A Tribute to Erich Kunzel

Last night’s memorial concert for Erich Kunzel was both a sad, moving experience and an exuberant celebration of Erich’s own exuberance. All 3500 seats of Cincinnati's Music Hall were full, and another 1300 were in adjacent ballroom watching on jumbo screens. Another crowd watched from Fountain Square downtown.


It opened with Bach’s Air from Suite No. 3, played beautifully by the orchestra on a darkened stage while a spotlight shone on the empty podium.

A video capturing Erich’s life and career followed a brief introduction by Trey Devey, President of the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestras.

There were reminiscences by a longtime friend of Erich’s and another by a nephew, which brought both smiles and tears to the evening. Henry Coe, who had been friends with Erich for 50 years, had contacted me prior to the concert and used something that I had written as part of his tribute.

Keith Lockhart of the Boston Pops, who worked here with us in the early nineties before he went to Boston, conducted two numbers – the Carmen Dragon arrangement of America the Beautiful (which we recorded on the Pops’ American Jubilee album) with the May Festival Chorus, and a fun rendition of the theme music from The Magnificent Seven, preceded by various western sound effects that bounced around the hall (think horses’ hooves, mooing, neighing – very Erich).

Bob Porco, in a red Pops jacket for the first time, conducted the chorus and Kathleen Brett (a favorite soloist of Erich’s, filling in as a last-minute substitution for Frederica von Stade, who was ill) in You’ll Never Walk Alone.

Paavo Jarvi led Elgar’s “Nimrod” from The Enigma Variations, followed by Strauss’ Blue Danube waltzes, the sounds of which whirled with alternating delicacy and excitement from the stage.

Vince Lee, the CSO and Pops Assistant Conductor, led the orchestra and Miss Brett in a moving Climb Every Mountain.

The final segment of the concert was led by Steve Reineke, of the New York Pops and the Cincinnati Pops, another protégé of Erich’s. He came out in the Pops red jacket, as had both Porco and Lockhart, but he was also wearing the white trousers that were Erich’s trademark. (His conducting is very much like Erich's as well.)


Erich’s ebullience was evident in Reineke. He shared some Erich stories, including the first and last things Erich had said to him. Steve had been engaged to help with some arrangements for an upcoming CD, and when they met, Erich remarked, “So, kid, are you any good?” Kunzel’s last words to Steve were, “Make me proud.”

Reineke united the old era with the new, as he conducted Erich’s musicians in his own arrangement of “America” from Bernstein’s West Side Story. Reineke then led the assembled crowd, which now included the chorale from Erich’s beloved School for the Creative and Performing Arts, in a rousing sing-along of “Sing a Song” and “I Believe in Music,” after telling how much of a Sesame Street fan Erich had been.

Finally, a soul-stirring Stars and Stripes Forever brought the crowd to its feet, clapping throughout and cheering the woodwinds. It ended with the chorus joining in with the final refrain, “Hooray for the flag of the free, may it wave as our standard forever.” Confetti fell from the ceiling, from confetti cannons (so Erich), and a flag filled the space behind the musicians as the evening drew to a close.