, Op. 43
Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony was recorded live in Orchestra Hall. For CSO Resound, James Mallinson was the producer, and Christopher Willis was the engineer; audio post-production by Classic Sound Limited, UK. The recording won the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
July 16, 2008, Ravinia Festival
MAHLER Symphony No. 6 in A Minor
September 5, 2008, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
MAHLER Symphony No. 6 in A Minor
September 6, 2008, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
September 9, 2008, Royal Albert Hall, London, England
September 13, 2008, Kultur- & Kongresszentrum, Lucerne, Switzerland
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K. 491
Murray Perahia, piano
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 43
September 8, 2008, Royal Albert Hall, London, England
TURNAGE Chicago Remains
MAHLER Symphony No. 6 in A Minor
September 12, 2008, Kultur- & Kongresszentrum, Lucerne, Switzerland
WAGNER Siegfried Idyll
MAHLER Symphony No. 6 in A Minor
November 20, 21, 22, and 25, 2008, Orchestra Hall
MAHLER Symphony No. 2 in C Minor (Resurrection)
Miah Persson, soprano
Christianne Stotijn, mezzo-soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
Recorded live. For CSO Resound, James Mallinson was the producer, and Christopher Willis was the engineer; audio post-production by Classic Sound Limited, UK.
November 28, 29, and 30, 2008, Orchestra Hall
HAYDN Symphony No. 44 in E Minor (Mourning)
LUTOSŁAWSKI Symphony No. 4
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58
Murray Perahia, piano
December 4, 5, and 6, 2008, Orchestra Hall
MOZART Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551 (Jupiter)
STRAUSS Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40
Robert Chen, violin
Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben was recorded live. For CSO Resound, James Mallinson was the producer, and Christopher Willis was the engineer; audio post-production by Classic Sound Limited, UK.
December 9, 2008, Orchestra Hall
HAYDN Symphony No. 101 in D Minor (The Clock)
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 7 in E Major
January 31, 2009, Minato Mirai Hall, Yokohama, Japan
February 4, 2009, Suntory Hall, Tokyo, Japan
February 6, 2009, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hong Kong
MOZART Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551 (Jupiter)
STRAUSS Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40
Robert Chen, violin
February 1, 2009, Suntory Hall, Tokyo, Japan
February 7, 2009, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hong Kong
February 11, 2009, Shanghai Grand Theatre, Shanghai, China
February 13, 2009, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing, China
MAHLER Symphony No. 6 in A Minor
February 3, 2009, Suntory Hall, Tokyo, Japan
February 10, 2009, Shanghai Grand Theatre, Shanghai, China
February 14, 2009, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing, China
HAYDN Symphony No. 101 in D Major (The Clock)
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 7 in E Major
April 16, 17, 18, and 21, 2009, Orchestra Hall
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 8 in C Minor
April 23, 24, and 25, 2009, Orchestra Hall
WEBERN Im Sommerwind
MAHLER Rückert Lieder
Christianne Stotijn, mezzo-soprano
SCHUBERT Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D. 944 (Great)
Webern’s Im Sommerwind was recorded live. For CSO Resound, James Mallinson was the producer, and Christopher Willis was the engineer; audio post-production by Classic Sound Limited, UK.
April 28, 2009, Orchestra Hall
WEBERN Im Sommerwind
MAHLER Rückert Lieder
Christianne Stotijn, mezzo-soprano
BRAHMS Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68
Webern’s Im Sommerwind was recorded live. For CSO Resound, James Mallinson was the producer, and Christopher Willis was the engineer; audio post-production by Classic Sound Limited, UK.
