Louis Scaglione Succeeds Joseph Primavera as Fifth Music Director of
Philadelphia Youth Orchestra
Maestro Primavera, After 51 Years, Completes Tenure as Longest-serving Active
Conductor Anywhere in the World
Philadelphia - September 12, 2005
Rick Touhill, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra,
today announced the appointment of Louis Scaglione as Music Director of the
PYO. He succeeds Maestro Joseph Primavera, whose fifty-one-year tenure as the
PYO's Music Director--from 1954 through the 2004-05 concert season--made him
the longest-serving active music director of any orchestra anywhere in the world.
Maestro Scaglione will also continue to serve as president of the PYO, a position
he has held since 2001. In addition, he will continue as Conductor of the Philadelphia
Young Artists Orchestra (PYAO), the PYO's junior ensemble, a position he has
held since 1997.
"This is the end of an era, and the beginning of a new era, in the long history
of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra," Mr. Touhill said. "Joeseph Primavera is
a living legend who led the PYO as Music Director for an astonishing fifty-one
years. Through his extraordinary musical gifts, the strength of his character
and the force of his personality, he shaped the PYO into one of the nation's
top youth orchestras, internationally recognized for its outstanding musicianship."
"In naming Louis Scaglione Maestro Primavera's successor as the PYO's fifth
Music Director, we designate the individual Primavera himself personally and
enthusiastically recommended. Maestro Scaglione has done an excellent job as
President and Associate Conductor of the PYO, and as Conductor of the PYAO,
for the past eight years. He is deeply devoted to classical music, to nurturing
the performance skills of talented young musicians, and to helping them prepare
for life. He will be an outstanding Music Director."
"As Maestro Primavera approaches his eightieth birthday next April, we are honored
to name him the PYO's Music Director Laureate. In the decades to come, the PYO
may have other music directors. But as all of us who have worked with him, and
loved him, know, there will never be another Joseph Primavera."
In the fifty-one years he headed the PYO since assuming the podium in 1954,
Maestro Primavera introduced more than 2,500 student musicians to the works
of more than 150 composers, led them in more than 350 concerts and 35 premiere
performances, and guided the overseas tours that have established the PYO's
sterling reputation on five continents. PYO alumni currently serve in all but
a few of the nation's top twenty professional orchestras, including 16 alumni
in The Philadelphia Orchestra alone.
Born in 1926 to a prominent musical family, the son of a violinmaker in Philadelphia,
Maestro Primavera began music studies at the age of five with Guido and Joseph
Terranova. He won a scholarship to study violin with Sacha Jacobinoff and later
studied trombone with Pietro Rosano. At the New School of Music, he studied
violin with Frank Costanzo, viola with Max Aronoff, orchestration and conducting
with W.F. Happich, and with the Curtis Quartet. In 1944, he entered the United
States Navy, where he served on the U.S.S. Philadelphia and the U.S.S. Missouri
during World War II. In 1949, having completed his military service to his country,
he was invited to join the Baltimore Symphony, and then, in 1951, the Philadelphia
Orchestra. In 1960, he received The Philadelphia Orchestra's coveted C. Hartman
Kuhn Award for "musical ability and enterprise of such character as to enhance
the standards and reputation of the Orchestra." He retired after 17 years to
devote himself to conducting and teaching.
Rave reviews greeted Maestro Primavera's 1959 New York conducting debut, in
which he led musicians from the New York Philharmonic and The Philadelphia Orchestra.
His credits include the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Rome Festival Opera,
Beijing Opera/Ballet Orchestra, and Opera Barga in Lucca, Italy. He has served
as music director of Telitalia Cable-TV Network (Italian National Radio), Delaware
Valley Philharmonic, Sunshine Pops Orchestra (Orlando, Fla.), Cherry Hill (N.J.)
Symphony, Old York Road Symphony (Pa.), and Frankford Symphony (Pa.). He has
also directed several chamber music series at the University of Pennsylvania,
University Museum, and Temple University, and served as music director for films
and television specials, including a CBS series featuring The Philadelphia Orchestra.
From 1976 until his retirement, Maestro Primavera was conductor and professor
of orchestration, chamber music, and musicianship at the University of the Arts.
He is a member of the American Symphony Orchestra League and the Conductors
Guild. Maestro Primavera is recipient of the 1986 Service to Youth in the Performing
Arts Award of the Philadelphia Civic Ballet Company, the 1999 Distinguished
Service Award of the Pennsylvania-Delaware String Teachers with School Orchestra
Association, and the 2001 Arts Recognition Award of the Society for the Performing
Arts of the Media Theatre.
Louis Scaglione has extensive experience as a musician, educator, conductor
and administrator. He was appointed the Conductor of the PYAO in 1997, Associate
Conductor of the PYO in 1999, Executive Director of both orchestras in 2001,
and promoted to President in 2004. He is also the Artistic Director of the Choral
Society of Montgomery County in residence at Montgomery County Community College
(Pa.).
