Schuller Honored By Hall Of Fame Induction

Gunther Schuller, artistic director of the Northwest Bach Festival, will find himself in the august company of 25 other musical luminaries when he is inaugurated into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in Cincinnati on May 24.

Schuller - award-winning composer, conductor, teacher, author, publisher and record producer - was selected by a nationwide vote of classical musicians, critics and scholars. Schuller is one of the five living inductees in the 26-member group selected for the honor.

“I was bowled over,” Schuller says of his selection. “After all, the people voting on my selection were my colleagues, composers and conductors and musicians.

“I just keep doing what I do, writing music and conducting and so on. And, out of the blue, these colleagues of mine give me something that’s a kind of crown of a lifetime’s work.”

Schuller’s first important professional position was principal horn of the Cincinnati Symphony when he was 16.

Locally, Schuller, 72, is known not only as the leader of the Bach Festival but also as artistic director of The Festival at Sandpoint. He was artistic adviser and principal conductor of the Spokane Symphony for the 1984-85 season and has appeared as guest conductor of the orchestra several times since.

Schuller’s other notable awards have included the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1994 and a MacArthur “Genius” Award in 1991. He was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters in May.

The other living musicians honored along with Schuller include composer Elliott Carter, soprano Leontyne Price, conductor Robert Shaw and violinist Isaac Stern.

Musicians to be initiated posthumously include Aaron Copland, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Scott Joplin, Arnold Schoenberg, John Philip Sousa, Igor Stravinsky, Arturo Toscanini and Leonard Bernstein.

The Classical Music Hall of Fame was established by Cincinnati civic leader David Klingshirn to acknowledge the contribution of outstanding classical musicians to American life. The organization operates a museum in downtown Cincinnati.

“The location of the museum,” Schuller says, “happens to be at the site of a famous jewelry store where I bought things for Marjory (Schuller’s late wife) when I was courting her. So things seem to come full circle.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo