Knowing the
Score:
The Hidden History of the Greater Miami Youth Symphony
I.
Prelude
Today a youth symphony is an integral part of the cultural landscape of most major metropolitan areas and Miami-Dade County is no exception. It can take pride in being the home of two vibrant orchestras for musically inclined young people: the South Florida Youth Symphony and the Greater Miami Youth Symphony (GMYS). Both ensembles have histories of which they can be proud, but the earliest beginnings of the GMYS are something of a mystery. Little is known by today's GMYS of its origins beyond the received wisdom that it was founded by Caesar LaMonaca in 1952 and at a later date it absorbed the All-Miami Youth Symphony that was started by Robert Strassburg in 1958.
In the years following World War II, there were many well-intended attempts to establish youth symphonies in Dade County. Several came and went, including a short-lived venture by the county school system, but none lasted more than a season or two. It was very difficult for such groups to gain a foothold in the shifting sands of Miami's nascent cultural life. However, the youth orchestras started by LaMonaca and Strassburg were successful, each in their own way, and today's GMYS and its audiences are the beneficiaries. Exactly who LaMonaca and Strassburg were and what they did have become obscured with the passage of time. The true history of the GMYS is a story of symphonic proportions that deserves to be told as much as fading memories, yellowed newspaper clippings and crumpled programs permit.
II.
Caesar LaMonaca and the Original Greater Miami Youth Symphony
1946 - 1955
To Miamians of "a certain age," Caesar LaMonaca's name is synonymous with open-air concerts in the old Bayfront Park bandshell. Many can fondly recall these very popular performances that were given twice weekly during a November to June season for almost fifty years. Rightly called "Miami's Man of Music," LaMonaca's passing at the age of 94 in 1980 was front-page news in The Miami Herald. The account of his remarkably long and productive career cited his many contributions to the cultural life of Miami. A man of prodigious talent and energy, LaMonaca organized and directed several musical groups in addition to his famous symphonic band, among which were the Greater Miami Boys Drum and Bugle Corps, the National Guard Band, and the American Legion Drum and Bugle Corps. Missing from the many tributes to the maestro, however, was any mention of his youth orchestra.
Few documentary sources pertaining to LaMonaca's youth orchestra remain. Despite these limitations, it is still possible to learn something about the original Greater Miami Youth Symphony. The apparent confusion about the date of the orchestra's creation, often incorrectly cited as 1952, can be resolved by LaMonaca himself. In a letter dated August 1, 1966, to William J. Dahlenburg, a doctoral candidate at Florida State University, who was preparing his dissertation on Music in the Culture of Miami: 1920-1966, LaMonaca wrote, " in regards to the Youth Orchestra, I founded it in 1946; it went on for ten years, sponsored by the City of Miami" Of four available newspaper articles, the earliest, dated June 28, 1953, is from the Miami Daily News announcing audition information for the youth orchestra's seventh season. A story in The Miami Herald of August 14, 1955, noted that the Greater Miami Youth Symphony would conclude its tenth anniversary season with a concert to be given in the Bayfront Park bandshell on August 25th. (Note: This was the only reference in print to the orchestra as the Greater Miami Youth Symphony; all other mentions, even by LaMonaca are to either the "Youth Symphony Orchestra" or the "Youth Orchestra").
Sponsored by the City of Miami Recreation Division, the Youth Symphony met only during the summer. Intended by LaMonaca as a constructive way to "keep 'em off the streets," membership was open to all aspiring young musicians in Dade County who could read music, play fairly well and had their own instruments. The majority of players came from most of the city's high schools. Rehearsals were held weekly at the Wyndwood and Shenandoah city parks. Each instrumental group practiced separately, under the direction of members of LaMonaca's professional band with the entire orchestra assembling for a final rehearsal just prior to performance. Assisting during the 1955 season were Caesar LaMonaca, Jr., then a French horn player with the Houston Symphony and Constance Weldon, a tuba player. Concerts were given usually twice each summer in the Bayfront Park bandshell.
