“Was Ken-David Masur nervous when, as a Tanglewood student in 2012, he stood before the Boston Symphony Orchestra to take over half of a concert from his father, the famous conductor Kurt Masur?” writes Andrew Pincus in Thursday’s (7/30) Berkshire Eagle (Mass.). “Not at all! Ken-David declares…. ‘I was feeling more thankful than nervous per se because I was just excited to be able to do it and share this moment with my dad.’ … Ken-David describes him as supportive—a gently encouraging force behind the son’s decision, at the late age of 29, to become a full-time conductor. Now in his first year as a BSO assistant conductor, the lanky son, 38, is back in a program of his own Friday night,” leading music of Beethoven, Weber, and Schubert. “At the high-school-level Boston University Tanglewood Institute, he has initiated a series of ‘Ken Talks’ (compare: TED Talks) … to discuss practical aspects of a life in music…. In New York, he and his wife [the pianist Melinda Lee] run the Chelsea Music Festival and are raising three children. The baton passes. Kurt Masur, who still gives master classes but is no longer active on the podium, and his wife are visiting Tanglewood to see and hear their son conduct.”
Posted July 31, 2015
Photo of Ken-David Masur and Kurt Masur by Michael J. Lutch
