James DePreist
Star for James DePreist at the Main Street Walk of Stars in downtown Portland, Oregon (2013) Wikimedia Commons
The promising career of African American conductor James DePreist hit a roadblock when in 1962 he contracted polio. But he recovered and became Assistant Conductor to Bernstein at the New York Philharmonic. in 1980, he became maestro of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, where he made many recordings.
On Classics of the Phonograph, Saturday at 11 am on WILL-FM, we will hear some of his successful CDs.
Program on conductor James DePreist:
Rachmaninoff | Symphony No. 2, mov. 3, adagio; Oregon Symphony
Tchaikovsky | "Hamlet", Fantasy Overture after Shakespeare's Play (1888), Oregon Symphony
Shostakovich | Symphony No. 10, finale; Helsinki Philharmonic (Portrait of Stalin)
(part of Shostakovich Symphony Series with this Orchestra)