May 2, 2009, Carnegie Hall
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 8 in C Minor
May 3, 2009, Carnegie Hall
WEBERN Im Sommerwind
MAHLER Rückert Lieder
Christianne Stotijn, mezzo-soprano
SCHUBERT Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D. 944 (Great)
May 7, 8, 9, and 10, 2009, Orchestra Hall
PURCELL/Stucky Funeral Music for Queen Mary
BRITTEN Les illuminations, Op. 18
Ian Bostridge, tenor
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 15 in A Major, Op. 141
September 11, 2009, Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
September 13, 2009, Kultur- & Kongresszentrum, Lucerne, Switzerland
September 18, 2009, Grosser Musikvereinsaal, Vienna, Austria
MOZART Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551 (Jupiter)
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 15 in A Major, Op. 141
September 14, 2009, Kultur- & Kongresszentrum, Lucerne, Switzerland
September 16, 2009, Grosser Musikvereinsaal, Vienna, Austria
September 21, 2009, Salle Pleyel, Paris, France
September 24, 2009, Royal Festival Hall, London, England
HAYDN Symphony No. 101 in D Major (The Clock)
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 7 in E Major
September 20, 2009, Salle Pleyel, Paris, France
September 23, 2009, Royal Festival Hall, London, England
MOZART Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551 (Jupiter)
BRAHMS Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68
November 5, 6, 7, and 10, 2009, Orchestra Hall
RAVEL Alborada del gracioso
RAVEL Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D Major
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
MENDELSSOHN Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Opp. 21 and 61
Erin Morley, soprano
Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano
Sir Thomas Allen, narrator
Girls of Anima
Emily Ellsworth, chorus director
November 12, 13, and 14, 2009, Orchestra Hall
HAYDN Sinfonia concertante in B-flat Major, Hob. I:105
Eugene Izotov, oboe
David McGill, bassoon
Robert Chen, violin
John Sharp, cello
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 9 in D Minor
June 2 and 3, 2010, Orchestra Hall
BEETHOVEN Overture to Fidelio, Op. 72
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67
June 5 and 8, 2010, Orchestra Hall
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 55 (Eroica)
June 10 and 11, 2010, Orchestra Hall
BEETHOVEN Leonore Overture No. 2, Op. 72a
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op. 60
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 (Pastoral)
June 15 and 16, 2010, Orchestra Hall
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21
BEETHOVEN Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72b
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92
June 18, 19, and 20, 2010, Orchestra Hall
BEETHOVEN Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Op. 112
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125
Jessica Rivera, soprano
Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano
Clifton Forbis, tenor
Eric Owens, bass-baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
May 26, 27, 28, and 31, 2011, Orchestra Hall
SCHUMANN Overture to Manfred, Op. 115
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K. 453
Emanuel Ax, piano
BRAHMS Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98
June 2, 3, 4, and 5, 2011, Orchestra Hall
MAHLER Symphony No. 9 in D Major
Haitink and the Orchestra onstage at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing on February 14, 2009 (Todd Rosenberg photo)
October 20, 21, and 22, 2011, Orchestra Hall
SCHUBERT Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, D. 485
MAHLER Symphony No. 4 in G Major
Klara Ek, soprano
October 27, 28, and 29, 2011, Orchestra Hall
HAYDN The Creation
Klara Ek, soprano
Ian Bostridge, tenor
Hanno Müller-Brachmann, bass-baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
October 25, 26, and 27, 2012, Orchestra Hall
BEETHOVEN Missa solemnis in D Major, Op. 123
Erin Wall, soprano
Bernarda Fink, mezzo-soprano
Anthony Dean Griffey, tenor
Hanno Müller-Brachmann, bass-baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
October 31, November 1, 2, and 3, 2013, Orchestra Hall
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat Major, K. 595
Emanuel Ax, piano
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 4 in E-flat Major (Romantic)
April 9, 10, 11, and 14, 2015, Orchestra Hall
MAHLER Symphony No. 7
April 28, 29, and 30, 2016, Orchestra Hall
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat Major, K. 482
Till Fellner, piano
STRAUSS An Alpine Symphony, Op. 64
October 25, 27, and 30, 2018, Orchestra Hall
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 19
Paul Lewis, piano
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 6 in A Major
Happy, happy birthday!
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra family remembers legendary dramatic soprano Inge Borkh, who died at her home in Stuttgart on Sunday, August 26, 2018. She was 97.
To close the Orchestra’s sixty-fifth season, music director Fritz Reiner chose Strauss’s Elektra. “This was a monumental performance superbly cast, and scaled to the full grandeur of Inge Borkh’s magnificent singing in the title role,” wrote Claudia Cassidy in the Chicago Tribune. “I for one have heard nothing like the outpouring of that amazing voice since the days of Kirsten Flagstad. . . . This is a huge soprano, glistening in timbre, most beautiful when it mounts the high tessitura and welcomes the merciless orchestra of the still fabulous Strauss. She can ride the whirlwinds, or she can touch, surprisingly, the heart.”
