Historical Events of May 7
7 May
** 1833 - birth of Johannes Brahms (Hamburg, Germany) d.1897
composer, pianist, conductor…and an adolescent cellist!
** 1891 - birth of Victor de Gomez (Aubern, California, USA) d. 1969
cellist, orchestra principal cello
** 1915 - a sad story…the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine on this day. 1200 people were killed, including the wife of important cellist Philip Abas, Beatrice, and their two children. She boarded with her two daughters on May 1st, 1915 in New York and was supposed to have arrived in Liverpool a week later - she was pregnant for the third time, and wanted to give birth to the child with her family in England. [Abas later remarried…]
** 1918 – the first performance ever of the Zoltan KODALY Cello Sonata for Solo Unaccompanied Cello Op.8 was given by the cellist Jenö Kerpely.
** 1929 – birth of Chaim Zemach (Burgas, Bulgaria) d.2022
cellist, member Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, in 1959 became principal cellist with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. In 1964, Zemach was invited to lead the cello section of the Bern Symphony Orchestra, principal cellist - Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. In 1971, Leopold Stokowski appointed Zemach to the principal cellist position of the American Symphony Orchestra. Faculty member of the Conservatoire d’Annecy in France, and Cello professor at Montclair State University, from where he would retire in 2002.
** 1942 - the last concerto soloist performance of Emanuel Feuermann
(Dvorak - Cello Concerto, with the Philadelphia Orchestra)
** 1973 - in the Kennedy Centre (Washington, U.S.A.), a solo recital (the first of two in spring of that year) of music of J.S. Bach was given by cello soloist Thomas Igloi, marking his American debuts.
** 1977 – on this day cellist U.S. cellist Frank Miller premiered his very own “Charlie the Cello” music with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Henry Mazer.
** 1984 - first performance of Toru Takemitsu - Orion and Pleiades: Concerto for cello and orchestra
Soloist - Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi (Paris)
** 1985 – on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th of this month, cellist Lorne Munroe performed as invited soloist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Mehta), in the Avery Fisher Hall (New York)
** 1986 - first performance of Alfred Schnittke - Cello Concerto No.1
(Munich, Germany)
