fbpx
Wikipedia

Ray Still

April 12, 2024

Ray Still (March 12, 1920 – March 12, 2014) was an American classical oboist. He was the principal oboe of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 40 years, from 1953 to 1993.

Ray Still
Photo of Ray Still in the 1980s
Background information
Born(1920-03-12)March 12, 1920
Elwood, Indiana
DiedMarch 12, 2014(2014-03-12) (aged 94)
Woodstock, Vermont
Instrument(s)Oboe
Photo of Ray Still in the 1980s.

Early life edit

He was born March 12, 1920, in Elwood, Indiana, and moved to Los Angeles as a teenager. He started studying the clarinet at 14, and volunteered as an usher at Los Angeles Philharmonic concerts, where he heard the Belgian oboist Henri de Busscher, whose “singing” style inspired him to switch to the oboe at 16. His first oboe teacher was Philip Memoli, who played second oboe to de Busscher in the Los Angeles Philharmonic.[1] From 1941-1943, Still was a member of the US Army Signal Corps Reserves and studied electrical engineering at Pacific States University.[2] He was in the US Army from 1943 to 1946, and worked mainly in radar. Still enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music in New York in the summer of 1946 and attended for almost two years. He studied oboe at first with Bruno Labate,[3] and later with Robert Bloom, the principal oboist for Arturo Toscanini’s NBC Symphony, even though Bloom did not teach at Juilliard.[1]

Performing career edit

Still’s style of oboe playing had elements of both the more relaxed European style and the more controlled American style, with the singing tone he admired in de Busscher, Labate, and Bloom. For example, one of his students, Michael Rosenberg, has played in German orchestras, where the American style is not popular. The American style came primarily from Marcel Tabuteau, who had taught Robert Bloom at the Curtis Institute; Still said that up to the early 1970s, he was the only principal oboist in a major US orchestra who had not studied with Tabuteau. He was most flattered when reviewers compared him to great singers, as a reviewer in London did when he played oboe concerti with the Academy of London in 1985, or to great jazz musicians, as a reviewer did in a review of his recording of the Bach Wedding Cantata.[1][4]

His oboe positions with professional orchestras were:[2][3]

  • Second oboe with the Kansas City Philharmonic from 1939-1941.
  • Principal oboe in the Buffalo Philharmonic under William Steinberg, 1947-1949.
  • Principal oboe with the Baltimore Symphony under Reginald Stewart and Massimo Freccia, 1949-1953.
  • In 1953 he was hired by Fritz Reiner, the recently appointed music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.[5] The position was assistant first oboe, but he moved up to principal oboe in 1954. He stayed in that position until 1993, later playing under music directors Jean Martinon from 1963 to 1968, Georg Solti from 1969 to 1991, and Daniel Barenboim from 1991 to 1993.
    • The only gap in 40 years with the Chicago Symphony came when he was fired by Martinon in May 1967. Still fought the firing, the case went to arbitration, and he was rehired seven months later.[6][7]

Still also had an extensive career performing and recording chamber music, including at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, the Marlboro Festival in Vermont, and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada, which used to include a music festival. He performed and coached students at numerous other music festivals in Europe, Japan, China, Korea, and Mexico. His oboe teaching positions included:[2]

Northwestern invited him to present a series of master classes in 2010 in honor of his 90th birthday, an event that was also observed the week of his birthday on the Chicago classical music radio station WFMT. WFMT played many of his recordings and a two-hour audio documentary about his career that week.[8][9]

He had many private students as well. Many of his students went on to play in major orchestras and teach at major universities around the world. His former students include Sherie Aguirre,[10] Stephen Caplan,[11] Ricardo Castaneda, Mark Christianson,[12] Peter Cooper,[13] John Dee,[14] Marc Gordon,[9] Michael Henoch,[15] Yoko Kojima,[16] Humbert Lucarelli,[9] Patrick McFarland,[17] Jane Marvine,[18] Robert Morgan,[19] Nora Post,[20] Christopher Raphael,[9][21] Michael Rosenberg,[1] Grover Schiltz,[22] Mark Seerup,[23] Ian Shafer,[24] Robert Sheena,[25] Carl Sonik,[26] Linda Strommen, Rudy Vrbsky,[27] and Keisuke Wakao.[9][28]

