Obituary of Peter Quarles Schenkman

Peter Quarles Schenkman passed away on Wednesday, February 22nd, 2006 Peter was born in New York City on December 6th, 1937. Between 1955 and 1959 Peter studied cello with Leonard Rose at the Curtis Institute. During this time he performed as a member of the Casals Festival Orchestra in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 1959, shortly before graduating from Curtis, Peter successfully auditioned for Eugene Ormandy for a position in the Philadelphia Orchestra, however the United States Army drafted him and he spent the next three years in Washington as a member of the U.S. Army Band studying under Claus Adam, �cellist of the Julliard Quartet. Upon his discharge in 1962, Peter won an open audition for a place in the Boston Symphony and remained with the BSO for three years. In 1965 Peter was offered and accepted the position of principal cellist with the St. Louis Symphony by Eleazer De Carvalho. He stayed in St. Louis for two years before moving to Toronto and accepting the position of principal cellist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the invitation of Seiji Ozawa. Peter stayed with the TSO through Karel Ancerl's (the former Music Director of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra) tenure, leaving after Ancerls� death at the end of the 1974 season. While a principal cellist, Peter gave first performances of the Hindemith Concerto of 1940 (in St. Louis) and the (discovered) Haydn Concerto in C Major (in Toronto). Peter�s Canadian premiers included Britten's Cello Symphony, the Schoenberg/Monn Concerto and Penderecki's Sonata for Cello and Orchestra. Peter was also a soloist under the baton of Ancerl in both the Beethoven Triple Concerto and the Brahms Double Concerto for the Beethoven and Brahms festivals that the Toronto Symphony held at the end of their 1970 and 1973 seasons. Upon leaving the TSO, Peter worked as a freelance musician. He performed at the Casals festival (including three appearances as principal cellist in the late 1970s), for three years as a member of the CBC Toronto String Quartet led by violinist Steven Staryk, and as a soloist with various chamber musicians performing throughout North America (including performances with oboist Heinz Holliger). Peter held positions with the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto, the Royal Conservatory of Music, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. In 1985, at the invitation of Janos Starker, he gave master classes in contemporary cello repertoire for the Third Annual Cello Congress held in Bloomington, Indiana. In addition to his playing career, Peter was active as a contractor and orchestra manager for many musical activities, as well as contracting hundreds of jingles and recording sessions. He put together orchestras for many of the biggest film composers of the last twenty five years from Maurice Jarre, Jerry Fielding, John Barry and Georges-Delerue to, most recently, Howard Shore. Peter managed the orchestra of the Canadian Opera Company and for the last eleven years acted as musical contractor for Toronto's Royal Alexandra and Princess of Wales Theatres, selecting and running the orchestra for musicals such as "Les Miserables", "Crazy For You" and the world premiere of "Jane Eyre". Peter worked for the CBC, hosting his own show "The Art of the Collector", and writing program notes for their festival of all of Brahms' chamber music in 1977. He also worked for the Toronto radio station CJRT as a guest host, commentator, and reviewer. He is survived and lovingly remembered by his wife Holde Gerlach, his sons Eric Schenkman and Daniel Quarles Schenkman, his daughter Jennifer Schenkman, and his grandson Wyllie Schenkman. A visitation for family and close friends will be held for Peter at the Humphrey funeral home on Monday the 27th of February, 2006 from 7-9pm.