“Edward Alley lived for the music and the stories behind the compositions he loved to conduct, produce and talk about,” writes Jay Handelman in Monday’s (7/13) Herald-Tribune (Sarasota, FL). “The musician and conductor who became actively involved in the Sarasota arts scene as a music critic, board member and host of the popular Music Mondays program for the Sarasota Institute for Lifetime Learning, died Monday at 85. Born June 1, 1935, Alley discovered a love of music and a talent with a variety of instruments while growing up in Texas, which led him to a career that included serving as the manager of the New York Philharmonic and conducting more than 800 performances of the Goldovsky Opera Theater throughout the United States and Canada. He served as executive director of the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music. At 22, he was named conductor of the 7th U.S. Army Symphony. He later served as associate director of the Opera Center of The Juilliard School, director of the Exxon/Arts Endowment Conductors Program, and served as a grant panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts.” Alley’s wife, longtime New York classical music radio host June LeBell, died in 2017. “After her death, Alley took over her regular assignments as music critic for The Observer Group, and as the coordinator and main host of … Music Mondays.”
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