In Thursday’s (6/9) Seattle Times, Melinda Bargreen writes, “Twenty-six years. More than 2,000 performances, rehearsals, recording sessions. More than 140 recordings; 14 Grammy nominations; two Emmy Awards; too many world premieres to count. … ‘I always wanted to be a trumpeter when I was a kid,’ he reflects, ‘not a conductor; that was never of interest to me. I wanted to be in the New York Philharmonic.’ And he was—becoming the youngest co-principal trumpet in the orchestra’s history. He rose to the top of his profession, making solo recordings that are still considered among the finest available. That’s why few in the classical-music world could quite believe it when Schwarz left the Philharmonic in 1977, at the age of 30. His reasoning was simple: The music had become more important to him than the instrument, which had a limited repertoire. Schwarz wanted to ‘delve into the great 19th-century repertoire’—works by Brahms, Schumann, Schubert and Beethoven, among many others. … In addition to his more public work on the podium, Schwarz has involved himself with the community in a wide span of educational and civic activities that don’t get as much notice. A tireless advocate for contemporary music, he has conducted more than 100 world premieres in Seattle, including this season’s unprecedented commissioning of 18 short works.” Schwarz’s final concert as music director is a June 18 program featuring Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony.
Posted June 10, 2011
