Wheeling Symphony Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Wheeling Native Soprano Eleanor Steber Died: October 3, 1990

Soprano Eleanor Steber died on October 3, 1990, at age 76. The Wheeling native attended the New England Conservatory of Music, studied voice in New York City, and joined the Metropolitan Opera radio in 1940. That year, her hometown honored her by proclaiming Eleanor Steber Day in Wheeling. The celebration featured a special Baltimore & Ohio railroad car named for her and a homecoming concert, attended by Governor Homer Holt.

In addition to her opera career, Steber performed for USO shows, for bond drives, and at veterans’ hospitals during World War II. She also sang at national political conventions and was a regular on The Voice of Firestone, which aired on radio and later television. In 1948, she commissioned and premiered Samuel Barber’s opera Knoxville: Summer of 1915. A decade later, she created and recorded the title role in Barber’s opera Vanessa.

She stayed with the Metropolitan Opera until the 1960s and made more than 100 recordings. She also returned periodically to West Virginia for recitals and concerts with the Wheeling Symphony. Eleanor Steber was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2013.

WSO Premieres in Ogleby Park: June 30, 1929

The Wheeling Symphony Orchestra gave its premiere concert at Oglebay Park on June 30, 1929. Under the direction of Enrico Tamburini, the new orchestra performed Mozart’s Overture to Don Juan and Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, among other works.

Tamburini molded the fledgling group of amateurs and professionals into a cohesive ensemble. When he left in 1934, Antonio Modarelli of the Pittsburgh Symphony took the baton. He was succeeded by Henry Mazer, who’d tutored under the great conductor Fritz Reiner in Chicago.

Mazer expanded the Wheeling Symphony’s repertoire to feature opera, choral works, and chamber music, as well as guest performances by Yehudi Menuhin, Benny Goodman, and Artur Rubinstein.

Later conductors included Henry Aaron; Robert Kreis, who instituted the symphony’s first concert tours in 1971; and Jeff Holland Cook, who brought in a number of guest celebrities, including Arthur Fiedler, Doc Severinsen, Itzhak Perlman, and Wheeling-born opera star Eleanor Steber. He was succeeded by Rachael Worby, who increased the symphony’s number of annual performances from 6 to 40.

The Wheeling Symphony, whose current conductor is Andre Raphel, continues to perform regularly at the Capitol Music Hall in downtown Wheeling.

LISTEN: Juvenile Detention Center Welcomes Wheeling Symphony's Brass Ensemble

Some members of the Wheeling Symphony stopped in at a juvenile detention center in Wheeling last week to bring some musical education to the kids there.

The symphony periodically goes out and offers musical programs to various community members. The brass ensemble paid a visit this month to youth at the Ronald C.Mulholland Juvenile Center. It’s the only private, non-profit juvenile detention facility in the state. There are about 30 kids there now either awaiting judgement, waiting for treatment facilities to open up, or serving time for committing crimes that would have landed them in jail if they were adults. Youth here are mostly from the northern West Virginia. They’re 12-21 years old and receive substance abuse treatment, transitional living services, and continue their education.

The musicians got their young audience to think and talk about the emotions music can stir up. One young woman said the program inspired her.

An Unsure Future

“I’m proud of them,” said Director Linda Scott. She’s been working at the Mulholland Juvenile Center for the past 26 years, and is one of about 50 staff members. Scott is very defensive of and dedicated to the kids housed there. She says many who have gone through the center stay in touch and keep her updated on their lives.

“If [the center] wasn’t here, I would be devastated because I’m not ready to quit yet.”

It’s a reality she might be faced with.

Recently the Legislature asked state agencies to outline how they would absorb a potential 6.5 percent additional cut in their 2016-17 budgets. Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety spokesman, Lawrence Messina, explained that it was a purely hypothetical exercise, but that if the budget was cut, contracted services like the Ronald C. Mulholland Juvenile Center would likely be among those first on the chopping block.

In the meantime, members of the Wheeling Symphony say they look forward to visiting the Ronald C. Mulholland Juvenile Center again.

The kids are hoping musicians with percussion instruments will visit next.

Violinist Tim Fain

Violinist Tim Fain has all the musicianship necessary to play the major works in the classical repertoire, but there is not even a hint of self-importance or standoffishness that can come with that. His thoughtful, down-to-earth conversation make you feel like old friends.

Besides the world’s concert stages, Tim is equally at home working with film directors; having contributed to The Black Swan and more recently, Twelve Years a Slave. When Chiwetel Ejiofor is playing the violin in the film, that’s Tim you’re hearing.

I spoke to Tim Fain about his film work and his upcoming performance with the Wheeling Symphony this Friday.