Jacques Singer (May 9, 1910 – August 11, 1980) was an American virtuoso violinist, symphony orchestra conductor, and music educator who flourished from about 1925 until a few months before his death in 1980.
[4] Before making any sort of official American debut, Singer, as a teenager, had been playing recitals, in one case, at a Columbia University student social gathering at Earl Hall.
[i][ii] He made his American debut in New York the evening of February 11, 1925 at Town Hall performing (in solo) Bach's G-minor Fugue;[a] then with pianist Siegfried Schultze [fr], Paganini's D major concerto; then with Schultze and violinist Jacob Mestechkin (his teacher), Christian Sinding's Serenade for two violins and piano.
[7] Singer began attending the Juilliard School in 1927, studying with Leopold Auer, Paul Kochanski, and Rubin Goldmark.
[vii][viii][citation needed] From watching Stokowski, he picked up several of the maestro's practices: conducting without baton (or score at times), making instructional comments to an audience, and stopping performances during disturbances.
[ix] With a recommendation from Stokowski,[x] Singer made his conducting debut with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra on February 1, 1938.
The panelist included Singer, Barbara Pentland, Eugène Lapierre, Dorothy Cadzow (1916–2001), Charles O'Neill, Zilba Georgieva (soprano), John Weinzweig, and Harry Adaskin.
[13][xv][14][15][16] Attended by 1,500, the Symposium was the only venture of its kind on record for Canada and stood as the largest festival of Canadian music until Expo '67.
Another explanation, offered by musicologist Elaine Keillor, was that the VSO fired Singer over circumstances directly linked to his promotion of contemporary music.
Igor Stravinsky, who reportedly attended on opening night, remarked that the pit orchestra sounded like a symphony.
[xviii] On March 25, 1956, Singer guest-conducted the closing season concert of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, to critical acclaim.
[xxv] On January 26, 1958, Singer guest conducted the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra (ru) (Orquesta Filarmónica de la Habana), performing Paul Csonka's Violin Concerto No.
Beginning around April 1958, Singer, as visiting conductor, led the Buenos Aires Philharmonic at the Colon Theater in Argentina.
Reviews of a concert on June 22, 1958, by two Buenos Aires newspapers, Democracia and La Prensa lauded Singer's artistic accomplishments (after working two months with the orchestra).
[xxvi][xxvii][xxviii] In 1961, Singer spent a month with the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra, culminating in 4 concerts, the first on April 29.
"[xxx][xxxi][xxxii] Singer had signed on with Corpus Christi for an additional three years when he was hired as the permanent conductor and music director of the Oregon Symphony in April 1962.
Richards was getting angry by now, but Singer chose this moment to tie a white handkerchief onto his baton with which he waved a flag of surrender.
[xxxiv] Singer, throughout his career, was an exponent of new music from established and emerging composers, which, in programming, he had to carefully balance, particularly with orchestras whose benefactors and patrons yearned for the classics.
Corinthians XIII is melodically rich, rhythmically intensive, fluid and engrossing in its instrumental movement, fascinating in its counter themes and harmonic diversity.Singer ultimately left the orchestra he had built, over a controversy that divided the organization.
[xxxvi][xxxvii][citation needed] His contract with the Oregon Symphony extended through April 1973, though he did not conduct during the 1972–73 season.
[xxxviii] Robert Russell Bennett, composer Concerto for Violin, Piano, and Orchestra, premiere[25] On September 24, 1962, before starting as Artistic Director of the Oregon Symphony, Singer made his London debut conducting the London Philharmonic at Royal Festival Hall, which included guest pianist Rudolf Firkušný.
Singer's wife, Leslie, an accomplished pianist, left the Juilliard staff 1978 to take over the piano classes of Reynolds Whitney (1919–1978), a member of the NIU music faculty since 1948 who died January 2, 1978.
[xlviii][xlix] In 1974, Jacques Singer guest-conducted the Cosmopolitan Symphony, a New York City youth orchestra founded in 1963.
Meyer, Rachella (later known as "Rose" or "Rosie"), and their three children immigrated to the United States, sailing from Bremen on October 21, 1920, aboard the USS Susquehanna, and arriving in the Port of New York November 4, 1920.
According to the ship's manifest, their nearest relative, Elias Singer (Jakob's grandfather), was residing in Jersey City.
[29] On January 28, 1946, in New York City Jacques married Leslie Wright (born 1924), a Texas piano virtuoso and pedagogue who, in the early 1940s, studied at the University of North Texas College of Music with Silvio Scionti and in the latter 1940s, in New York with Sidney Foster (né Sidney Earl Finkelstein; 1917–1977).
Gregory, a Juilliard graduate, is a prolific violinist, conductor, and pedagogue, is the music director of the Manhattan Symphonie, which he founded in 2005.
Nobert's father, Solomon Singer (1892–1970) (Jacques' uncle), was a concert violinist, conductor, and violin teacher.
Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra Ruggiero Ricci, violin Édouard Lalo, composer One-Eleven, Ltd. (Hong Kong) EPR-95040 (catalog no.)