Of the Youth Symphony's ten summers, only the program from what was to be its final concert on August 25, 1955 is known. Patterned on LaMonaca's trademark mix of light classics and popular music used to great effect by his winter band, selections included Sousa's Manhattan Beach, LeRoy Anderson's Phantom Regiment, Goldman's March Cheerio, and the Atlantic Suite by Safranek. Two teenaged vocalists, a soprano and a tenor, were featured soloists with a small chorus in highlights from The King and I. At the time of this concert, the orchestra had eighty members of which approximately three quarters were brass and woodwinds and one quarter were strings. The scarcity of string players may have been due to the fact that instrumental music instruction in the schools at that time was not what it would become, even a few years later. The imbalance of instrumentation was of great concern and such a frustration for LaMonaca that it may have been a contributing factor in his decision to end the Youth Symphony. He also stepped down from his beloved boys drum and bugle corps that same year.
III.
Robert Strassburg and The All-Miami Youth Symphony
1958-1961
The inspiration for Robert Strassburg to found a youth orchestra in August 1958 came from his teen-aged son who had just returned from the five week music camp at Florida State University, full of enthusiasm for its challenging orchestral program. Because there was no youth symphony in existence in Miami at the time, Strassburg, then a member of the University of Miami's humanities faculty and well-known to Miami audiences as music director of the Festival of the Americas and as Miami's "Composer of the Year" in 1955, saw the need and decided to start one. A youth orchestra, he reasoned, would not only benefit his son, but all young musicians of Dade County, where the love of good music could be taught while instilling self-assurance, good citizenship and teamwork. Strassburg viewed a youth symphony not only as a training ground for serious young musicians, but also as means to express his philosophy of music-making as a civic responsibility. He hoped an orchestra for young people would help to strengthen the public school music program and enrich the cultural and business life of Miami.
Strassburg set about to organize the youth symphony by calling local music teachers as well as high school orchestra and band directors in Dade County, whose programs by now were benefiting from instrumental instruction instituted at the junior high level, and inviting their best players to audition. Students who had attended the Florida State University music camp were also contacted. Admission to membership in the orchestra was by an audition that consisted of a technical study, a prepared piece demonstrating tone and interpretation and sight reading music of moderate difficulty. Players ranged in age from thirteen to nineteen, to allow those of exceptional ability to participate, but most were high-school students. Rehearsals were held on Saturday mornings from 9:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M., during an eight month season that ran from October to May. For the first two years the orchestra met in the bandroom of Ponce deLeon Junior High School in Coral Gables. In 1960, the ensemble moved to the more centrally located and air-conditioned Knights of Pythias Hall on West Flagler Street.
At its inception, the orchestra was called simply "The Youth Symphony," but by 1959, it had been named "The All-Miami Youth Symphony" (AMYS) to reflect a membership that came from all areas of Dade County. Beginning with fifty-six players in 1958, it expanded to seventy-one by its third season, with all instrument groups fairly well distributed.
In keeping with his vision of the AMYS as providing preparation for those who would pursue lives in music, Strassburg ran rehearsals in a structured manner to accustom students to the discipline required of professionals. Each practice session was divided into segments for sectional rehearsals, sight-reading, and concentrated study of works to be performed. Any orchestra member who asked was given the chance to conduct a work in rehearsal and all received basic instruction in conducting and analyzing a musical score. In the course of a season, more than twenty orchestral works were read, rehearsed and prepared for performance. Selections were from the standard classical and romantic symphonic repertoire, with a sprinkling of modern masters as well, all chosen as a means to familiarize and educate.
Strassburg firmly believed that the best way for young people to gain an appreciation of fine music and develop a good ear was by playing it. As Doris Reno, music critic of The Miami Herald wrote in a December 13, 1959 article about the orchestra as it was preparing for its first appearance in the Dade County Auditorium, "For every member of that teen-age orchestra who doesn't become a professional orchestra-man will be a top-flight listener for the rest of his life." He also thought that the orchestra should be self-governing and saw to it that a committee of officers and a board were elected according to a constitution and by-laws written by members. These representatives met regularly with the conductor to determine orchestra policy and to plan concerts and social events.
