NORMAN HOLLANDER

Surrounded by the love of his family, and with a recording of the late string quartets of Beethoven, Norman Hollander passed away on April 7, 2010, at 3:35 AM at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, CT. He had played principal cello for the Kansas City Philharmonic/Kansas City Symphony for 41 years, retiring in 1996 after 48 years of service. Norman Hollander came to Kansas City in 1948, having played two years as assistant-principal of the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell. His father was an operatic baritone from Odessa, Russia, who sang lead roles with the Manhattan Opera Company (a rival of the Met at that time), and who made commercial recordings on 78 discs. He later served as cantor at a congregation in Utica, NY, where Mr. Hollander was raised with his two brothers. The three brothers distinguished themselves on piano, violin, and cello. They performed as the "Hollander Trio", appearing occasionally with their father. All three attended the Juilliard Graduate School and went on with performing careers in music. The pianist, Arthur, concertized and played accompanist and maintained a private teaching studio, publishing a serious of instruction books. Ralph Hollander played violin at the Casals Festival in Perpignan, and he supported himself as a pit musician on Broadway. In 1960 he invented the Dampit, an instrument humidifier used widely today throughout the world. As a student in New York, Norman Hollander's principal teachers included Lieff Rosanoff, Willem Willeke, and Felix Salmond. At that time he met his wife, Helen, who was studying violin at Juilliard. During the war years he was classified as a conscientious objector, performing alternative service in Brattleboro, VT and Cooperstown, NY. In 1946, Mr. Hollander was appointed assistant-principal cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell. Two years later, he joined the Kansas City Philharmonic as principal cellist, along with his wife who played violin in the orchestra. He held this position for forty-one years and retired in 1996. His concerto appearances with the orchestra included the Haydn D Major Concerto, Strauss Don Quixote, Brahms Double Concerto, Bloch Shelomo, Beethoven Triple Concerto and Brush Kola Nadir. From those earlier years cello students will remember his Cello Method published by Universal Music Publishers. He joined the faculty of the University of Kansas City (later UMKC), teaching cello and chamber music in 1950. In 1953 he became, along with his wife Helen, Music Director of the Jewish Community Center. Under the auspices of this organization he began a chamber music series featuring local talent known as Coffee Concerts, which ran continuously for many years. In 1957 he inaugurated a parallel series of concerts for children know as Coke Concerts. The following year he introduced Gallery Concerts, conducting a chamber orchestra in an on-going regular series of concerts at the Nelson Art Gallery. Known as the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, this organization programmed the Brandenberg Concertos of Bach, provided free concerts to the public, as well as employment to working musicians during the lean spring season. In 1958, the "Mid-American String Quartet," featuring principal players from the Philharmonic (Tiberius Klausner-first violin, Hugh Brown-second violin, Lucinda Gladics-viola, Norman Hollander-cello) became the nucleus for Coffee Concerts. They played a five concert series at Temple B'Nai Jehudah on a Thursday night to a devoted audience averaging 400 persons. The programming was serious, including the five late string quartets of Beethoven. The Mid-America string quartet became the resident assemble of UMKC in 1963. At this time it offered a nationwide composition award, the Rheta A. Sosland Composition Award, for an original string quartet. Its winners over the years included such esteemed composers as David Diamond. Mr. Hollander joined the Kansas City chapter of Young Audiences in its first year (1962). His school concerts reached an audience of over 125 thousand in the first four years alone. During these active years Norman Hollander presented hundreds of concerts to outlying communities who would otherwise not have had the opportunity to hear live classical music. From the beginning his wife, Helen, was his indispensable partner in organizing all the concert activities. At the time of his arrival in Kansas City in 1948 the Philharmonic offered employment for barely half a year, with no promise of outside work for the first two years of residence. He had turned down an offer to join the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York City because he and his wife chose to live in the mid-west where they could devote themselves to building audiences for live classical music. At the time of his death Norman Hollander was living with his son David and David's wife in Connecticut. He is survived by his daughter Marilyn Armour, who lives in Austin Texas, and his son David Hollander of Wilton Connecticut, his granddaughter, Stephanie Armour, his two great grand daughters, Olivia and Madeleine Eggen, and his nieces, Genia Hollander and Jan Ferris. Services will be held Sunday, April 18, at 2:00 PM, at the Freeman Funeral Home, 10507 Holmes Road. Any donations in Mr. Hollander's name may be directed to: The American Friends Committee, AFSC National Office, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102;1-888-588-2372; asscinfo@afsc.org.