One of the privileges of attending rehearsals of the SFSO, as a relatively-new music student, was to have met guest conductors, composers and musicians of the Orchestra. After Maestro Krips’ tenure, the ensuing musical directorships of Seiji Ozawa, Edo deWaart and Herbert Blomstedt also provided me with invaluable understanding.

At one of the rehearsals, American composer Kirke Mechem was standing at the foot of the stage as Maestro Krips rehearsed his Second Symphony for its world premiere. Mr. Mechem saw me standing a few feet away and gestured for me to see the score.  Not long thereafter, as an outgrowth of this experience, I studied music theory with him at Lone Mountain College, where he helped me to analyze music I was conducting at Lone Mountain.  He taught me orchestration privately in his studio, spoke in support of my receiving commissions to write for the SFSO and for music publisher, G. Schirmer, Inc. and has been my mentor through decades of friendship (see Mr. Mechem’s entry on this Mentors page). All of these initial experiences have continuously favored me, and are now coming “full circle” as I settle in New York City.  A thousand years has been as a day. I look forward, as a “late bloomer”, to further contributing to the musical life of New York.

As I look back to those years, my appreciation increases for the SFSO artists who guided my fledgling experiences as a budding conductor. Violinist Zelig Kaufman, brought me to his community orchestra to conduct Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony. His close friend, violinist-composer David Scheinfeld, with whom I studied briefly, counseled me about the challenges ahead, and cellist, Jean Mitchell, and her husband, Lucien Mitchell, Principal Violist, created the opportunity for me to conduct their ensemble, leading Arnold Schoenberg’s “Transfigured Night” at Lone Mountain. 

These wonderful people arranged for my musical directorship of the San Francisco Medical Society Symphony Orchestra. A highpoint of that experience was a performance with Dr. Peter F.Ostwald as violin soloist. Dr. Ostwald, also a professor of psychiatry, authored the pioneering book, “Robert Schumann: The Inner Voices of a Musical Genius”, and treatises on Nijinsky and Glenn Gould. I am eternally grateful for these investments in my musical future.

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