New York Philharmonic mourns a violin stalwart
mainNewton Mansfield, a fixture in the NY Phil since 1961, died yesterday, his son reports.
Of Polish birth, he made his debut in Paris in 1938 and went on to play in Houston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and the Met before joining Leonard Bernstein’s orchestra in ’61 and staying there for the rest of his working life, retiring in 2016 as one of the world’s longest-serving players.
He loved to play.
And an erstwhile member of the Phil’s orchestra committee and thrower of New Years Eve post-concert parties with his wife in their Lincoln Towers apartment for many years. Fond memories…..
You get a glimpse of Newton Mansfield personality and great sense of humor on this Stanley Drucker tribute video (2:18): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZh1k-OaWyg
Also, see Carl Schieber, another recently-departed NY Phil stalwart, at 6:28.
Great members of a great orchestra.
Jasper
Thanks for that link. Yes, it’s great when Newton Mansfield says of the retirement he’d try to “put a stop to it” 🙂
Newton retired only a couple of years ago, when in his mid 80s.
A great guy.