Symphonic Emeritus Section
Symphonic Showcase Concert
Friday, 12:00 p.m.
Alan Abel Morris "Arnie" Lang
William Platt Frank Epstein
Gerald Unger John H. Beck
Ron Barnett Richard Weiner
Stanley Leonard Sal Rabbio
Tom Akins Anthony Cirone
Anthony J. Cirone received a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Science degree from Juilliard where he studied with Saul Goodman. Upon graduation, he was offered a percussion position with the San Francisco Symphony under Josef Krips. He served as Professor of Music at San José State University from 1965 to 2001, where he directed the percussion program and taught music technology courses. He then went on to serve as the Director of Percussion Studies at Indiana University from 2001 to 2007. He is the Percussion Consultant/Editor for Meredith Music Publications, and is the author of Portraits in Rhythm, a collection of 50 studies for snare drum, used worldwide as a standard text for training percussionists in colleges and universities. Mr. Cirone has just published his book, The Great American Symphony Orchestra - A Behind-the-Scenes Look at its artistry, Passion, and Heartache.
Alan Abel, former Associate Principal Percussionist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, retired in 1997 after thirty-eight years of service. Abel has been a faculty member at Temple University since 1973 and at Rutgers University since 2002. Sixty of his former students currently perform or have performed with over fifty symphony and opera orchestras throughout the world. Twenty-five of his former students are teaching or have taught at universities, colleges, and conservatories in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. He has compiled two books for orchestra studies for timpani and percussion. He has designed and continues to produce symphonic triangles and bass drum stands. Abel is the recipient of outstanding service awards from the Philadelphia Orchestra and Temple University. He served on the PAS Board of Directors and was the first Chair of the PAS Symphonic Committee. Abel was inducted into the PAS Hall of Fame in 1998.
Thomas Akins was principal timpanist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for 26 years. In 1984, he gave the premiere performance of William Kraft’s Timpani Concerto No. 1, a work that is dedicated to him. Thomas Akins earned bachelor and master degrees from the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati. Akins has held faculty positions at DePauw University and Indiana University and founded the Sonic Boom Percussion Ensemble in 1967. Akins serves as music director of Carmel Brass and has guest conducted several orchestras in pops concerts. He is a member of the announcing staff for marching and concert events for Music For All and is heard regularly on classical radio broadcasts in the Indianapolis area. Following his on-stage career with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Akins became the ISO’s Director of Public Relations and Director of Archives for another 16 years before his retirement. Away from music, Akins serves as a sports broadcaster for several national radio networks.
Ronald Barnett received a B.M. from the Eastman School of Music in 1960. He was timpanist and marimba soloist with the U.S. Navy Band in Washington D.C. and an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Maryland, College Park. He was timpanist with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra in Washington D.C. from 1971 to 2002. He has been a percussionist with the Chautauqua Symphony in New York for the past 52 years; 43 of those years as principal.
John H. Beck received his B.M. in 1955 and M.M. in 1962 from the Eastman School of Music. He started teaching at Eastman in 1959 and in 2008, after 49 years of teaching there, he retired. He is now Professor Emeritus of Percussion. He is also the retired timpanist of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Beck is a Past President of PAS having served as NY State Chapter President and Second and First Vice President of this international organization. Major publishing companies have published his compositions and he has recorded for CRI, Turnabout, Mark Records, and Heritage Records. He is the editor of Encyclopedia of Percussion, and has written several instruction books for snare drum, drum set, and timpani. He was inducted into the PAS Hall of Fame in 1999.
Richard Weiner recently retired as a member of The Cleveland Orchestra, completing a 48-year career. In 1963, George Szell appointed him to the orchestra and created the principal percussion position for him in 1968. He has participated in more than 100 world or U.S. premieres as well as more than 100 recordings. A native of Philadelphia, Richard Weiner holds a Bachelor of Science in Music from Temple University, where he studied with Charles Owen, principal percussionist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and a Master of Music degree, with distinction, from Indiana University, where he studied with George Gaber, former timpanist and percussionist with the NBC Symphony under Toscanini. In addition, Mr. Weiner was the first percussionist to be awarded the Indiana University School of Music Performer’s Certificate. Several years after joining The Cleveland Orchestra, Mr. Weiner earned a Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude, from Cleveland State University. He has been a member of PAS for over 40 years.
