Historical Trumpet Rosters for Major Symphony Orchestras

Derek Reaban

While I have enjoyed the symphonic literature as long as I can remember, I was thrilled when I joined the International Trumpet Guild four years ago and received the CD-ROM compilation of all the past ITG Journals from 1976 – 1999. I read with great interest all of the articles that were written on each of the major symphony orchestras in the United States.

There was a recent post in the Recordings folder requesting who was playing Principal Trumpet for the LA Philharmonic in 1977 at:

http://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=18111&forum=12&6 .

I referred to a spreadsheet that I had started and was very quickly able to guide the poster to Tom Stevens (Principal from 1972 – 2000). A new member of the Trumpet Herald submitted a post and commented on a conversation that he had with Irving Bush and Uan Rasey yesterday about former LA Philharmonic Principal Trumpet Players. While he uncovered a great deal of information, he is following up with the Los Angeles Philharmonic to see if he can arrive at a full listing of the trumpet staff that has been with the orchestra since it’s inception.

With all of the prominent posters that we have on the Trumpet Herald, I think it would be a wonderful resource to add a folder in the Orchestral section that provides details of the Principal players for all of the major symphony orchestras (not just in the United States). Obviously this is a job that would need to be shared by all of us that frequent this site. In the future, as position changes occur, this listing would keep us all up to date!

I’ll start with some of the information that I have gathered from various sources. I’m sure this will be interesting to see how it unfolds!

EDIT: This is a big task, as I've just found out by entering the information that I have for the Boston Symphony and the New York Philharmonic! I'll try to do a little bit at a time so I don't get burned out gathering and typing all of this information. If other's have the ITG CD-ROM and would be interested in including names and dates, that would be great. Then comments from actual TH members in these orchestras would be great (Manny Laureano, Kevin Good, Peter Bond, Andrew McCandless, Jim Wilt, Richard Sandals, Josh MacCluer and so many others!)

EDIT: Depending how this turns out, it would also be exciting to develop similar lists for 2nd, 3rd, & 4th trumpet. It's very interesting to see how players move around!

EDIT: I thought it would be good to provide a link to the "final folders" for this project just to tie everything together. Click on this link to go to Trumpet Sections of Major Symphony Orchestras.

_________________
Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona

<font size=-2>[ This Message was edited by: derek reaban on 2004-07-08 15:13 ]</font>

Derek Reaban · Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2004 8:53 pm Post subject:

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Principal Trumpet Players

Start-End______Name

1981-Current_____Charles Schlueter
1979-1981_______Rolf Smedvig
1966-1979_______Armando Ghitalla
1948-1966_______Roger Voisin
????-1948_______Georges Mager

This format seems to work well. If everyone could adapt this style it would lead to a consistent way to input the information.

_________________
Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona

[ This Message was edited by: Derek Reaban on 2004-03-20 02:33 ]

Derek Reaban · Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:08 pm Post subject:

New York Philharmonic
Principal Trumpet Players

Start-End______Name

1988-Current______Phil Smith
1978-1988________Phil Smith (Co Principal)
1972-????_________John Ware (Co Principal)
1972-????_________Jerry Schwartz (Co Principal)
1942-1972________William Vacchiano
1936-1942________Harry Glantz
1910-1936________Max Schlossberg

_________________
Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona

[ This Message was edited by: Derek Reaban on 2004-03-20 00:15 ]

Derek Reaban · Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:28 pm Post subject:

Minnesota Orchestra
Principal Trumpet Players

Start-End______Name

1981-Current______Manny Laureano
1972-1981________Charles Schlueter
????
1950-1960________Bernie Adelstein

_________________
Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona

[ This Message was edited by: Derek Reaban on 2004-03-20 00:33 ]

Derek Reaban · Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:36 pm Post subject:

Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Principal Trumpet Players

Start-End______Name

1982-Current_______Ramon Parcells
1975-1982_________Donald Green
1960-1980_________James Tambourini

EDIT: A complete listing for the Detroit Symphony is shown below based on input from THers and an ITG Journal list.