Retirement edit

Following his retirement from Northwestern in 2003, he moved to Annapolis, Maryland, with his beloved wife Mary and son James to live near family. He continued to give master classes and lessons there. Mary and James died in 2012. In 2013, he moved to Saxtons River and later Woodstock, Vermont, to live near family. He died in Woodstock, Vermont, on his 94th birthday (March 12, 2014), surrounded by family and listening to Bach's St. Matthew Passion.[29]

Selected discography edit

He played principal oboe on almost all of the recordings by the Chicago Symphony from 1954–1993, and he played principal oboe in the opera “Samson and Delilah” recorded with the NBC Symphony under Stokowski in the early 1950s, filling in for Robert Bloom.[1]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e Gould, Gordon. 1986. Ray Still. Chicago Magazine, September, pp. 204-207 & 256-259. http://www.chicagomag.com/core/pagetools.php?url=%2FChicago-Magazine%2F1982-2000-1982%2FSeptember-1986-Table-of-Contents%2F&mode=print
  2. ^ a b c Who’s Who in America with world notables, 1970, Volume 36
  3. ^ a b IDRS, 2011. Video interviews about his early career, also with Leonard Sharrow. http://idrs.org/multimedia/Interviews/Still-Sharrow/Still-Sharrow.html
  4. ^ a b Youngren, W. 1979. Review of Bach Wedding Cantata recording by Still & Battle. The New Republic, May 12, 1979.
  5. ^ Post, Nora, 2011. Ray Still Reflects on Forty Seasons with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The Double Reed, Volume 34 No. 4. http://www.norapost.com/pub_recent/RayStill%20Final%20Proof%20copy.pdf
  6. ^ Post, Nora, 2011. Defending Ray Still: An Interview with Jerry Kaplan, December 9, 2010. The Double Reed, Volume 34 No. 4. http://www.norapost.com/pub_recent/Kaplan%20IDRS%20Proof.pdf
  7. ^ Ray Still biography at http://www.stokowski.org/Principal_Musicians_Chicago_Symphony.htm#Oboe%20Index%20Point_
  8. ^ Von Rhein, John. 2010. Former CSO oboist still vibrant, many years later. Chicago Tribune, March 04, 2010. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-03-04/entertainment/ct-live-0304-classical-20100304_1_oboist-orchestras-music-director
  9. ^ a b c d e Articles in Double Reed about 90th birthday celebration https://www.scribd.com/doc/91670203/7/Featured-Articles
  10. ^ Sherie Aguirre bio http://www.wm.edu/as/music/directory/aguirre_s.php
  11. ^ Stephen Caplan bio http://www.oregonchamberplayers.org/OboeSeminar/aboutme.htm
  12. ^ Mark Christianson bio http://www.americanoboereed.com/aboutme/aboutme.html
  13. ^ Peter Cooper bio http://music.colorado.edu/faculty/peter-cooper/
  14. ^ John Dee bio http://www.music.illinois.edu/faculty/john-dee
  15. ^ Michael Henoch bio http://www.northwestsymphony.org/MichaelHenoch.html
  16. ^ Ostryniec, J. 1984. Tokyo journal: conversations with Yoko Kojima, oboist of the NHK. The Double Reed, 7(2).
  17. ^ Patrick McFarland bio http://www.mcfarlanddoublereed.com/
  18. ^ Jane Marvine bio http://www.bsomusic.org/main.taf?p=4,4,1,1&id=JaneMarvine
  19. ^ Robert Morgan bio http://www.music.northwestern.edu/faculty/profiles/robert-morgan.html
  20. ^ Nora Post bio http://www.norapost.com/norabio.html
  21. ^ Christopher Raphael bio http://www.stat.indiana.edu/files/CV/RaphaelChris_vita.pdf
  22. ^ Grover Schiltz bio http://www.idrs.org/IDRSBBS/viewtopic.php?id=12320
  23. ^ Mark Seerup bio http://www.markseerup.com/
  24. ^ Ian Shafer bio http://www.ianshaferoboe.com/teaching.html
  25. ^ Robert Sheena bio http://robertsheena.com/bio.html
  26. ^ Carl Sonik bio http://www.centerstagechicago.com/music/whoswho/CarlSonik.html
  27. ^ Rudy Vrbsky bio http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/artists/?entity_id=4128&source_type=A
  28. ^ Keisuke Wakao bio http://www.bso.org/g-m/keisuke-wakao.aspx
  29. ^ von Rhein, John (March 12, 2014). "Ray Still, legendary CSO oboist and teacher remembered". Chicago Tribune.
  30. ^ Review by Roger Dettmer http://classicalcdreview.com/still.htm
  31. ^ Album details http://www.discogs.com/JC-Bach-Mozart-Stamitz-Wanhal-Ray-Still-Itzhak-Perlman-Pinchas-Zukerman-Lynn-Harrell-Oboe-Quartets/release/3242361

