In Friday’s (4/22) News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington), Rosemary Ponnekanti writes, “The Tacoma Symphony Orchestra announced Thursday that its longtime musical director Harvey Felder will step down at the end of the 2013-14 season. Felder’s contract, which began in 1993, expires next year. He is staying on to facilitate a national search for a replacement, according to the orchestra’s board of directors. Felder is leaving to take on new musical projects, but will be named the TSO’s first conductor laureate. … As director, Felder not only took the 85-member orchestra from amateur volunteer to professional level, he increased the annual performance schedule to six subscription concerts, began the Simply Symphonic educational series for elementary schoolchildren and held workshops for high-school students in outlying districts such as Puyallup. … Felder also recently worked with local composer Greg Youtz on the orchestra’s first full-length commissioned concerto, featuring its two percussionists. … After leaving the TSO, Felder intends to work on new musical projects such as a national chamber orchestra slated to debut in 2012.”
Posted April 22, 2011