Concerts were essential to the AMYS experience, offering opportunities to demonstrate the skills acquired in musicianship and stage deportment. The orchestra's very first public appearance was in on November 30, 1958 in the gardens of Vizcaya. On the program were the Overture to Coriolanus by Beethoven, Cello Concerto in D Major by Vivaldi, L'Arlésienne Suite No. 2 by Bizet, Finlandia by Sibelius, The Mississippi Suite by Grofé, and the last movement of Symphony in E Minor Đ from The New World by Dvorák. As a way of fulfilling its civic commitment, the orchestra played at a variety of venues such as Douglas Gardens (a senior citizen center), a cardiac hospital for children, the Dade County Youth Fair, the Coral Gables Youth Center and the Miami Beach Recreation Department's Arts Festival. Other special performances included a concert in honor of Dr. Bertha Foster, dean emerita of the University of Miami School of Music in the grand ballroom of The Everglades Hotel in 1959, and for the American Federation of Music Clubs convention held at the Roney Plaza Hotel on Miami Beach in 1961. The March 5, 1961 concert in Dade County Auditorium was given to aid the Florida's Braille music project. The orchestra also appeared on locally broadcast television programs on Channel 10 and Channel 2.
The high points of the second and third seasons were the concerts given at the Dade County Auditorium. To play at what was considered Miami's Carnegie Hall was an ambitious undertaking for such a newly formed organization, but the legitimacy and sense of accomplishment these performances conferred on the orchestra made the enormous musical and logistical effort required well worthwhile. The first appearance there was a "Christmas Youth Festival Concert" on December 26, 1959, an event that Strassburg hoped would become an annual tradition. The program featured the Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Wagner, the Piano Concerto Number Three by Beethoven with the Brazilian pianist Arnaldo Marchesotti, and excerpts from the Christmas portion of The Messiah by Handel performed with the Coral Gables Youth Chorus and Miami vocalists Salwa Abrams, mezzo-soprano, Marilyn Pearce, soprano, and Samuel Procaccio, tenor as soloists. In the audience that evening was Fabien Sevitzky, conductor of the University of Miami Symphony, who went backstage afterwards to congratulate Strassburg and the orchestra on a "splendid performance."
During the 1960-1961 season the AMYS gave three more concerts at the Dade County Auditorium. In addition to Marchesotti, who returned in March 1961 to perform the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, other artists who appeared with the AMYS were Joan Field who played the Bruch Violin Concerto in G minor and Cuban cello virtuoso Jorge Sicre who played the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in A minor by Saint-Saëns. The solo capacities of AMYS members were encouraged. Among those who took a star turn were Eliot Chapo who performed the Wieniawski Violin Concerto No. 2, Paul Strassburg, viola and Kenneth Conklyn, double bass in the Concerto for Viola and Double Bass by Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, and Robin Whittaker in Vivaldi's Cello Concerto in D Major. Among the young Miami pianists who had the chance to perform in concert with the AMYS were Diane Deutsch, Bonnie Bromberg and Carol Schwarz.
Strassburg's vision of a youth symphony for Miami would not have become a reality without the vast amounts of personal time and energy he devoted to gaining moral and financial support for it. From the very beginning, he saw the need for parental and community involvement and created a support group, "The Friends of the All-Miami Youth Symphony". Many parents of the players appreciated the extraordinary musical experience their children were gaining from their participation and were glad to help out with fund-raising, transportation, procuring instruments, and assisting at social events.
Membership in the Friends of the AMYS, a chartered organization, was also open to interested members of the community on an individual or corporate level. Strassburg persuaded some of Miami's most prominent civic and music leaders such as John Bitter, dean of the University of Miami School of Music, Metro Dade County Commissioner Charles Hall, Dr. Howard Doolin, Dade County Public Schools Supervisor of Music, Herman Binder, owner of Binder-Baldwin Pianos, Dr. Bertha Foster, Mrs. Albert Pick, widow of the hotelier and Judge Kenneth Oka to serve on the Friends' advisory board. The Dade County School System allowed the use of the bandroom at Ponce deLeon Junior High until the Roosevelt Lodge of the Knights of Pythias granted the use of its building as a permanent home. The Sertoma Club of Miami made a gift of music stands and some instruments. Dade County Auditorium was made available by the Metro Dade Commission and the County Manager. Judge Oka and his father Samuel Oka donated the prize money for the "Youth Composes for Youth" competition, another Strassburg innovation to give teen-age composers a chance to have their work performed. Strassburg himself purchased the orchestra's music library and paid for other miscellaneous expenses out of his own pocket. Tuition was not charged, so funding for the orchestra's activities came primarily from the sale of concert tickets and program advertisements.