External links edit

April 12, 2024
still, march, 1920, march, 2014, american, classical, oboist, principal, oboe, chicago, symphony, orchestra, years, from, 1953, 1993, photo, 1980sbackground, informationborn, 1920, march, 1920elwood, indianadiedmarch, 2014, 2014, aged, woodstock, vermontinstru. Ray Still March 12 1920 March 12 2014 was an American classical oboist He was the principal oboe of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 40 years from 1953 to 1993 Ray StillPhoto of Ray Still in the 1980sBackground informationBorn 1920 03 12 March 12 1920Elwood IndianaDiedMarch 12 2014 2014 03 12 aged 94 Woodstock VermontInstrument s Oboe Photo of Ray Still in the 1980s Contents 1 Early life 2 Performing career 3 Retirement 4 Selected discography 5 References 6 External linksEarly life editHe was born March 12 1920 in Elwood Indiana and moved to Los Angeles as a teenager He started studying the clarinet at 14 and volunteered as an usher at Los Angeles Philharmonic concerts where he heard the Belgian oboist Henri de Busscher whose singing style inspired him to switch to the oboe at 16 His first oboe teacher was Philip Memoli who played second oboe to de Busscher in the Los Angeles Philharmonic 1 From 1941 1943 Still was a member of the US Army Signal Corps Reserves and studied electrical engineering at Pacific States University 2 He was in the US Army from 1943 to 1946 and worked mainly in radar Still enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music in New York in the summer of 1946 and attended for almost two years He studied oboe at first with Bruno Labate 3 and later with Robert Bloom the principal oboist for Arturo Toscanini s NBC Symphony even though Bloom did not teach at Juilliard 1 Performing career editStill s style of oboe playing had elements of both the more relaxed European style and the more controlled American style with the singing tone he admired in de Busscher Labate and Bloom For example one of his students Michael Rosenberg has played in German orchestras where the American style is not popular The American style came primarily from Marcel Tabuteau who had taught Robert Bloom at the Curtis Institute Still said that up to the early 1970s he was the only principal oboist in a major US orchestra who had not studied with Tabuteau He was most flattered when reviewers compared him to great singers as a reviewer in London did when he played oboe concerti with the Academy of London in 1985 or to great jazz musicians as a reviewer did in a review of his recording of the Bach Wedding Cantata 1 4 His oboe positions with professional orchestras were 2 3 Second oboe with the Kansas City Philharmonic from 1939 1941 Principal oboe in the Buffalo Philharmonic under William Steinberg 1947 1949 Principal oboe with the Baltimore Symphony under Reginald Stewart and Massimo Freccia 1949 1953 In 1953 he was hired by Fritz Reiner the recently appointed music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra 5 The position was assistant first oboe but he moved up to principal oboe in 1954 He stayed in that position until 1993 later playing under music directors Jean Martinon from 1963 to 1968 Georg Solti from 1969 to 1991 and Daniel Barenboim from 1991 to 1993 The only gap in 40 years with the Chicago Symphony came when he was fired by Martinon in May 1967 Still fought the firing the case went to arbitration and he was rehired seven months later 6 7 Still also had an extensive career performing and recording chamber music including at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado the Marlboro Festival in Vermont and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario Canada which