Celebrating the Life of Anthony P. Checchia and his contribution to Peoples' Symphony Concerts and to Music
By Frank Salomon
We close 2024 with the wonderful EXPRESSIVO! Piano Quartet, a concert that is especially meaningful for me since it brings together a number of the musical worlds that I have been lucky enough to inhabit--Peoples’ Symphony Concerts and Vermont’s Marlboro Music’s special community.
The ESPRESSIVO! artists, together with Joshua Bell, Yefim Bronfman, Jeremy Denk, Richard Goode, Augustin Hadelich, Yo-Yo Ma, Murray Perahia, Andras Schiff, Richard Stoltzman, members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Emerson, Dover Quartets, Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio are just a handful of the artists who have shared their music with us at Peoples' Symphony Concerts, and who credit Vermont's Marlboro Music School & Festival as one of their life-changing musical influences.
The December 14 concert will celebrate the life of Anthony P. Checchia (1930-2024) who worked most closely with Artistic Director Rudolf Serkin to realize what The New Yorker called "classical music's most coveted retreat” and who influenced generations of our most important musicians. I had the great pleasure of working together with Tony at Marlboro for fifty-five years.
Tony also changed the musical life of his native Philadelphia, almost forty years ago, when he established the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society with Philip Maneval, which has become one of the country's largest presenters of chamber music and recitals with more than fifty concerts each season. What he helped to create at Marlboro and in Philadelphia for exceptional musicians will continue to bring us great artists and exceptional music-making at Peoples' Symphony Concerts for generations to come.
Tony's passion for music and compassion for everyone that he met illuminated his life and his many accomplishments. He was a cherished musical leader and my closest and most valued friend.
- Frank Salomon
Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, pcmsconcerts.org