Borkh appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Orchestra Hall and at the Ravinia Festival, as follows:
December 8 and 9, 1955, Orchestra Hall
BEETHOVEN Abscheulicher . . . Komm Hoffnung from Fidelio, Op. 72
STRAUSS Closing Scene from Salome, Op. 54
Fritz Reiner, conductor
Inge Borkh, soprano
April 12 and 13, 1956, Orchestra Hall
STRAUSS Elektra, Op. 58
Fritz Reiner, conductor
Elektra Inge Borkh, soprano
Chrysothemis Frances Yeend, soprano
Clytemnestra Martha Lipton, mezzo-soprano
Orestes Paul Schöffler, baritone
Aegisthus Julius Patzak, tenor
Chorus from the Lyric Theatre of Chicago
July 12, 1956, Ravinia Festival
WEBER Ozean, du Ungeheuer from Oberon
WAGNER Dich, theure Halle from Tannhäuser
WAGNER Du bist der Lenz from Die Walküre
Igor Markevitch, conductor
Inge Borkh, soprano
July 22, 1956, Ravinia Festival
MENOTTI To this we’ve come from The Consul
BEETHOVEN Ah! perfido, Op. 65
Georg Solti, conductor
Inge Borkh, soprano
November 1 and 2, 1956, Orchestra Hall
WAGNER Overture to Tannhäuser
WAGNER Dich, theure Halle from Tannhäuser
WAGNER Wahn! Wahn! Uberall Wahn! from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
WAGNER Leb’ wohl, du kühnes, herrliches Kind! and Magic Fire Music from Die Walküre
WAGNER Traft ihr das Schiff from Der fliegende Holländer
WAGNER Wie aus der Ferne längst vergangner Zeiten from Der fliegende Holländer
WAGNER Ride of the Valkryies from Die Walküre
Fritz Reiner, conductor
Inge Borkh, soprano
Paul Schöffler, baritone
Borkh also committed excerpts from Strauss’s Elektra and Salome to disc shortly after her performances. With Reiner and the Orchestra, she recorded Salome on December 10, 1955, and Elektra on April 16, 1956, both in Orchestra Hall. For RCA, Richard Mohr was the producer and Lewis Layton the recording engineer.
Numerous tributes have appeared at The New York Times and Opera News, among other outlets.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra family notes with sorrow the passing of Fred Spector, a member of the violin section from 1956 until 2003. He died earlier today, June 3, 2017, at his home in Chicago’s Lincoln Park. He was 92.
Fred Spector (J.B. Spector photo)
Solomon E. (Fred) Spector was born on March 11, 1925, on Chicago’s West Side and began violin lessons at the age of five with his uncle J.B. Mazur, concertmaster of the Czar’s Imperial Orchestra in Saint Petersburg. He attended Hyde Park High School and Chicago Musical College, and his teachers included CSO concertmaster John Weicher, Leon Sametini, and Paul Stassevitch for violin, and Henry Sopkin (who founded the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 1945) for conducting.
Spector flew as a U.S. Army bombardier and navigator in Japan during World War II and became the first American violinist to concertize there after the war ended. He returned to Chicago and became concertmaster of the Civic Orchestra, studied conducting with Rudolph Ganz, and later was a member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra.
Speaking to the Chicago Tribune in 1994, Spector said that he “was actually hired into the CSO twice. The first time was in 1948 when a music director by the name of Artur Rodzinski heard me play some solos and gave me a job. The audition process was different back then, too. But Rodzinski was fired right after that, and the CSO didn’t honor any of his contracts—including mine. So I was hired and fired within a few weeks. Eight years later, the CSO asked me to audition again. I was conducting Broadway shows then—at that time it was Top Banana with Phil Silvers.”
Fred Spector in the early 1970s (Terry’s photo)
Music director Fritz Reiner hired Spector in 1956 and he served the Chicago Symphony Orchestra until his retirement in 2003. A chamber music enthusiast, he also performed with numerous ensembles in the Chicago area and was a member of the Chicago Strings, the Chicago Symphony Quartet, and the Chicago Arts Quartet for many years. Spector also was assistant conductor of the Highland Park Music Theatre.
