Chicago Symphony Orchestra members, from left: Li-Kuo Chang, assistant principal viola; Gary Stucka, cello; and Peter Conover, principal librarian, will retire at the end of the 2022-23 season. Photo: Todd Rosenberg Photography.
In Tuesday’s (7/4) Strad (U.K.), a report states, “The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) has announced the retirement of three long-standing members at the end of this season. They are cellist Gary Stucka, assistant principal viola Li-Kuo Chang, and principal librarian Peter Conover…. Stucka, a member of cello section since 1986, will retire after 37 years. Joining the CSO as a librarian in 1998 and becoming principal librarian in 1999, Conover will step down after 25 years. After joining the viola section at the start of 1988-89, Chang just two weeks later won the post of assistant principal viola, which he has held for 35 years…. Stucka was appointed by Sir Georg Solti … Before his CSO tenure, Stucka was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra for five years, served as principal cello of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra from 1977 to 1981 and performed as assistant principal cello of the Grant Park Orchestra … Along with his appointment as assistant principal viola, Chang also served as acting principal viola from 2017 to 2022, after being named to the role by music director Riccardo Muti…. An educator for more than 30 years, Chang was recently appointed professor of viola at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music…. Principal librarian Peter Conover began his musical career as a double bassist, studying … at the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, where he graduated in 1984 with degrees in both music and music education. He became involved in orchestra libraries in 1981, when he became the librarian for the Delaware Valley Philharmonic.”
