Thursday’s (11/12) Boston Herald reports, “Marylou Speaker Churchill of Newton, a member of the College and Preparatory School faculties at New England Conservatory for 28 years and former principal second violin of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 23 years, died Tuesday at her home. She was 64. ‘Marylou was absolutely committed to the well-being of her students in every sense,’ said NEC President Tony Woodcock. ‘She not only concerned herself with their technical command of the instrument but also their musicianship, their sense of responsibility to the art, and their physical and spiritual health. She had a transformative effect on their lives.’ ” Churchill had been freelancing in Los Angeles when she received “an invitation to join the BSO in 1970, where she remained for 30 years. In 1977, she became principal second violin of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 23 years. … She was invited by Sir George Solti to be faculty and principal second violin of the Carnegie Hall Solti Project in 1994, and a year later, he invited her to lead the second violins in the “Musicians of the World” orchestra concert held in Geneva, Switzerland, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the United Nations.”
Posted November 13, 2009
