“The Bangor Symphony Orchestra was just a community orchestra in 1957 when pharmacist Bernard ‘Billy’ Miller was asked to play the triangle. It’s grown over the decades to be a professional orchestra,” write Megan Lim and Patrick Jarenwattananon in Thursday’s (4/14) National Public Radio. “In 1957, … Billy Miller … got a call from an old friend. ‘He said, there’s a triangle part in an upcoming symphony concert in September. Would you like to play it? And I said, sure,’ says Miller. That triangle part led to another gig and then another, adding up to 65 years as a percussionist in the Bangor Symphony Orchestra…. Miller has now worked with seven conductors at the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. These days, it’s a professional ensemble under the baton of Grammy Award-winning music director Lucas Richman…. Miller has also helped the orchestra by fundraising and managing personnel and even serving on the board…. Today, the principal percussion chair in the BSO is endowed in his honor…. Miller retired from the drugstore 10 years ago, and he’s 87 years old.” He played his final concert with the orchestra earlier this month. “But he has no plans to stop playing music.”
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