Three Philadelphia Orchestra Players To Retire
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Artswatch
Three Philadelphia Orchestra Players To Retire
Peter Dobrin, Inquirer Classical Music Critic
The Philadelphia Orchestra at Friday’s concert honored three musicians retiring this season — all three hired during the Ormandy era: double-bass players Neil Courtney (a member since 1961) and Emilio “Lee” Gravagno (1967); and violinist Virginia Halfmann (1972).
The orchestra also presented its annual distinguished service honor, the C. Hartman Kuhn Award, to Herold Klein, a violinist in the orchestra since 1971.
It would be interesting to put together a short list of all the great conductors they've played under, especially Neil Courtney.— Thornhill
Peter Dobrin is a classical music critic and culture writer for The Inquirer. Since 1989, he has written music reviews, features, news and commentary for the paper, covering such topics as the Philadelphia Museum of Art at the Venice Biennale, expansion of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Philadelphia Orchestra's bankruptcy declaration in 2011, Philadelphia's evolving performing arts center and the general health of arts and culture.
Dobrin was a French horn player. He earned an undergraduate degree in performance from the University of Miami, and received a master's degree in music criticism from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he studied with Elliott Galkin. He has no time to practice today.
