An editorial in Saturday’s (5/9) News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington) reads, “The Tacoma Symphony was a perfectly respectable community orchestra when Harvey Felder took over as musical director 20 years ago. He leaves it a perfectly respectable professional orchestra.… Felder—whose final concert [was] Saturday … oversaw a period of great change…. When he was hired, the orchestra was a mix of professional musicians, semi-professional ones and talented amateurs. But under Felder’s leadership, all members would either have to show proficiency or significantly up their level of performance … His successor—Sarah Ioannides—will reap the benefit of the years he spent improving the orchestra to the point that it can handle even the most challenging works.… His proudest achievement was launching Simply Symphonic, an award-winning educational series for schoolchildren that gets kids excited about music.… Felder now moves on to direct orchestra studies at the University of Connecticut…. He will be remembered here for his intensity and passion for excellence, for the connections he made with audiences and schoolchildren and, most importantly, for reshaping the Tacoma Symphony into an orchestra the community can be proud to call its own.” The News Tribune also includes a photo essay of Felder’s two decades with the orchestra.
Posted May 13, 2014
Photo of Harvey Felder by Russ Carmack / News Tribune