Under Maestro Scaglione's direction, the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra
has become one of the premiere youth orchestras in the greater Philadelphia
region, performing at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, The Union League
of Philadelphia, Montgomery County Community College, Irvine Auditorium (University
of Pennsylvania), Saint Mark's Church (Philadelphia), Andalusia Estate, The
Media Theatre for the Performing Arts, and Valley Forge Military Academy. Maestro
Scaglione and the orchestra have collaborated with area ensembles including
the Choral Society of Montgomery County and the Upper Darby High School Encore
Singers (Pa.). They have appeared as part of Strings for Schools' "Jazz Violin
Summit (2003)," as part of the American Harp Society's 2004 National Conference,
and as part of the Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival. Each year, Maestro Scaglione
and the PYAO perform a holiday benefit concert, and for the past eight years
they have raised funds for such charitable organizations as Reach Out and Read
at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, MANNA (Metropolitan AIDS Neighborhood
Nutritional Alliance), and the Voices for Children Foundation. Artists with
whom the PYAO has performed include soloists Michael Ludwig, Associate Concertmaster
of The Philadelphia Orchestra; pianist Kenneth Drake; vocal soloists Laura Heimes,
Phyllis Lewis-Hale, Richard Zuch, Todd Thomas, Sandra Carney, James Longacre,
and Monica Ziglar; jazz greats Regina Carter, Diane Monroe and John Blake, Jr.;
and international violin soloist Sarah Chang.
Maestro Scaglione has transformed the PYO program from an all-volunteer organization
to a nationally recognized professional institution. He has gained first-hand
experience in administration, governance, artistic planning and overseas tour
planning. His artistic and administrative leadership has transformed the PYO
program, and he can be credited with building the community resources the PYO
program now enjoys.
Maestro Scaglione has toured with the PYO several times, including The World
Youth Music Forum in Moscow, Russia in 1998; the Czech Republic and Italy in
2000; and China in 2002. Last year, Maestro Scaglione administered the orchestra's
tour of eastern and central Europe, traveling to Warsaw, Krakow, Budapest, Vienna,
Salzburg and Prague. Maestro Scaglione has a great passion for education. He
has taught all levels including elementary, secondary, collegiate and adult
continuing education classes. Currently, he is a member of the adjunct music
faculty of Montgomery County Community College. He is a former member of the
faculty of Temple University Music Preparatory Division, and a former Assistant
Conductor and Chorus Master of Temple Opera Theater. His scholarship and academic
excellence have been recognized by the top honor societies in the country, including
the Golden Key National Honor Society, Kappa Delta Pi Honors Society in Education
and Pi Kappa Lambda Honor Society in Music. His biographies appear in Who's
Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, Who's Who Among America's
Teachers, Who's Who Among Executives and Professionals, Who's Who in America,
and Who's Who in the World.
Additionally, Maestro Scaglione is deeply involved with the cultural and social
community in the Philadelphia area. He serves as Trustee to the Andalusia Foundation,
and created the annual outdoor concert series, "Arts at Andalusia," at the Andalusia
Estate; as Trustee to the Youth Work Foundation of The Union League of Philadelphia;
and he is a former Trustee of the Mainline Youth Chamber Orchestra Academy of
Philadelphia. He also serves as Secretary to the Youth Orchestra Division Board
of the American Symphony Orchestra League. He is a member of The Union League
of Philadelphia, where he serves on and chairs several committees. He has served
as Advisor to the Arts Advisory Council, The Society for the Performing Arts
of the Media Theater, and the Arts and Cultural Advisory Board, Bensalem Township
(Pa.). He has served as grant review panelist for the Pennsylvania Council on
the Arts and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund.
Maestro Scaglione graduated with honors from The University of Illinois with
a Bachelor of Science in music education. He continued his studies at Temple
University, where he earned a Master of Music degree. He studied conducting
with Helmuth Rilling, Alan Harler, Kurt Klippstadter and in seminars with Robert
Shaw; vocal coaching with John Douglas and John Wustman; piano with Kenneth
Drake and Elizabeth Zechel; and voice with James Bailey. His professional studies
as a conductor have taken him to the Oregon Bach Festival in Eugene, Ore.; the
Internationale Bachakademie and the Europäische Musikfest in Stuttgart, Germany;
the Classical Music Seminar in Eisenstadt, Austria; and master classes in St.
Petersburg, Russia.
Founded in 1939, the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra has offered the opportunity
for gifted and talented students to be involved in extraordinary music education
through its orchestra training and performance programs. It is one of the oldest
youth orchestras in the country. Its companion ensembles include the Philadelphia
Young Artists Orchestra, formed in 1996, and Bravo Brass, added to the program
in 2003. Ranging in age from 10 through 21 years, the musicians of the three
ensembles are selected by competitive audition and come from the Delaware Valley
and beyond. The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra has represented the United States
on five continents and has visited more than 20 countries including China, Russia,
Australia, Great Britain, Jordan, Israel, Brazil, Venezuela, and most of the
countries of Eastern and Central Europe.
