“Conducting orchestras through soaring symphonies and flying planes as a commercial pilot aren’t as different as you might think, James M. Orent believed,” writes Bryan Marquard in Monday’s (9/20) Boston Globe. “A frequent guest conductor of the Boston Pops, Mr. Orent died Aug. 25 of apparent sudden heart failure while relaxing on the ground after a skydiving jump, one of his favorite pastimes. He was 67 and lived in Nashua, N.H. Mr. Orent was ‘an invaluable resource to the Pops for over a quarter century,’ Pops conductor Keith Lockhart wrote in a tribute…. Calling Mr. Orent ‘an unofficial assistant conductor of the Pops,’ Lockhart wrote that … in 2003, when Lockhart had to rush to Boston for the early birth of his first child and Mr. Orent … was called upon to conduct…. ‘As always, Jim performed magnificently.’ … Orent [conducted] the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and [served] as music director of the Brockton Symphony Orchestra, the Newton Symphony Orchestra, and … other ensembles…. James Michael Orent was born in Boston … and graduated from … Amherst College, where he was awarded the Sundquist Prize for excellence in musical composition and performance. He also received a master’s degree from Yale University, and performed on a 1790 Helmer violin that formerly belonged to Emanuel Fiedler, the father of late Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler.”
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