Leonard Sharrow

SHARROW
LEONARD
89, died Monday, August 9, 2004 at Wellspring Health Center in Cincinnati. He was known as the best bassoonist of his generation, bringing a uniquely expressive sound to the instrument. Mr. Sharrow had a distinguished career as a symphony musician and teacher. Mr. Sharrow was a former resident of Bloomington and Professor of Music at Indiana University. He also formerly resided in Pittsburgh, PA, as well as Skokie and Evanston, IL. Mr. Sharrow was born August 4, 1915 in New York City, and grew up in a musical home. From 1935 until 1987 he was a member of the country's top orchestras, including the National Symphony in Washington, DC; NBC Symphony, directed by Arturo Toscanini Detroit Symphony; Chicago Symphony, directed by Fritz Reiner; and Pittsburgh Symphony, directed by Andre Previn. In 1985, Mr. Sharrow performed in Stockholm, Sweden as solo bassoonist with the World Philharmonic Orchestra, a one-time group which was composed of the the top musicians from orchestras all over the world. He was married in 1942 to the former Emily Kass. As a soldier during World War II, Mr. Sharrow was a member of the orchestra for "This is the Army," Irving Berlin's Broadway musical that toured the country by train making one-night stands from New York to California, where the musical was made into a film with a young Ronald Reagan. Besides his work on symphony recordings, Mr. Sharrow also made several solo recordings. His 1948 RCA recording with Toscanini, as soloist on Mozart's Bassoon Concerta, still stands as one of the finest performances of the piece and continues to inspire young bassoonists. In 1964, Mr. Sharrow was highly sought after as a teacher of bassoon. A great number of his students have gone on to orchestras and teaching positions around the world. In addition to his 13 years at Indiana University, he also taught at Juilliard School of Music, Carnegie Mellon University, Penn State University, Indiana University of PA, New England Conservatory of Music, and numerous summer music festivals where he both taught and performed, including the Aspen Music Festival, Waterloo Music Festival, Canadian Festivals in Banff and Victoria, Victorian College of Arts in Australia, and Nagano, Japan. Following his retirement, Mr. Sharrow and his wife Emily moved back to Bloomington in 1991, and then to Cincinnati in 1999. Emily, his wife of 58 years, died in 2001. In addition to his son, Neil of Cincinnati, he will be missed by his sister Frances Nelson of North Hollywood, CA, a daughter-in-law, Polly Campbell and two granddaughters, Emily Louise and Sally Sharrow. Arrangements by ALLEN FUNERAL HOME, INC., Bloomington, IN .
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