Death of a US idealist who founded two national orchestras
mainGerald Brown, founder-conductor of the national symphony orchestras of Bolivia and Costa Rica, has died in Arizona at the age of 75.
He founded the Bolivian National Orchestra in the 1960s, fresh out of the US Peace Corps, and conducted them for 29 years. He was then involved with Costa Rica for the rest of his life.
The Nashville Symphony conductor Giancarlo Guerrero cites Gerald as a formative influence.
Maestro Brown was well-known to many of us who grew up in Cochise County and were involved in musical organizations. Not so well-known elsewhere in the state, which tends to think of that area only in terms of Tombstone and Bisbee. He had a fine life story to tell. When he returned to the area, at one time he was teaching in the school in the tiny town of Elgin, now a wine growing region, and whose claim to fame was its rail depot being featured in the film version of Oklahoma! Elgin also used to be the home of a recovery/treatment center. One of the patients was the step-son of Georg Szell who made several trips there. Gerald Brown, you were an endlessly fascinating musician and man with a big heart. RIP
Giancarlo Guerrero has done really good work in Nashville. ‘Us’ Guerreros are usually good at baseball, fighting and taquerias. Nice to see one break through in the arts.