A maestro returns home

Probably nothing gives me more pleasure than to connect celebrity musicians with their hometown, especially when their hometown is Van Wert, Ohio.  We hear often of how so many kids grow up in Van Wert, move away, and we rarely hear from them again.  Next year’s new Enrich Community Concert Series was just announced this past weekend and I am very pleased that we will be featuring one of these very people I have referred to.

Those of you who have been Van Wert residents for many years may recall the name Gary Zimmerman. He grew up on Crawford Street in Van Wert and graduated from VWHS in 1963. He was a young boy who eventually took to music, perhaps partially due to the fact that, as a young boy of around 5 or 6 years old, he was struck by polio. To this day, he still cannot bend his left knee. He has lived most of his life in this state, walking with a limp.

Polio, however, did not stop this young boy. He recently stopped by to have lunch with me and we drove by his homestead on Crawford Street. He was amazed at how the neighborhood has changed. “Where’s the junior high school?” he asked amazingly. “Hey, it’s nice to still see the football stadium,” he remarked.

He told me stories of how, even though he had polio, it really didn’t slow him down. He ran around the neighborhood and got into trouble just like every other boy. He told me of how, as a young boy, he would listen to the high school band march up and down Crawford Street. He fell in love with the beat of the drums and the music he heard. He would eventually go to college at Bowling Green, where he says he first heard a symphony orchestra and fell in love with this new sound. He knew then that he wanted to someday conduct a symphony orchestra. And that he did!

The rest is history in the world of music. His resume is impressive and reads like a who’s who among American orchestral conductors. Oh yes, and when you become a world renowned orchestral conductor, you change your name from Gary Zimmerman of Van Wert, Ohio, to Maestro Gerhardt Zimmermann. Has a better ring to it, don’t you think?  The following gives you an idea of what he has been up to since graduating from Van Wert High School in 1963.

Gerhardt Zimmermann is in his third season as director of orchestral activities at the University of Texas at Austin, Butler School of Music. Maestro Zimmermann, is in his 33rd season as music director and conductor of the Canton (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra and, this summer, he will return to the Breckenridge Music Festival for his 16th season as music director and principal conductor. After 21 years as music director and conductor of the North Carolina Symphony (1982-2002), Zimmermann held the post of conductor laureate from 2002-2008.

Zimmermann’s energetic and vibrant performances have drawn invitations to appear on the podium with the Cleveland, Chicago, National, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, New Jersey, Syracuse, Rochester, and San Antonio orchestras. Other guest appearances include the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris, the Toronto Symphony, the Calgary Philharmonic, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago’s Grant Park, Colorado Philharmonic, and the Cleveland Opera.

He still lives in North Carolina with his wife, Sharon, and they have two children. How would you like to have his schedule?  He lives in North Carolina, teaches in Texas, and conducts a professional symphony orchestra in Ohio!

The city of Canton thought enough of him to name their concert hall at McKinley High School Zimmermann Symphony Hall. Not bad for a boy from Van Wert, Ohio.

Given all this, I think it is about time to bring Gary back home to show us what he has done since 1963.  This is exactly what we are going to do on November 5 of this year. Gerhardt will bring his Canton Symphony Orchestra to the Niswonger in a triumphant return to the Niswonger PAC with the music of Tchaikovsky. And triumphant is exactly right! It will be very appropriate as Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 is as triumphant music as was ever written, filled with fanfares and soaring melody lines. Also on the program with be one of the most grandiose and lush piano concertos ever written — Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. You know it and will instantly recognize it once you hear it.

I am so pleased to bring Gerhardt back home and I know he is very excited to be able to conduct this program. He saw the Niswonger Performing Arts Center and said, “My hometown now has an appropriate hall for my orchestra. I am thrilled to finally return to where it all began for me as a child.”

This concert is just one of the four part Enrich Community Concert Series that is on sale now. Zimmermann’s Canton Symphony is joined on the series by the wildly famous Texas Tenors, the amazing Five Browns, and Cirque Zuma Zuma. You can get the series right now by becoming a member.  Check with the box office for details. General sales will start May 12.

I hope we pack the house for the return of one of Van Wert’s finest: Gerhardt Zimmermann!

FINÉ.