Gerald Unger recently retired as Associate Principal Percussionist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, a position he held since 1975. A native of Perrysburg, Ohio, he received both a Bachelor of Music in Performance and Music Education from Ohio State University, a Master of Music in Music Education from the University of Northern Colorado, and did post graduate work at Indiana University and the University of North Texas. Prior to joining the Pittsburgh Symphony, Unger was Principal Percussionist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Upon graduating from Ohio State University, Unger taught public school music in the Ontario, Ohio school system. Additional teaching experience includes posts at Northeast Louisiana State University, Texas Christian University, Carnegie Mellon University, and Duquesne University.
A native of Amsterdam, Holland, Frank Epstein and his family immigrated to the U.S. in 1952, settling in Hollywood. He received his B.M. from the University of Southern California and his M.M. from the New England Conservatory. He won his position with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1968 while a student at NEC. Today, he is a faculty member at Tanglewood Music Center and the New England Conservatory, where he serves as Chairman of the Brass and Percussion Department and directs the NEC Percussion Ensemble, which he founded in 1968. Two single-disc volumes of American Music for Percussion commissioned, premiered, and recorded by Frank and the NEC Percussion Ensemble, have recently been released on the Naxos label. In 1996, he was awarded a Presidential Commendation from the New England Conservatory for his work with Collage New Music. His book, Cymbalisms, the culmination of fourteen years’ work, was published two years ago and has received international acclaim.
A native Bostonian, Salvatore Rabbio began his musical studies at age 13. He went on to study at the Boston University School of Music with Charles Smith, a member of the Boston Symphony. As a student, Rabbio performed in the American premier of Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress” conducted by the composer. He was also a member of the Boston Percussion Ensemble conducted by its founder Harold Farberman. After winning the Boston University concerto competition, he was chosen as Principal Timpanist with the Boston Pops Orchestra. In 1958, Rabbio accepted the position of Principal Timpanist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra until his retirement in 1998. Additionally, Rabbio taught percussion at the University of Michigan from 1968 to 1998. Alfred publishes Mr. Rabbio’s new book, Contest and Recital Solos for Timpani. Rabbio has recently been awarded the Boston University College of Fine Arts, School of Music, and the Distinguished Alumni Award.
Timpanist, Stanley Leonard, achieved prominence in the music world during a distinguished thirty-eight year tenure as Principal Timpanist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He performed internationally with the symphony in concerts, television productions, and recordings. As a solo artist, he premiered several major new works for solo timpani and orchestra with the PSO. His extensive compositions for percussion and other musical mediums are published in the United States and Europe and performed around the world. He is author of Pedal Technique for the Timpani, a well-known method book that is unique in its field. He can be heard performing and directing his compositions for percussion on the CDs Canticle, Collage, and Acclamation. He has presented masterclasses at leading conservatories and universities in the United States and abroad. He is listed in the PAS Hall of Fame. He served for many years as Adjunct Professor of Percussion at Duquesne University and Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
Inducted into the PAS Hall of Fame in 2000, Morris “Arnie” Lang retired from the New York Philharmonic in 1995 after a 40-year career in the percussion section. As an educator, he has taught at the Oberlin Percussion Institute, the New York College of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, Kingsborough Community College and has served as chairperson of the percussion department in the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College where he has taught since 1971. A former student of Saul Goodman, Morris Goldenberg and Billy Gladstone, Lang began his professional playing experience with performances for the New York City Ballet in 1951. He is also the founder of the Lang Percussion Company, which manufactures mallets, Goodman timpani and Gladstone snare drums. Lang has published eight books, including his popular Dictionary of Percussion Terms (written with Larry Spivack), along with over 30 contemporary compositions.
William Platt is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he was a student of William G. Street. He is a former member of the U.S. Army Band in Washington, D.C. and the Rochester, NY and Richmond, VA Symphony Orchestras. He was the Principal Percussionist of the Cincinnati Symphony & Pops Orchestra from 1971 until his retirement in 2010. During his tenure in Cincinnati, he recorded well over 100 CDs, mainly on the Telarc label, and participated in several tours of the U.S., Europe, Japan, China, Singapore, Taiwan, and the Canary Islands. He is a former faculty member of the Ohio University and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Cincinnati Symphony and the Symphonic Committee of PAS. He also is a visiting instructor at the University of Southern California. He is an Artist/Clinician for Zildjian Cymbals, Craviotto Drums, Cooperman & ProMark Sticks, Aquarian Drumheads and Hamilton Stands.
Sponsors
Temple University