_________________
Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona

[ This Message was edited by: Derek Reaban on 2004-03-22 00:25 ]

Derek Reaban · Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:46 pm Post subject:

Los Angeles Philharmonic
Principal Trumpet Players

Start-End______Name

2000-Present__________Donald Green
1972-1999____________Thomas Stevens
1950-1972____________Robert Divall (Retiring 1979)
1948-1950____________Les Remsen
1947-1948____________Possibly John Clyman
1944-1947____________Benny Klatzkin
1935-1944____________Vladimir Drucker

To Be Updated when More Information is Available from THer Gianni
_________________
Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest

wiseone2 · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 5:39 am Post subject:

Brewblue1 · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 6:27 am Post subject:

Wasnt Lou Ranger Co-Principal with Gerard Swartz?

John
_________________
John Marchiando
University of New Mexico
New Mexico Philharmonic
Shires Artist
Tromba Mundi
Summit Brass

Atomlinson · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 6:36 am Post subject:

That's a question I've been asking about Schlossberg myself.

His son-in-law in the Schlossberg "Daily Drills and Technical Studies" says he toured Europe as soloist under Nikisch, Weingartner and Richter. In 1910, he joined the New York Philharmonic Symphony(? see below), where he remained for twenty-six years until his death, September 23rd, 1936.

If he had been principal trumpet, surely this would have been mentioned.

In the article by Andre Smith in the ITG Journal on Schlossberg, May 1997, there is no mention/confirmation that he was principal trumpet in either the Philharmonic Society of New York or the New York Symphony Orchestra which merged in 1928 to become the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York but is now the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

Could it be that because he had such a huge reputation as a teacher for turning out a number of players who became principal players (eg. Louis Davidson, William Vacchiano) that his mythology has assumed that he must have been a principal player himself?

Andrew Tomlinson

largo · Veteran Member Joined: 09 Feb 2004 Posts: 151

Just wanted to add that Harry Glantz joined the NYP as principal in the early 20's. That high C on the Mengelberg Heldenleben recording still sends shivers up my spine.

Atomlinson · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 6:45 am Post subject:

Yes, Harry Glantz, April 1923 to Apr 1942, then to NBC SO 1942-1954.

Andrew Tomlinson

wiseone2 · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 8:04 am Post subject:

Gianni · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 9:20 am Post subject:

San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

Being born and raised in San Francisco , I can contribute, with the help of a former teacher who played with the SF Symphony, the SF Symphony Orchestra principal trumpet players . A name not usually associated with the SF Phil is the the 1922 principal trumpet player , Mr Harry Glantz. who played only one year with the SF Phil. He returned to New York in 1923 to be closer to his parents.

Adolph. Seiferth - 1911
Donald Rosebrook - 1912-1918
Stephan Miller - 1919-1920
William Thieck - 1921
Harry Glantz - 1922
Edward Dietzel - 1923-1924
Vladimir Drucker - 1925 - 1928
Kenneth Rissland - 1929
Lawrence Barton - 1930
Benjamin Matzkin - 1931-1943
Charles Bubb 1944 - 1956
Donald Reinberg - 1957 - 1978
Laurie McGraw - 1979
Glenn Fischtal - 1980 to the present.

The section at present consists of: Glenn Fischtal / principal Mark Inouye/ asst. principal Jeff Biancalana and Chris Bogios respectively

Vin DiBona · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 10:12 am Post subject:

An addition to the Detroit principal post would be Frank Kaderabek from 1966 to 1975.
He went to the Philadelphia principal chair in 1975.

wiseone2 · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 10:27 am Post subject:

MannyLaureano · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:24 pm Post subject:

Dear Derek,

This information will be incomplete for now as I'm writing this at Orchestra Hall but between Bernie and Charlie was Steve Chenette who is currently the trumpet honcho at University of Toronto. Before Bernie was Jimmy Stamp..yes..THAT Jimmy Stamp. He was actually the longest tenured principal trumpeter before I got that dubious distinction ; )

At home I have a list if all the guys that played in the MO since its inception as an organization. I'll get the accurate info from that source.