Among numerous collectibles reflecting his varied interests, Spector was the proud owner of an extensive library of books on violin and bow history. His collection of mutes for string instruments (one of the world’s largest) included some that he found during the Orchestra’s national and international tours. Spector was the proud owner of a Carlo Bergonzi violin that dated from 1733.
Also in 1994 for the Tribune, Spector added: “playing with the CSO—which is one of the best orchestras in the world—is really something. It’s extraordinary. Even after all these years, we play concerts that still excite me. Concerts that leave me saying, ‘That was special. Everything was marvelous.’ ”
Spector is survived by Estelle, his beloved wife of sixty-six years; their children Lea, Mia (Terry), J.B. (Martha), Julie, and Ari (Jeanne); grandchildren Matt (Eve) Temkin, Dan (Kari) Temkin, Erinn Cohen, Ross Cohen, Caitlynn Spector, Adam Spector; and great-grandson Charlie Temkin. He also is survived by his brother David (Carol).
Services will be Tuesday, June 6, 2017, at 11:30 a.m. at Goldman Funeral Group, Skokie Chapel (8851 Skokie Boulevard, Skokie). Interment to follow at Memorial Park Cemetery (9900 Gross Point Road, Skokie).
In lieu of flowers, the family asks to please consider a donation to The Village Chicago or 98.7WFMT.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra family joins the music world in mourning the death of tenor Johan Botha, who died earlier today in Vienna at the age of 51 following a long illness.
A remarkably versatile singer, Botha was known for a vast number of roles in works by Beethoven, Puccini, Strauss, Verdi, and Wagner, among others. During his nearly thirty-year career, he appeared regularly on many of the world’s opera stages, including La Scala; the Royal Opera House Covent Garden; the Metropolitan Opera; the Vienna Staatsoper, where he made his home; and Lyric Opera of Chicago, where he most recently appeared in Wagner’s Tannhäuser in 2015.
Born on August 19, 1965, in the northern South African city of Rustenburg, Botha studied at the Technical College Pretoria. He made his debut as Max in Weber’s Der Freischütz at the Staatstheater Roodepoort in 1989, and the following year traveled to Germany, where he sang with the Bayreuth Festival Chorus before making his debut as Gustavus in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera in Kaiserslautern. Botha made his United States debut in 1994, as Florestan in Beethoven’s Fidelio at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina; and he first appeared with Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1998, as Enzo in Ponchielli’s La gioconda.
He is survived by his wife and two sons.
Botha appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on two occasions, as follows:
September 13, 1996 (Royal Albert Hall, London)
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125
Sir Georg Solti, conductor
Deborah Voigt, soprano
Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano
Johan Botha, tenor
René Pape, bass
BBC Singers
London Voices
Terry Edwards, director
April 24, 26, and 28, 2001 (Orchestra Hall)
VERDI Requiem
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Margaret Jane Wray, soprano (April 24)
Deborah Voigt, soprano (April 26 and 28)
Violeta Urmana, mezzo-soprano
Johan Botha, tenor
René Pape, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra family mourns the loss of Deborah Guscott, who was a member of the Chicago Symphony Chorus’s alto section for twenty-eight seasons. Having most recently performed in Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet and Verdi’s Falstaff this past April under Riccardo Muti, she died on August 10, 2016, following a long illness.
Deborah Guscott (Jennifer Girard photo)
A graduate of Oak Park and River Forest High School and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Guscott joined the Chicago Symphony Chorus at the invitation of founder and longtime director Margaret Hillis in 1987. For nearly thirty years, she regularly performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under three music directors—Sir Georg Solti, Daniel Barenboim, and Muti—as well as Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, James Levine, Christoph Eschenbach, and James Conlon, among many others. Guscott appeared on numerous recordings—several of them Grammy Award winners—and performed in Orchestra Hall, Medinah Temple, and Carnegie Hall; at the Ravinia Festival; and on tour with the Orchestra and Chorus to London, Salzburg, and Berlin.
Guscott was a fixture on the Chicago vocal scene, performing with countless ensembles, including the Grant Park Chorus, Light Opera Works, Music of the Baroque, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, Bach Week Festival, Oriana Singers, and Chicago a cappella, among many others. She was a soloist on several occasions for the Do-it-Yourself Messiah under Hillis and with the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest under its music director Jay Friedman. An active liturgical musician, Guscott worked at many churches and temples in the Chicagoland area, most recently as music director and cantor at both Saint Domitilla Parish in Hillside and Divine Providence Parish in Westchester.
