Bassist J. Warren Long “has been a Vancouver Symphony Orchestra member since 1974, making him the second-longest tenured member of a community that’s in the midst of 100th anniversary celebrations,” writes John Kurucz in Tuesday’s (5/28) Vancouver Courier (Canada). “ ‘Within my first month on the job, we were touring Japan,’ Long recalls…. ‘It was a very exciting period.’ … Over the years … Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland and Glenn Gould all popped into town for gigs. Stanley Park’s Malkin Bowl was created, in part, to house outdoor symphony performances.… For all that light, there’s also been … shade. There was the ‘Save the Orpheum’ campaign … that successfully prevented [the] VSO’s home base from kissing the wrecking ball…. 1988 was the year [of] a $2.3 million deficit…. ‘We weathered those storms and the public embraced us,’ … Long said…. Monica Pegis [is] the VSO’s newest member, having joined the first violin ranks in January…. She joins the orchestra in the midst of a 20-per-cent increase in ticket sales and donations over the last two years….VSO music director Otto Tausk celebrates one year on the job as of July 1, and the symphony orchestra wraps up centennial celebrations … at the Orpheum June 11.”
Posted June 3, 2019