By the way, yes, Wilmer is absolutely correct...Schlossberg was member of the NYP but was never principal. My source for that information is William Vacchiano. That was his answer when I asked him at a lesson way back when...

Fun project...enjoy and thank you for the diversion from the usual...stuff.

Cheers,
Manny Laureano
_________________
Liviu Librescu-1930-2007- Holocaust survivor and hero during VA Tech massacre

mstrpt · Veteran Member Joined: 07 Dec 2001 Posts: 137

One of my favorite topics....It's essential to know where things have been and what these extraordinary people did to evolve our craft before we ourselves move foward....

Here are a few more bits of info to add to things....Norm Schweikert (ret. horn CSO) is probably the best source for any of this type of lineage info...

The Cleveland Orchestra
1935-59 Louis Davidson
1957-60 Richard Smith
(Played with Cleve. Orch. 1956-67)
1960-88 Bernie Adelstein
1988- Michael Sachs

The Boston Symphony Orchestra
1919-50 George Mager
1947-65 Roger Voisin
(Played with BSO 1935-73)
1965-79 Armando Ghitalla
(Played with BSO 1951-79)
1980-81 Rolf Smedvig
1982- Charles Schluter

The New York Philharmonic
1923-42 Harry Glantz (1919-22 N.Y. Symphony)
1935-73 William Vacchiano
1973-78 Louis Ranger/Gerard Schwartz
1978- Philip Smith

The Philadelphia Orchestra
1918-44 Saul Caston
1944-60 Sam Krausse
1960-75 Gil Johnson
1975-95 Frank Kaderabek
1995- David Bilger

The Chicago Symphony
1912-32 Edward Llewellyn
1932-39 Eldon Benge
1939-41 Renold Schilke
1941-42/ 1945-48 Sidney Baker
1942-45 Gerald Huffman
1948-2001 Adolph (Bud) Herseth
2002-2003 Craig Morris

The NBC Symphony
1942-54 Harry Glantz

Jimmy Stamp played principal in The Minneapolis Symphony from @1927-1944 when he moved to LA to play film music.

Derek Reaban · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 9:57 pm Post subject:

Wilmer,

Thanks very much for your feedback. I think the New York Philharmonic list of Principal players is going to take some time to finalize. An official article on the trumpet sections of the NYP has never been presented in the ITG Journals, but there are many references to players that were Principal in New York in other articles. One intriguing reference that I found was in the end notes to one of the articles about Mr. Vacchiano. Apparently Andre M. Smith, whose biographies of prominent symphony trumpet players I enjoy so much in the ITG Journals, has written many books about historic brass players. I will definitely look into these in the future!

I’m glad that Manny asked the question directly to Mr. Vacchiano about Schlossberg’s status as Principal trumpet. Now we have a definitive answer to one of these questions on this list!

As far as the dates for Mr. Vacchiano’s tenure as Principal Trumpet with the New York Philharmonic, you are exactly correct about him playing past the 1972 season. In the Feb 1998 ITG Journal I found an article entitled “Saluting Adolph Herseth During His 50th Orchestral Season and a List of Other Outstanding Trumpet Careers”. They show William Vacchiano playing Principal Trumpet from 1942-1973 (joining the orchestra in 1935). Thanks for catching that one!

We’ll have to work on all of the Co-Principal players that were after Mr. Vacchiano. That will come in the future as more people respond to this topic.

Andrew,

Well, you clearly found the reference that I was using for Max Schlossberg for the dates of his tenure with the New York Philharmonic (or all the different orchestras that it was known as before the NY Philharmonic). Manny has solved that mystery for us. Now we have to fill in the blanks.

As far as the dates for Harry Glantz with the NY Philharmonic and the NBC Symphony Orchestra, where did you get these? I didn’t did too deeply today, but I did read portions of the Hersch (Harry) Glantz ITG article (from the Feb 1996 ITG Journal). The only reason I bring this up is that I read through the detailed article about the San Francisco Symphony trumpet players today, and they mention that Benjamin Klatzkin played Principal trumpet for 12 years in New York and 7 years in Los Angeles prior to his tenure as Principal Trumpet with the SF Symphony beginning in 1931. This would line up perfectly with your dates, and would allow us to fill in a large block of time!

largo,

Thanks for the reference recording from that time frame. It would be nice in the future to tie these posts with names and dates to actual recordings.