Duain Wolfe, director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus since 1994, described his longtime colleague: “An alto with a particularly rich, luscious sound, Deb contributed significantly to the highly lauded sound of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. We are all very grateful for her gifts, both as an important musician in our ranks and as a strong, positive force who always found the silver lining in every cloud. Deb’s indomitable spirit has been an inspiration to all of us, and we will miss her greatly.”
Music director of the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest—and CSO principal trombone—Jay Friedman added, “Deb Guscott was my go-to contralto for the past twenty years in many solo roles from opera to oratorio. She possessed a true contralto voice, something rare and perfect for Mahler, Wagner, and many other great masters. Deb was a fun person and a joy to work with—always upbeat and willing to rehearse at a moment’s notice—and she will be greatly missed.”
Christopher Bell, director of the Grant Park Chorus since 2002, shared his thoughts with the musicians of his chorus: “I was privileged to have Deb—a well known and beloved singer in Chicago—in the Grant Park Chorus and honored to be able to call her a friend. My abiding memory of my last visit with her will be of much laughter and hilarity, as we shared many memories and reminiscences. The Chicago singing community is a strong and closely knit one, and I know that you, like me, are saddened and shocked by this loss of one of our own. Today, I am thinking of you all and sharing your sorrow.”
There will be a service in her memory given at Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica (3121 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago 60612) on Saturday, September 3, 2016, beginning at 11:00 a.m. The upcoming Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus performances of Brahms’s A German Requiem on November 10, 11, and 12, 2016—a work that Guscott performed on many occasions with the Chorus—will be dedicated to her memory.
One of Guscott’s many solo performances with the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest under Friedman was of Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony on November 16, 2003. A live recording of her singing the fourth movement—Urlicht—is available in the link below.
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Gerard McBurney (Dan Rest photo)
On November 13, 2005—under the leadership of Martha Gilmer, vice president of artistic administration, and composer and writer Gerard McBurney—the Chicago Symphony Orchestra launched Beyond the Score with an in-depth analysis followed by a complete performance of Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben. Daniel Harding conducted.
“The introduction deftly mixed vintage photos projected onto a huge overhead screen, excerpts from Strauss’s letters, commentary from his contemporaries, and short excerpts from the tone poem itself,” wrote Wynne Delacoma in the Chicago Sun-Times. “The pacing was seamless, the information on Strauss and his era coming in easily digestible but never watered-down nuggets. When the CSO played the entire work straight through after intermission, the large audience couldn’t help but feel like newly minted connoisseurs. Enjoying subtleties well below the surface beauties of Strauss’s tone poem, they were attentive, at times rapt. McBurney and his colleagues at the CSO succeeded brilliantly with the most difficult aspect of these kinds of programs: keeping the focus on the music.”
In May 2006, McBurney officially joined the staff of the CSOA as artistic programming advisor. Since then, the Beyond the Score concept evolved into freer and more vivid presentations and collaborations with a wide variety of art collections, scholars, libraries, folk musicians, and actors from all over the world.
A Pierre Dream, November 14, 2014 (Todd Rosenberg photo)
Highlights of the series have included thorough analyses of Elgar’s Enigma Variations, Holst’s The Planets, and Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony. Rachmaninov’s Isle of the Dead and Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde were presented as seamless dramatizations, and Pierre Boulez led Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin and closely advised on Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire. Concertmaster Robert Chen was featured in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade; and Gwendolyn Brown, an alumna of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center, performed Negro spirituals as part of Dvořák’s New World Symphony. In 2014, McBurney—collaborating with architect Frank Gehry—presented a special and comprehensive examination of music by Pierre Boulez.
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On October 28 and 29, 1954, soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf made her American and Chicago Symphony Orchestra debuts in Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs and the closing scene from his final opera, Capriccio. Fritz Reiner conducted.
Schwarzkopf “is both a soprano with a historically beautiful voice of its kind and a musician of transcendent intelligence. She knows most intimately what her texts are about, feels them deeply, and possesses the extraordinary vocal capacity to color with each word, each mood, each musical phrase,” raved Roger Dettmer in the Chicago American. “Here was artistry of the utmost fulfillment of an exquisite and cherished kind heard rarely in a lifetime of listening.”
