THE LAMAR AND RUTH ALSOP MEMORIAL CONCERT and
THE ALSOP ENTREPRENEUR SCHOLARSHIP AT MANNES
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NEW YORK, March 20, 2014 - Mannes College The New School for Musicwill honor the memory of distinguished Alumnus Lamar Alsop and his wife Ruth Alsop with an orchestra concert by Mannes students and guest artists. Conducted by Marin Alsop, this event will be the inaugural orchestra concert in Tishman Auditorium at The New School’s recently opened University Center (63 Fifth Ave.) and will include solo performances with the orchestra by violinists Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Jonathan Carney and Qing Li, and cellists Dariusz Skoraczewski and Eugene Moye. In connection with the event, Marin Alsop has established The Alsop Entrepreneur Scholarship, an annual award for a promising young musical entrepreneur studying at Mannes. The award will make possible an innovative project by a Mannes student to help further his or her career. In connection with the event, Marin Alsop has established The Alsop Entrepreneur Scholarship, an annual award for a promising young musical entrepreneur studying at Mannes. The award will make possible an innovative project by a Mannes student to help further his or her career. Lamar and Ruth Alsop Memorial Concert Program Brahms - Andante from Double Concerto for violin and cello, op. 102 Faure – Elegy, op. 24 Barber – Andante from Violin Concerto, op. 14 Mozart – Molto allegro from Jupiter Symphony, K. 551
Concert Information
About Lamar and Ruth Alsop Keith Lamar Alsop was born on March 11, 1928, in Murray, Utah, one of eight children of Henry Alsop, a chemist who worked for a mining company, and his wife, Ethel. Each child in the family studied an instrument, and Lamar focused on the violin, although he also studied viola, clarinet, flute and saxophone, instruments assigned to his siblings. Lamar began his career at the age of 17 in the Utah Symphony and, after serving in the Navy, moved to New York City, where he received a bachelor’s degree in violin performance from the Mannes College of Music and a teaching degree from Columbia University. Lamar served as concertmaster of the New York City Ballet Orchestra for over thirty years, regularly performing numerous concerti in addition to all of the standard ballet solos. Working with City Ballet afforded Mr. Alsop more opportunities to play solos than the concertmaster of a symphony orchestra usually has. “I like working with the ballet,” he told The New York Times in 1979. “It’s like having your own private orchestra when you’re constantly soloing.” In a New York Times review of Balanchine’s Ravel ballet “Tzigane,” the dance critic Anna Kisselgoff wrote that Mr. Alsop “played the violin solo from the pit beautifully.” Besides an accomplish violinist, Lamar also played the clarinet, saxophone, and viola and was regarded as a world-class whistler; his whistling skills were featured on albums by Bette Midler and others and in commercials for Irish Spring soap. Lamar was also a member of the string section for recordings by a starry list of artists including Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand and Wynton Marsalis. He performed on the soundtracks of more than 50 movies, including “Fargo” and “Fame.” Lamar Alsop was a member of the Beaux Arts String Quartet, the American String Quartet, and the Carnegie String Quartet. Lamar died on February 13, 2014 in Baltimore, MD of complications from PSP (Progressive Supranuclear Palsy). He was 85 years old. Ruth Alsop was born on February 24, 1931 in Melrose, Massachusetts, the daughter of William Condell, a colonel in the US Army born in Belfast Ireland, and Mary O’Neil Condell. She was one of five children and attended St. Mary’s Academy in Melrose, after which she attended Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart, where she received her Master’s degree in Music. She later attended the Yale School of Music and the Juilliard School of Music. Ruth was a cellist with the New York City Ballet Orchestra for over 50 years. She toured for Columbia Artists with the Gotham Trio starting in her early twenties. Ruth was also a cellist for the Radio City Music Hall and was a sought after private cello teacher. When the Statue of Liberty reopened, Ruth played with Frank Sinatra at the ceremonies. In addition to her outstanding career as cellist, Ruth became an accomplished potter, weaver and pianist and even dabbled in tap dancing in her later years. She had an infectious smile and generously served as a stellar volunteer for the American Cancer Society and Hospice Care. Ruth and Lamar performed regularly together with their dear friend, pianist Seymour Bernstein as the Alsop-Bernstein Trio. They were both faculty members at Brooklyn College and SUNY Potsdam and in addition, Lamar taught at the Luzerne Music Center in upstate New York. Ruth and Lamar also shared a passion for antiques and owned “Schoolhouse Antiques” in Saratoga Springs, NY. Ruth died on January 23, 2014 in Saratoga Springs, NY from lung cancer. She was 82 years old. Their daughter is internationally acclaimed conductor, Marin Alsop, who credits her parents’ “thinking outside the box” and “everything is possible” approach to life as the key to her success as a conductor and Music Director. In 1999 The Alsop Family Foundation was established “to encourage and support entrepreneurial, creative, and innovative approaches to classical music by individual artists and orchestras, with a special focus on American music and young artists.” To honor the spirit of Ruth and Lamar’s lives, the foundation will create “The Alsop Entrepreneur Scholarship,” an annual award for a promising young musical entrepreneur studying at Mannes College The New School for Music. This award will encourage young musicians to think and approach music in new ways to keep the art form vital and relevant in our changing society. Donations to the Alsop Family Foundation can be sent to: The Alsop Family Foundation The Alsop Family Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. About Mannes College The New School for Music |
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