used to include a music festival He performed and coached students at numerous other music festivals in Europe Japan China Korea and Mexico His oboe teaching positions included 2 Peabody Institute in Baltimore from 1949 to 1953 Roosevelt University in Chicago from 1954 to 1957 Northwestern University in Evanston Illinois Professor of music from 1960 2003Northwestern invited him to present a series of master classes in 2010 in honor of his 90th birthday an event that was also observed the week of his birthday on the Chicago classical music radio station WFMT WFMT played many of his recordings and a two hour audio documentary about his career that week 8 9 He had many private students as well Many of his students went on to play in major orchestras and teach at major universities around the world His former students include Sherie Aguirre 10 Stephen Caplan 11 Ricardo Castaneda Mark Christianson 12 Peter Cooper 13 John Dee 14 Marc Gordon 9 Michael Henoch 15 Yoko Kojima 16 Humbert Lucarelli 9 Patrick McFarland 17 Jane Marvine 18 Robert Morgan 19 Nora Post 20 Christopher Raphael 9 21 Michael Rosenberg 1 Grover Schiltz 22 Mark Seerup 23 Ian Shafer 24 Robert Sheena 25 Carl Sonik 26 Linda Strommen Rudy Vrbsky 27 and Keisuke Wakao 9 28 Retirement editFollowing his retirement from Northwestern in 2003 he moved to Annapolis Maryland with his beloved wife Mary and son James to live near family He continued to give master classes and lessons there Mary and James died in 2012 In 2013 he moved to Saxtons River and later Woodstock Vermont to live near family He died in Woodstock Vermont on his 94th birthday March 12 2014 surrounded by family and listening to Bach s St Matthew Passion 29 Selected discography editStrauss Oboe Concerto Bach Oboe d amore Concerto BWV 1055 Marcello Oboe Concerto and three Bach Sinfonias Academy of London conducted by Richard Stamp Virgin Classics Virgo Mozart Oboe Concerto K 314 Chicago Symphony Orchestra Claudio Abbado Deutsche Grammophon Cadenzas by Thomas Still his son Bach Double Concerto for Violin amp Oboe in D minor BWV 1060R with Itzhak Perlman and the Israel Philharmonic Angel Bach Brandenburg Concerto No 2 BWV 1047 Brandenburg Concerto No 5 BWV 1050 no oboe Cantata No 202 Wedding Cantata latter with Kathleen Battle soprano Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival James Levine conductor amp harpsichord solo in No 5 RCA 4 RAY STILL A Chicago Legend Baroque Oboe Sonatas by J S Bach Handel Telemann and Vivaldi Ray Still oboe Leonard Sharrow bassoon in Handel Telemann amp Vivaldi Robert Conant harpsichord in Telemann amp Vivaldi Thomas Still harpsichord in Bach Nimbus 30 Mozart Serenade No 11 K 375 for Wind Octet and four of Grieg s Lyric Pieces arranged for wind octet Chicago Symphony Winds organized and led by Still LP only Sheffield Lab recorded direct to disk 1983 Mozart Quintet for Piano and Winds K 452 with James Levine piano Clark Brody clarinet Dale Clevenger horn and Willard Elliot bassoon Music from Ravinia Vol 3 members of Chicago Symphony LP only with Mozart Piano Quartet K 478 Oboe quartets by Mozart Wanhal JC Bach and Stamitz with Itzhak Perlman violin Pinchas Zukerman viola and Lynn Harrell cello LP only EMI 1981 31 The Mozart quartet recording has been on CD in some Perlman box sets Mozart Oboe Quartet K 370 with members of the Fine Arts Quartet Concert Disc LP 1958 with Mozart horn quintet and Boston Skyline CD 1996 with Mozart flute quartets Poulenc Trio for piano oboe and bassoon and Schumann Romances with Milan Turkovic bassoon in the Poulenc and John Perry piano Telefunken LP only Hindemith Sonata for oboe and piano With viola and bassoon sonatas by Hindemith