In Sunday’s (4/14) Columbus Dispatch (Ohio), Nancy Gilson writes, “In 1978, 22-year-old Timothy Russell and a 26-year-old friend, Richard Early, created the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra. Barely more than music-loving kids, the two showed energy and ambition in providing the city an option it lacked. Early left ProMusica in 1988 to become executive director of the Des Moines Symphony in Iowa, where he remains today. Russell stayed the course. And now, 35 years later, the only music director and conductor that ProMusica has known is retiring. ‘It’s bittersweet,’ Russell, 57, said from his home in Phoenix, where for 20 years he has taught music at Arizona State University. ‘It’s a cliché, but time really does fly. It’s been a great run.’ … Russell and Early were deliberate with the effort. Though established in 1978, ProMusica didn’t perform its first concert until almost two years later, in Battelle Auditorium. Since then, the orchestra has commissioned 58 new works and presented more than 100 regional and world premieres. … The orchestra’s 59th commission—Concerto for Cello and Chamber Orchestra by Aaron Jay Kernis—will be introduced in concerts Saturday and next Sunday—Russell’s last as music director.”
Posted April 17, 2013
