Orlando Barera

Orlando Barera was an Italian (some would say American) violinist and conductor born (in Bologna, Italy) on February 6, 1907.  Two sources say he was born in Ferrara, Italy in 1908.  (Ferrara is about 25 miles north of Bologna.)  He began his career as a concert violinist but is best known for being the conductor of the El Paso (Texas) Symphony from the fall of 1951 to the spring of 1970.  Prior to that he was the conductor of the Baton Rouge (Louisiana) Symphony for one year and just before that, he was the concertmaster and Assistant Conductor (for one year also) of the Houston Symphony.  Before those two posts, he had served as concertmaster of the Kansas City (Missouri) Symphony and the Havana Symphony (prior to Fidel Castro’s political revolution.)  Barera is one of many violinists who turned from concertizing to conducting – Jaap Van Zweden, Eugene Ormandy, David Zinman, Alan Gilbert, Neville Marriner, Pierre Monteux, Peter Oundjian, Jacques Singer, Charles Munch, and Theodore Thomas are among them.  He began his studies with his father, who was a professor at the conservatory of music in Bologna.  He graduated at age 15 with diplomas in violin, composition, and piano.  Immediately thereafter, he added an additional two years of study before embarking on a solo career.  His concertizing began in Italy but then later included France, Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Russia, and the Netherlands.  His first appearance in the U.S. took place at Town Hall in New York on February 10, 1936.  He was 29 years old.  He later played at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. that same year but returned to play in Europe in the latter part of that year.  On November 11, 1936, he played Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnol with the Prague Radio Symphony.  Karl Ancerl was on the podium.  I do not know if the performance was recorded.  Upon his return to the U.S., he gave a second recital at Town Hall on December 27, 1936. He played Mozart’s fourth concerto with the Boston Symphony on February 21, 1937.  Serge Koussevitzky conducted.  On December 3, 1938, he was guest artist with the New York Philharmonic.  This time, he played the Mendelssohn concerto, the one in e minor.  John Barbirolli conducted.  When war broke out, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served a tour of duty until the war’s end.  His career - which he took up again when he was appointed concertmaster in Kansas City – was thus interrupted.  An interesting detail in his career is that between July 11 and November 10, 1950, he participated (as assistant principal second violinist) in 14 recording sessions which Leopold Stokowski conducted in New York.  At many of these recording sessions, Victor Aitay, the soon-to-be concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony, was Barera’s stand partner – Aitay was, at that time, a section violinist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.  Being the well-known figure he was on the east coast and beyond, Barera was able to introduce many world class string players to El Paso audiences.  Among them were Ruggiero Ricci, Zvi Zeitlin, Isaac Stern, Berl Senofsky, Zino Francescatti, Pierre Fournier, Mischa Elman, Michael Rabin, Zara Nelsova, Arturo Delmoni, Salvatore Accardo, and Tossy Spivakovsky.  Of his association with Barera, Michael Rabin once said “Barera is very good and a hell of a nice guy.  Believe me, I wish every conductor would be as easy to work with as he is.  He takes away all the tightness and strain and just lets me enjoy myself.”  Barera owned and played a Gagliano violin from a year and specific maker unknown to me – the Gagliano violin-making family produced several good makers.  Barera died on March 26, 1971, at age 64.  

Victor Aitay

Victor Aitay was a Hungarian violinist, teacher, and conductor born (in Budapest) Hungary on April 14, 1921.  He is remembered as one of the long-time concertmasters of the Chicago Symphony.  As did many of the older players in American orchestras, he came to the U.S. from Europe in the early part of the twentieth century.  He first studied with his father then entered the Franz Liszt Academy at the age of 7.  After graduation, he became concertmaster of the Hungarian Royal Opera and the Budapest Philharmonic.  He did extensive solo playing throughout Europe as well.  In 1941, he was fired, arrested by the Nazis, and sent to a concentration camp.  In 1943, he escaped, made his way back to Budapest and was saved by Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat, who provided asylum at the Swedish Embassy.  He was 22 years old.  In 1945, he was given his old job back but soon resigned and left for Vienna.  He then founded the Aitay String Quartet with Janos Starker but work was hard to find.  In 1946, from Vienna, he (with his wife and child) made his way to the U.S.  He was 25 years old.  Arriving in New York with the clothes on his back and his violin, he soon auditioned for his European countryman, Fritz Reiner.  From 1946 to 1948, he played in the Pittsburgh Symphony – Fritz Reiner was the orchestra conductor at that time.  Some sources say Aitay was there one year and others say he was there two years.  From 1948 until 1954, he played in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.  While there, he also did some orchestral recording work with Leopold Stokowski, almost always playing as principal second violin.  He was associate concertmaster of the Met orchestra from 1952 until he left to join the Chicago Symphony as assistant concertmaster.  In 1965, after 11 years, he was appointed associate concertmaster and (finally) concertmaster in 1967 – from 1963 to 1967, Steven Staryk was the CSO’s concertmaster.  Aitay was 46 years old.  As do all great concertmasters with their respective orchestras, he appeared as soloist with his orchestra a number of times.  One such occasion took place on January 29, 1981, when he played Bartok's first concerto with Georg Solti on the podium.  Aitay was concertmaster until 1986 but served as concertmaster emeritus until 2003.  He was 82 years old when he retired.  He had been in the orchestra almost fifty years.  There are very few commercial recordings by Aitay as a soloist (I found only one) although he recorded with the Chicago Symphony countless times as a member of the string section.  He was also first violinist with the Chicago Symphony String Quartet.  His violin – in addition to a Vuillaume and a Guadagnini – was the Baron von der Leyen Stradivarius of (circa) 1705 - please see comments below for further information.  The Stradivarius was sold for $2,600,000 in April of this year.  Victor Aitay died on July 24, 2012, at age 91. *