In response to David Lewis’s note, I think that the Gerard Samuel who was Assistant Conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1952 when the photograph Tom Hine has discussed and the Gerhard Samuel described by Lewis are different individuals. In Music and Maestros:  The Story of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1952), John K. Sherman wrote, in describing the orchestra’s youthful transformations under Antal Dorati, “Young too was the new assistant conductor, Gerard Samuel, a violinist who showed authority and style on the few occasions when he took the orchestra’s reins.”  According to 1959-1960 orchestra program booklets, Gerard Samuel still was conducting the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, often in young people’s concerts or outstate appearances, such as in Rochester, MN, where the orchestra played the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with its fabulous in-house pianist, Eva Knardahl.  Regrettably, I don’t know about Gerard Samuel’s later career.

Jon Butler

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Date:    Mon, 28 Sep 2015 14:21:04 -0400
From:    David Lewis <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: Re: a piece of Minneapolis Symphony and Mercury Records history

By the way, the name of the assistant is properly Gerhard Samuel rather
than "Gerard." He taught at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati
later and I had some composition classes with him myself in the early
1980s. I do not have fond memories of that course, but that's at least how
you
spell the name (and find the person).

best,

David Neal Lewis
Hamilton, OH