Jerome Ashby, associate principal hornist of the New York Philharmonic and a faculty member at the Curtis Institute of Music, died Dec. 26, Curtis reports. Ashby was one of the few African-American members of a major American orchestra - not only in 1979 when he joined the Philharmonic as associate principal hornist, but also today. He was a native of Charleston, S.C., and attended the Performing Arts High School and the Juilliard School.
As I've written before, it's hard to measure the power telegraphed by the presence of an African-American musician in such a prominent spot. But every anecdotal hint suggests it sends a very strong signal about what's possible in life. We'll never know what the sight and sound of Ashby at the Philharmonic, Curtis and Aspen would have meant to budding classical musicians in the two, three or four decades by which his life was cut short.
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Jerome Ashby, 1956-2007
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I encountered Jerome on a tour with the Super World Orchestra in 2000. He was an amazing horn player - I’ll remember his solos from Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story for a long time.
From Peter Dobrin, classical music criti... [Read More]
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Peter Dobrin has been writing about classical music and the arts for The Inquirer since 1989. He earned an undergraduate degree in performance from the University of Miami, and received a master's degree in music criticism from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
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Comments (4)
The NYT mentioned Mr. Ashby and the Philharmonic's tribute to him in this review:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/arts/music/05phil.html
It mentions that the NY Phil brass played the "Evening Prayer" from "Hansel and Gretel" in tribute. Because the orchestra's own website didn't have a press release section that I could obviously find, there was no mention on their web site as such of Mr. Ashby's passing.
Posted by Geo. | January 9, 2008 11:20 AM
Posted on January 9, 2008 11:20
My name is Lisa De Cohen and Iwas a clarinetist who played with Jerome in our very first wind quintett when we were both still in high school.I was devastated to learn of the death of my school friend and a fantastic horn player. I'll never forget the goose bumps I got listening to his solo in the Brahms 3rd symphony when we were both in the All City High School orchestra.
My sincerest condolences to his family.
Posted by Lisa De Cohen | June 30, 2008 10:55 AM
Posted on June 30, 2008 10:55
Anthony Perkins, Classical Guitar / Bass...........I attended Performing Arts with Jerome. He was such a talent and thoughtful human being. He will be surely missed.
Posted by Anthony Perkins | October 2, 2008 1:29 PM
Posted on October 2, 2008 13:29
I learned of Jerome's illness from a conductor on a production I was working on in 2007, but I refused to beleive it. Upon hearing of his passing in 2008, I was heartbroken. I knew him from Juilliard days, where he was part of a group of horn player friends (including Julie Landsman, First Horn, The Met. and Lee Bracegirdle, Assoc. First Horn Sydney Symphony). I was always chasing him out of (dance studio) 314, where he loved to practise for the acoustics. (I was a dance major). He would grin, we'd chat for a bit and then he'd move good naturdly on to seek out another practise room. I saw that wonderful grin again when I visited him (and Julie!) backstage at the pre-opening event for Carnegie Hall. I always assumed I'd see it again someday when I took my daughter backstage to see him at the Phil. Time flies so quickly and I never did get around to that second visit. I so regret not having done so. As Julie said in her beautiful tribute to him in the Juilliard Journal, he was one of those people that so many people loved and felt to be a friend. To his family and loved ones, take heart in the knowledge that his was a life so well lived, though all to short for those he left behind.
Elizabeth McCarthy Carlson, BFA Juilliard, 76.
Co-Director, Dance-on-Hudson.
Posted by Elizabeth McCarthy Carlson, BFA Juilliard, 1976 | January 23, 2009 8:51 AM
Posted on January 23, 2009 08:51