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Kenneth D. Schermerhorn
graduated from Mont Pleasant
High School in 1947, where he
played trumpet in the high
school band. He also
played with
the Schenectady Symphony
Orchestra. A graduate of the
New England Conservatory of
Music, Maestro Schermerhorn
began his study of
conducting during the
summers of 1949-50 at
Tanglewood with the Boston
Symphony Orchestra. After
playing with the BSO, the
Kansas City Orchestra, and
other symphony orchestras,
Maestro Schermerhorn was
drafted into the U.S. Army
where he performed with the
Army band. Eventually, he
rose to the level of
conductor of the 7th Army
Symphony Orchestra.
After his discharge, Maestro
Schermerhorn continued his
orchestral studies ay Tanglewood during the
summers of 1955-56 with the
illustrious Leonard
Bernstein. The Maestro
became assistant conductor
of the New York Philharmonic
during the 1959-60 season
and enjoyed guest conducting
engagements with the
Philadelphia Orchestra, the
Boston Symphony Orchestra,
the Cleveland symphony, and
many other prestigious
symphonic ensembles. Maestro
Schermerhorn served as a
musical director of the New
Jersey Symphony (1963-1965)
the Milwaukee Symphony
(1968-1980), and the Hong
Kong Orchestra (1984-1988),
which under his baton
became known as Asia's
finest classical ensemble.
From 1983-2005 he served as
musical director of the
Nashville Symphony, with
which he made several
noteworthy recordings.
Also an active opera
and ballet conductor,
Maestro Schermerhorn led the
gala celebration of the
Metropolitan Opera's
Centennial in 1983 and
conducted the major opera
companies of may American
cities. He premiered Mikhail
Baryshnikov's "The
Nutcracker" at the Kennedy
Center in 1977,and, as the
musical director of the
American Ballet Theatre,
premiered that company's
innovative production of the
"Cinderella" during the
1983-84 season.
Although Maestro
Schermerhorn passed away in
2005, his importance to the
musical world is
memorialized by the new
symphony hall erected in his
honor in Nashville,
Tennessee. His dedication to
his art and his audiences is
further commemorated by the
proud community applauding
his induction into the
Schenectady City School
District Hall of Fame.
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