Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: NEWS

Media Credit: Andrew McLemore

He has been called many things in his long career: virtuoso, genius and world-class. But Wednesday night, for one last time at NT, he was simply "maestro."

Anshel Brusilow conducted his final concert with the NT Symphony Orchestra to a sold-out venue before his retirement at the end of this semester from a career at NT that spanned 35 years.

"It's the friendships I've made with faculty members and students that I will miss more than anything else," Brusilow said. "And in a sense, they're the ones who kept me young."

Brusilow, 79, said he selected the music for the concert to reflect his departure from the university. The night began with Prokofiev's "Alexander Nevsky," a seven-movement work featuring a large choir, and ended with Tchaikovsky's famously melancholy "6th Symphony."

"It was his last work before he died," Brusilow said. "All good things must come to an end."

Several standing ovations followed the conclusion of the performance and a speech by Brusilow. Many students in the orchestra cried as he expressed his regret at leaving the university, though he still preserved his sense of humor.

"If I'd known it would be like this, I would have retired 10 years ago," Brusilow said.

Nearly 300 students were involved with Wednesday night's concert, from the 157-person Grand Chorus, or choir, to the 95 players in the orchestra.

"We want to celebrate his over 30 years of contribution to UNT," said James Scott, dean of the college of music.

The college began a fundraising campaign six months ago to create the Anshel Brusilow Chair in Orchestra Studies, an endowment that will use 95 percent of its $1 million goal for scholarships.

Scott said three-quarters of that amount has already been raised.

"It's been one of the defining aspects of our school to have a conductor of his stature," Scott said. "We would not be the College of Music we are today if he had been a lesser conductor."

Brusilow conducted the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for three years and spent seven years as concertmaster, or lead violinist, of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He created the NT Chamber Orchestra in 1973 and has conducted it and the NT symphony since 1989.

He began studying violin at 5 years old and was accepted into the Curtis Institute of Music at 11. At 16 years old, he became the youngest conducting student ever accepted by Pierre Monteux, one of the leading composers of the 20th century.

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