http://www.nobleviola.com/2009/12/10/batons-and-those-who-wield-them/ Life on the working end of the viola. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:01:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.nobleviola.com/2009/12/10/batons-and-those-who-wield-them/comment-page-1/#comment-14478 badbeard Sat, 12 Dec 2009 09:30:47 +0000 http://www.nobleviola.com/?p=3583#comment-14478 Timpanist Dick Horowitz of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, now in something like his 63rd year in said band, has been making batons for conductors for generations. Years ago my dad, Gerald Kagan, commissioned by the Met, made one truly spectacular objet d'art baton which was a special presentation for Mtro. Guiseppe Patane, one of the great opera conductors. A humble man, he was quite flabbergasted at the time and in his very-limited English could barely get any words out. Timpanist Dick Horowitz of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, now in something like his 63rd year in said band, has been making batons for conductors for generations. Years ago my dad, Gerald Kagan, commissioned by the Met, made one truly spectacular objet d’art baton which was a special presentation for Mtro. Guiseppe Patane, one of the great opera conductors. A humble man, he was quite flabbergasted at the time and in his very-limited English could barely get any words out.

]]> http://www.nobleviola.com/2009/12/10/batons-and-those-who-wield-them/comment-page-1/#comment-14476 Carl Herko Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:50:53 +0000 http://www.nobleviola.com/?p=3583#comment-14476 Wow, interesting. It's just an aside, but the part that shocked me was the line about Michael Tilson Thoms "turning 65 this month." Yikes, I still remember when he was the wunderkind music director in Buffalo. So if he's 65, I must be ... well, as I said, yikes. Wow, interesting. It’s just an aside, but the part that shocked me was the line about Michael Tilson Thoms “turning 65 this month.” Yikes, I still remember when he was the wunderkind music director in Buffalo. So if he’s 65, I must be … well, as I said, yikes.

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