Gianni,

Your list is perfect! I found an article in the Feb 1996 ITG Journal entitled “The Trumpet Players of the San Francisco Symphony 1911 – 1995”. The only detail in your list that seems to be in error is the spelling of Benjamin Klatzkin’s last name. You show it as Matzkin and the author of the ITG article made the same mistake in the summary table. However, in the signed photograph that is included in the article, it is clearly Klatzkin.

Vin DiBona,

Thanks very much for filling in the detail on Frank Kaderabek as being Principal Trumpet with the Detroit Symphony from 1966 – 1975. That led me to find the typo that I had for James Tamburini (both his last name and his dates of tenure). He was Principal trumpet in Detroit from 1944 – 1966 based on the information from the Feb 1998 ITG article that I mentioned in the response to Wilmer. Thanks!

Wilmer,

Thanks for the link to the Philadelphia Principal players. In reading the article about Harry Glantz from the ITG journal (Feb 1996), I ran across the fact that Harry Glantz played Principal Trumpet in Philadelphia in the 1915 season. I also read about Christian H. Rodenkirchen who played Principal Trumpet in MANY orchestras, and will fall into our lists as this project continues. His orchestras included:

Principal – Chicago Symphony 1891 – 1902
Principal – New York Symphony Orchestra 1902 – 1904
1st Trumpet Metropolitan Opera 1904 – 1905
Principal – New York Philharmonic 1905 – 1907
Principal – Philadelphia Orchestra 1907 – 1909
Principal – New York Philharmonic 1909 – 1911
2nd Trumpet – Philadelphia Orchestra 1911 – 1915

So he was in New York at the time of Mahler. This in itself is intriguing to me!

Thanks to everyone who has responded so far. I will modify the lists that I have previously shown with the updates that I have (based on your comments) tomorrow night. Just gathering my thoughts to respond to everyone so far has taken all of the time that I have for today.

Very interesting project!

_________________
Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona

[ This Message was edited by: Derek Reaban on 2004-03-21 02:04 ]

Derek Reaban · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 10:22 pm Post subject:

Manny,

Thanks for getting involved with this project. It will be nice to have a complete listing of all of the players from the Minnesota Orchestra since its inception. Talk about one stop shopping!

mstrpt,

Thanks very much for gathering all of this information! I know that there are some really good articles in the ITG Journals detailing many of the prominent Symphony Orchestras and I just assumed that somewhere out there someone had written a book about it. I'll have to look into the Norm Schweikert book.

All,

This list certainly should include orchestras outside the United States. I know that we have many posters from England and Germany as well as other countries in Europe. I will be of no help in these areas because I don't have any reference material to look up historic players in those orchestras.

Step up! Participate if you have information to contribute!

Thanks,
_________________
Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe Winds / Symphony of the Southwest

captain canuck · Regular Member Joined: 23 Oct 2003 Posts: 83

Thought I would put in some info regarding Toronto but I will admit upfront it's incomplete as far as dates.
So any other Canadians (or anyone else) feel free to add more.

TSO
*
2002 - present Bart Woomert (acting Pr.)
1999 - 2002 Andrew McCandless
1997- 1999 Bart Woomert (acting Pr.)
mid 70's? -1997 Larry Weeks
(Before Larry?)
*(AM will take over the "hotseat" this fall)

Montreal (even more incomplete on dates)
MSO
1995- present Paul Merkelo
1994 - Russ DeVuyst (acting)
1993 - Charlie Davall
1992 - Bob Early
1991 - Bob Early
19?-1990 Jim Thompson

(1991- 94 are kinda blurry, doing my undergrade at McGill. B.E. might have only done one year C.D. 2?)
Please correct anything.

Geoff