Bernard Jacobson

Jacobson Bernard Age 85, died February 14, 2022 in Philadelphia, after an international career that spanned over 6 decades in the classical music world. He was born in London and educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, after serving in the Royal Air Force. He began his career writing sleeve notes for Philips in the Netherlands, and subsequently worked for EMI and Boosey and Hawkes in London. He contributed articles to High Fidelity, Musical America, Fanfare, and Seen and Heard International, and served as music critic for the Chicago Daily News. His books include The Music of Johannes Brahms, Conductors on Conducting, A Polish Renaissance, and Star Turns and Cameo Appearances: Memoirs of a Life among Musicians. He served as visiting professor of music at Roosevelt University in Chicago, as artistic director of Het Residentie Orkest (The Hague Philharmonic), and as artistic advisor to the North Netherlands Orchestra. His translations include operas by Hans Werner Henze and Siegfried Matthus, and he had some of his own poetry set to music by composers Wilfred Josephs and Richard Wernick. Bernard first settled in Philadelphia with his wife Laura when he was hired by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1984 as program annotator and musicologist, where he worked closely with its then-music director Riccardo Muti. He gave pre-concert lectures and inaugurated the orchestra's chamber music series. He remained in Philadelphia, interrupted by stays in The Hague and Bremerton, Washington, for more than 25 years, continuing to write program notes for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. As a performer, Bernard narrated his own translation of Stravinsky's L'Histoire du soldat as part of the Philadelphia Orchestra's chamber music series, and he was the speaker, with Ignat Solzenitsyn conducting, for Schoenberg's Ode to Napoleon with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, a work he had previously recorded for Nonesuch and performed in London and Vienna. His narration for Mendelssohn's Antigone was given its first performance by Claire Bloom at the 1991 Bard Festival; he subsequently performed it himself with the San Jose Symphony and returned there to narrate Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, Leonid Grin conducting. With conductor Oliver Knussen he recorded the role of Noah in Stravinsky's The Flood for Deutsche Grammophon before repeating it in his 1996 debut at the BBC Promenade Concerts. Most recently, in 2016, he appeared as narrator in Martinu's The Epic of Gilgamesh at Chicago's Grant Park Music Festival. He also sang as a low bass in the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia. Among Bernard's greatest pleasures were cooking and eating. He edited cookbooks by Giuliano Bugialli, and while living in Washington state he fulfilled his dream of becoming a restaurant critic, writing reviews for his local paper The Kitsap Sun. Bernard is predeceased by his first wife Bonnie (Brodsky) and his sister Anne. In addition to his beloved wife of 39 years Laura (Belcove) he leaves behind children Katharine (Andrew) Walkden of North Yorkshire, UK, and Samuel of Philadelphia. He also leaves four grandchildren, cat Kiki, and all the restaurants he hadn't tried yet. Donations can be made in Bernard's memory to the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, or the Philadelphia Orchestra. A memorial celebration is being planned for early autumn.