By the spring of 1961, just as the AMYS was gaining wide recognition for the excellence of its work and the possibility of the orchestra making a goodwill tour of South America was under serious consideration, dissension arose between Strassburg and the parent board of the Friends of the AMYS. Although the nature of the dispute is not clear, relations had grown so strained that when Strassburg was offered a position as Assistant Dean of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, he accepted and resigned as conductor of the AMYS at the close of the season.
IV.
The University of Miami Years
1962 - 1976
Following Strassburg's departure, the Friends of the AMYS met in the late autumn of 1961 to plan the orchestra's future. In a news item, "Youth to Play," dated January 16, 1962, The Miami Herald noted, "...the All-Miami Youth Orchestra, a brilliant group that was moving nicely until changes in leadership stymied things is reorganizing. It's a semi-subsidiary of the University of Miami Symphony...Robert Laurence, director of Music at Miami Edison High, has been selected as conductor, and the orchestra should move forward swiftly."
By December, the orchestra was rehearsing for its annual Christmas concert in the Dade County Auditorium. From Doris Reno's description of these preparations in a feature story, "The Spartan Symphony," dated December 23, 1962 in the Miami Herald, it was evident that the new conductor maintained the established standards and objectives for the orchestra. Only "classical," no "light music," was studied and played and the young musicians were treated in a professional manner that Reno characterized as "Spartan" in matters of auditions, rehearsal and performance. According to Reno, Fabien Sevitzky, conductor of the University of Miami Symphony, had "sort of adopted" the youth orchestra, attended rehearsals occasionally and helped with program planning and had been guest conductor at its spring concert. Laurence's tenure as conductor of the AMYS was to last only two years. He too encountered difficulties with the parent board and was succeeded by Warren Signor, a professional musician and teacher whose time on the AMYS podium was also brief.
In June 1966, however, the orchestra's status as a "semi-subsidiary" of the University of Miami (UM) Symphony culminated in its absorption into the UM School of Music's Preparatory Division, a comprehensive pre-college music program headed by Lucas Drew, assistant professor of music. The merger took effect June 1, 1966, after a period of reorganization for both the orchestra and the Friends. Membership in the orchestra continued to be by means of competitive audition for students between the ages of 13 and 21. Artistic matters were assigned to the School of Music and administrative matters were delegated to the Preparatory Division. The Friends, renamed the AMYS Society enlarged the scope of its assistance. In addition to disseminating information about the orchestra and providing cultural and financial support in all phases of study, rehearsal and performance, it also worked to furnish music, instruments and private instruction for exceptionally talented orchestra members, who, due to limited circumstances, might not otherwise have been able to realize their potential. As before, membership was open to parents and other individuals and businesses in the community interested in supporting the orchestra.
In the first year under the university aegis, Frederick Fennell, founder of the renowned Eastman Wind Ensemble, who was conductor-in-residence at the UM School of Music, was appointed musical director and conductor of the AMYS. Philip Fink, conductor of the Southwest High School orchestra and cellist with the Greater Miami Philharmonic, was named associate conductor. Fink was succeeded by a series of conductors who were members of the UM School of Music faculty or graduate music students at approximately two-year intervals. During this period, other performing groups were established under the All-Miami name: the All-Miami Youth Chorus directed by Dale Willoughby, the All-Miami Youth Wind Ensemble led by Paul André Christianson, and the All-Miami Junior String Orchestra for elementary and junior high string players was conducted by Aileen DiNino. Rehearsals were held on Saturday mornings at the university and concerts were given at the Dade County Auditorium, Miami Springs Senior High School, Miami Senior High and Temple Judea in Coral Gables.