“It has seemed to me that it took Miss Schwarzkopf a long time to come here,” commented Claudia Cassidy in the Chicago Tribune. “But exactly the right time, too. For it brought her here when Reiner, a kind of Straussian magician, had restored to the Orchestra its old, deep layered glow, and had added an immaculate polish strictly his own. Good things go together, and it is worthwhile to wait.”
October 28 and 29, 1954
The capacity crowd on October 28 included another legendary soprano—Maria Callas—also preparing to make her American debut, in town for the title role in Bellini’s Norma during Lyric Theatre of Chicago’s first season.*
*The company’s name was changed to Lyric Opera of Chicago for the 1955–56 season.
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Senator Barack Obama onstage with William Eddins and the Orchestra at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, September 11, 2005 (Todd Rosenberg photo)
On September 11, 2005—the fourth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks and barely two weeks after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina—the Chicago Symphony Orchestra gave a free concert as part of Millennium Park’s Blockbuster Weekend, which also featured season-opening outdoor performances by Lyric Opera of Chicago and Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
William Eddins led The Star-Spangled Banner, William Schuman’s arrangement of Ives’s Variations on America, Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, and Rimsky- Korsakov’s Sheherazade. The narrator for Lincoln Portrait was freshman U.S. Senator Barack Obama.
Obama’s autograph on a copy of Copland’s Lincoln Portrait
In the Chicago Sun-Times, Wynne Delacoma wrote: “When September 11 comes around each year, the craving for a moment of proverbial silence—a chance to slow down, remember, and mourn—is strong. Sunday’s concert, led by former CSO resident conductor William Eddins and featuring Senator Barack Obama as narrator in Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, provided just that kind of beneficent moment. Despite the steamy weather, a large crowd filled the pavilion’s seats and lawn, giving the CSO in general, and Obama in particular, vociferous applause. . . . Obama brought an orator’s skill without an actor’s slick veneer to Copland’s Lincoln Portrait. The comforting quality of his voice gave added emotional resonance to Lincoln’s words. The CSO was a powerful surging force behind him, alternately sinking into meditation and swelling to majestic heights.”
This article also appears here.
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In 1941, Frederick Stock appointed Helen Kotas to the position of principal horn, making her the first woman to hold a rostered position in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She was the first female to secure such a position—in fact, the first woman to be hired as principal of any section, except harp—in a major U.S. orchestra.
While still a student, earning a degree in psychology from the University of Chicago (which she received in 1936), Kotas served as a member of the Civic Orchestra and principal horn in the Woman’s Symphony Orchestra. Stock hired her as a regular extra horn at the beginning of the Orchestra’s fiftieth season in 1940, although she was not under contract. In 1940 and 1941, Kotas performed in Leopold Stokowski’s All-American Youth Orchestra’s summer tours; also in 1941, Fritz Reiner offered her the third-chair seat in the horn section of the Pittsburgh Symphony.
Kotas surrounded by the rest of the horn section in October 1941: Max Pottag, Frank Erickson, Joseph Mourek, and William Verschoor
Shortly after her audition in Pittsburgh, Stock auditioned Kotas for principal horn to fill the vacancy left by Philip Farkas when he left to join the Cleveland Orchestra. Stock offered her the job and contacted Reiner, who agreed to release her from the Pittsburgh commitment. Kotas would serve as principal until 1947, when Farkas returned to the Orchestra. She moved to third chair for one season and left the Orchestra in 1948; she married University of Chicago pathologist Edwin Hirsch the following year.
Kotas later was principal horn of the Grant Park Orchestra from 1950 until 1958, and she also served as principal horn of the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra from 1954 until 1959, and third horn until 1965, after which she largely retired from performing.
The first woman listed on the Orchestra’s roster was Mrs. Lawrence (Anna) Winch, second harp for the 1892–93 season. Other women subsequently performed as second harp; however, the position was not contracted and rostered full-time until the beginning of the 1957–58 season, when Carol Baum was hired as second harp. The first rostered woman in the string section was cellist Alice Lawrence in the 1942–43 season, and the first in the wind section was flutist Caroline Solfronk Vacha in the 1943–44 season.
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