Gerhard Samuel

Bio:

Born in Bonn, Germany, GERHARD SAMUEL (April 20, 1924—March 25, 2008) came to the United States at the age of fourteen, a refugee from the Nazi terror. Samuel was an internationally-known conductor, a founder of festivals, a tireless promoter of new music, a prolific composer, and a professor of music and conducting. Since his early studies in composition with Paul Hindemith at Yale University, he has established himself internationally as both composer and conductor. During Mr. Samuel's tenure as director of orchestral studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, he built the Philharmonia Orchestra from a struggling ensemble that couldn't afford to rent music to an institution of international reputation. In 1987, he took the orchestra to Carnegie Hall and in 1989, to the International Mahler Festival in Paris, the only invitation extended to an American orchestra. His commitment to the presentation of 20th Century works and the expansion of the orchestral repertoire, has lead to his numerous recordings for the Hyperion, Centaur, Orion, Desto, CRI, Everest, Delos, Acoma, and Vienna Modern Masters record labels. After his retirement in 1997 from CCM after 21 years at his position, he spent much of his time composing at his cabin in the Cascade Mountains. Reflecting on his career at CCM, told the Enquirer, "I consider this the most important period of my life. It's hard to put into words what it means, but the contact I'd had with so many people and knowing that they go out into the world carrying on some of the things I was able to transmit to them, is gratifying." Samuel's output spans the gamut from solo instrumental pieces to works for orchestra with chorus. This fluidity and control over his compositional craft has brought commissions from the LaSalle Quartet, the Sequoia Quartet, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Baltimore, Denver, San Francisco, Santa Rosa, San Jose and Oakland Symphonies, the CCM Wind Symphony, Zara Nelsova, Joel Krosnick, Eiji Hashimoto, the Los Angeles Monday Evening Concerts, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Starling Chamber Orchestra, and WGUC, Cincinnati with additional performances by the New York Philharmonic, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia, San Francisco, Santa Rosa Jose and Oakland Symphony Orchestras, as well as the L.A. Chamber Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the National Symphony of Mexico, the Pacific Northwest, the Joffrey and Oakland Ballets, and many more. Mr. Samuel was adamant that orchestral programming should include modern music, and hated the new "dumbing down" trend of radio stations and symphony orchestras. "Music shouldn't be treated differently from other art forms. We don't read War and Peace every year, like we listen to Beethoven symphonies over and over," he said. "Before the 20th century, all music – even Beethoven – was contemporary." He has received numerous awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Freeman and Fromm Foundations, Meet the Composer, and ASCAP. Mr. Samuel championed the music of composers such as Hans Rott, Alexander von Zemlinsky and John Corigliano. In 1994, he won the prestigious Ditson Conductor's Award for the advancement of American music. At the time of his death, he was working on an opera, "Blood of the Walsungs," based upon a novella by Thomas Mann, with a libretto by Roger Brunyate, a former UC faculty member.

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