John Perry piano Telefunken LP only He played principal oboe on almost all of the recordings by the Chicago Symphony from 1954 1993 and he played principal oboe in the opera Samson and Delilah recorded with the NBC Symphony under Stokowski in the early 1950s filling in for Robert Bloom 1 References edit a b c d e Gould Gordon 1986 Ray Still Chicago Magazine September pp 204 207 amp 256 259 http www chicagomag com core pagetools php url 2FChicago Magazine 2F1982 2000 1982 2FSeptember 1986 Table of Contents 2F amp mode print a b c Who s Who in America with world notables 1970 Volume 36 a b IDRS 2011 Video interviews about his early career also with Leonard Sharrow http idrs org multimedia Interviews Still Sharrow Still Sharrow html a b Youngren W 1979 Review of Bach Wedding Cantata recording by Still amp Battle The New Republic May 12 1979 Post Nora 2011 Ray Still Reflects on Forty Seasons with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Double Reed Volume 34 No 4 http www norapost com pub recent RayStill 20Final 20Proof 20copy pdf Post Nora 2011 Defending Ray Still An Interview with Jerry Kaplan December 9 2010 The Double Reed Volume 34 No 4 http www norapost com pub recent Kaplan 20IDRS 20Proof pdf Ray Still biography at http www stokowski org Principal Musicians Chicago Symphony htm Oboe 20Index 20Point Von Rhein John 2010 Former CSO oboist still vibrant many years later Chicago Tribune March 04 2010 http articles chicagotribune com 2010 03 04 entertainment ct live 0304 classical 20100304 1 oboist orchestras music director a b c d e Articles in Double Reed about 90th birthday celebration https www scribd com doc 91670203 7 Featured Articles Sherie Aguirre bio http www wm edu as music directory aguirre s php Stephen Caplan bio http www oregonchamberplayers org OboeSeminar aboutme htm Mark Christianson bio http www americanoboereed com aboutme aboutme html Peter Cooper bio http music colorado edu faculty peter cooper John Dee bio http www music illinois edu faculty john dee Michael Henoch bio http www northwestsymphony org MichaelHenoch html Ostryniec J 1984 Tokyo journal conversations with Yoko Kojima oboist of the NHK The Double Reed 7 2 Patrick McFarland bio http www mcfarlanddoublereed com Jane Marvine bio http www bsomusic org main taf p 4 4 1 1 amp id JaneMarvine Robert Morgan bio http www music northwestern edu faculty profiles robert morgan html Nora Post bio http www norapost com norabio html Christopher Raphael bio http www stat indiana edu files CV RaphaelChris vita pdf Grover Schiltz bio http www idrs org IDRSBBS viewtopic php id 12320 Mark Seerup bio http www markseerup com Ian Shafer bio http www ianshaferoboe com teaching html Robert Sheena bio http robertsheena com bio html Carl Sonik bio http www centerstagechicago com music whoswho CarlSonik html Rudy Vrbsky bio http www kennedy center org explorer artists entity id 4128 amp source type A Keisuke Wakao bio http www bso org g m keisuke wakao aspx von Rhein John March 12 2014 Ray Still legendary CSO oboist and teacher remembered Chicago Tribune Review by Roger Dettmer http classicalcdreview com still htm Album details http www discogs com JC Bach Mozart Stamitz Wanhal Ray Still Itzhak Perlman Pinchas Zukerman Lynn Harrell Oboe Quartets release 3242361External links editStill s web site http www raystill com Complete discography http www raystill com discography Facebook fan page https www facebook com pages Ray Still 371214449626 Ray Still obituary on From the Archives Interview with Ray Still May 6 1994 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ray Still amp oldid 1178153222, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.