The highlight for the AMYS during its association with the university was a concert tour to Colombia, South America from May 29 to June 1, 1969. The orchestra was invited to participate in a "Youth to Youth" cultural exchange, a project carried out in cooperation with The Miami Herald, Operation Amigo, Aerolineas Peruanas, Sociedad Musical Daniel, Orquesta Filarmonica de Bogotá, Conservatorio de Musica de la Universidad Nacional and Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Colombia. Meant to promote goodwill and understanding between the youth of Colombia and the United States, eighty-three orchestra members made the trip, accompanied by conductor Paul André Christianson and Lucas Drew, director of the Preparatory Division. A total of four performances were given. Selections for the two concerts presented in Bogotá's Teatro Colon included the national anthems of the United States and Colombia, the Overture to The Barber of Seville by Rossini, the Bruch Violin Concerto with Bogdan Chruszcz as soloist, Orquestral No. 1 by Borda, Sinfonica Sacra by Hanson, Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 by Grieg, Dance Rhythms by Riegger and Matinées Musicales by Britten. Chamber players from the orchestra played at the Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango in Bogotá and performed Septimi Toni from the Sacred Symphony by Gabrieli, Symphony No. 29 by Mozart, The Unanswered Question by Ives and Serenade, Op. 1, No. 1 by Persichetti. The visit concluded with a televised concert featuring selections from the tour repertoire. Scholarships were presented to talented young Colombian musicians for study at the UM School of Music and a gift of instruments was made to youth orchestras in Colombia.
Following reorganization within the School of Music, the Preparatory Division became known as the Division of Musical Arts. According to a news item in The Miami Herald dated November 24, 1972, the All-Miami Youth Symphony was renamed (italics mine) the Greater Miami Youth Symphony Orchestra. Although the reason for the name change is unknown, there is no discernable link to LaMonaca's youth orchestra. (In 1966, LaMonaca did receive a plaque from the AMYS Society in recognition of his donation to the AMYS of his youth symphony's music library). The new name may have been chosen, perhaps, to mirror the name of Miami's professional symphony, the Greater Miami Philharmonic since several AMYS conductors were members. By the fall of 1976, the School of Music, due to budgetary constraints caused by expansion, abolished the Division of Musical Arts, necessitating the severance of its relationship with the youth orchestra that then became an independent entity. In October 1976, the Greater Miami Youth Symphony filed with the Florida Secretary of State as a non-profit corporation and today continues to provide the serious young musicians of southern Miami-Dade County with opportunities to learn and play challenging music.
V.
CODA
After his move to California in 1961, Strassburg earned his doctorate in music and then enjoyed a distinguished career as a professor of music at California State University-Los Angeles. He is internationally known as a composer, conductor and Walt Whitman scholar and is still active in these pursuits at the age of 87.
Strassburg takes great pride in the achievements of his musical progeny. Even without an alumni organization for the members of the original AMYS, news travels on an informal "grapevine." Eliot Chapo served in the Marine Strings, went on to become concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic and today is professor of violin at Florida State University. Cal Stewart Kellogg (bassoon) had a lengthy tenure as conductor of the Washington Opera and today conducts the Austin and Phoenix Operas. Rochelle Draizar Doepke plays flute in the Cincinnati Symphony. Reginald Nicholson (French horn), is a music teacher in the Miami-Dade Public schools and is conductor of the Alhambra Symphony and guest conductor for the GMYS. Kenneth Conklyn became principal bassist of The Richmond Symphony. Ruth Schildkraut Gustafson (violin) teaches music pedagogy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Paul Strassburg is principal violist in the Miami and Alhambra Symphonies. Others who pursue music as an avocation like University of San Francisco professor Steven Alter (double bass) attribute their life-long love of music in part to the AMYS experience. All who belonged to the AMYS are undoubtedly "top-flight" listeners.
1955 newspaper photo courtesy of Jean LaMonaca McNamee
The All-Miami Youth Symphony 1961
Robert Strassburg, Conductor
The All-Miami Youth Symphony 1967-68
University of Miami School of Music Preparatory Division
Philip Fink, Conductor
Photo courtesy of the University of Miami School of Music Library
About the author: Sharon Katz Higgins, a native Miamian, was among the founding members of the All-Miami Youth Symphony. A graduate of North Miami Senior High and the School of International Service of The American University in Washington, D.C., she lives with her husband in McLean, Virginia.