TOLEDO – The Toledo Symphony Orchestra is welcoming back a native son to kick off the build up to its
Carnegie Hall performance.
Pianist and composer Stanley Cowell will join the orchestra in a performance Friday at 8 p.m. in the
Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle.
The concert will feature music that had its first performances at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The
symphony was selected as one of seven orchestras to perform at the inaugural Spring for Music festival
scheduled for May 6 through May 14 at the storied concert hall. The orchestra will perform on May 7.
On Friday, the orchestra, led by resident conductor Jeffrey Pollock, will perform Cowell’s Asian Art
Suite, Anton Dvorak’s New World Symphony, Duke Ellington’s New World A’Comin’ and Paul Hindemith’s
Symphonic Metamorphosis as well as the overture to "Girl Crazy" by George Gershwin.
Toledo Mayor Mike Bell will narrate Aaron Copland’s "Lincoln Portrait."
A limited number of tickets, priced at $20 to $60, are at (419) 246-8000 or online at:
www.toledosymphony.com.
Cowell was born in Toledo in 1941. He studied piano there with Mary Belle Shealy and Elmer Gertz, and
pipe organ with J. Harold Harder. At 15, he was a featured soloist with the Toledo Youth Orchestra in
Kabelevsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3, a church organist, choir director, and a budding jazz pianist.
Cowell received his Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin Conservatory and a Master of Music degree from
the University of Michigan and did additional undergraduate study at the Mozarteum Akademie, Salzburg,
Austria.
In 1966, Cowell headed for New York City where he worked for such musical artists as Max Roach, Abbey
Lincoln, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Herbie Mann, Miles Davis and Stan Getz, as well as the Heath brothers and
Bobby Hutcherson-Harold Land bands.
On Saturday, a reception in his honor will be held at Murphy’s Place, 151 Water St., from 7 to 9 p.m.
During that event he will perform selections from his new album "Prayer for Peace," which
features his daughter Sunny Cowell on vocals and viola.
Tickets are $15. For reservations contact (419) 241-7732 or [email protected].