Bob Bell's First 50 Years with the Toledo Symphony
Bob Bell's first 50
FOR so long now have the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and its executive director, Bob Bell, been making beautiful music together, it's easy to assume that this evening's celebratory tribute to the man marks the start of a richly deserved retirement.
Not on your life.
Mr. Bell, who not only runs the business side of the orchestra but plays the timpani with the symphony, has no intention of quitting, shows no signs of slowing down, and, in fact, is a reluctant participant in what amounts to a community salute to his 50 years with TSO.
He was just a 17-year-old senior at Woodward High School when he joined the orchestra in 1956 and became its principal percussionist. In those days the orchestra was a semi-professional organization of music teachers from area universities and schools and a number of amateurs. The annual budget was $40,000.
Over the years Mr. Bell has helped TSO grow into a fully professional orchestra with a $6 million budget, a $14 million endowment, and a reputation as one of the finest regional orchestras in the country.
The symphony plays before more than 400,000 people a year. Moreover, under his direction, the orchestra has truly become hands-on, its players involving themselves in the community in ways that extend far beyond the hundreds of annual concerts.
Most regional orchestras in communities Toledo's size consider it a good year if they are able to simply minimize the red ink. TSO, despite some rugged financial challenges, is in the black. A key piece: a nine-year, $2.3 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Less well known is Mr. Bell's passion for teaching, often for free. His former students excel in orchestras around the country.
Stefan Sanderling, TSO's principal conductor and a man Mr. Bell helped hire, once said that "every orchestra has a soul." No orchestra, he noted, is exactly like any other.
If Bob Bell is not the symphony's soul, he is at least its heart. And TSO is indeed one of a kind. No other orchestra has him.
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