In Thursday’s (4/7) Cape Cod Times, Ethan Genter reports that the Cape Cod Symphony has announced the death of retired longtime music director Royston Nash. “Nash, 82, had died Monday at the McCarthy Care Center in Sandwich…. He came to the Cape and took over the symphony in 1980…. ‘In many ways, Royston was the artistic cornerstone of our organization, responsible for its remarkable growth and success …,’ symphony President and CEO Roland Valliere said.… Nash guided the orchestra from its days at Mattacheese Middle School to the 1,440-seat Barnstable Performing Arts Center, and handed the baton over to Jung-Ho Pak in 2007. … The week has been a somber one, Pak said, but it also has been a celebration of Nash’s life.” Gerald Garnick, a trustee with the orchestra who was on the search committee that appointed Nash, said, “One of Nash’s greatest achievements on Cape was his performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2.… ‘That was the turning point for our orchestra,’ Garnick said.” Said Robert Summersgill, a current symphony board member and former executive director of the orchestra, “What Royston did was take the orchestra from an all-volunteer organization to basically a fully professional orchestra.”
Posted April 11, 2016
