A Big Thank You to Marta for 20 Years of Service!

An announcement and tribute from the Philharmonic Association*:

At the end of the 2014-2015 season a letter of resignation from Marta Findlay-Partridge surprised the Philharmonic Association Board and Staff. In that season she had been involved in three different groups (Triangle Youth Symphony, Triangle Youth String Orchestra and Triangle Youth String Sinfonia) and during her 20 – year tenure she had been an integral part of the Philharmonic Association. She first became involved in 1995 at the beginning of the Triangle Youth Symphony, the organization’s first foray into really becoming the Philharmonic Association – an organization sponsoring more than the Triangle Youth Philharmonic. She was instrumental in starting our entire string orchestra program, which, at times, has had four different groups. Her TYSO protégées are just now reaching the Triangle Youth Philharmonic – having come through the entire gamut of our orchestra program. She has given unstintingly of her time, talent, and financial support for the Philharmonic Association and we would not be the organization we are today without her.

So, over the summer, we had the task of filling the huge hole this made in our Artistic Staff. It turned out that we needed three people to replace her! But with change, also comes opportunity. With David Kilbride, our new Triangle Youth Symphony Assistant Conductor, we reestablished a member of the North Carolina Symphony on our staff. Artistic Director, Hugh Partridge, stepped down from his thirty-year role as Principal Viola with the NC Symphony in 2006. With Emily Zimmerman, our new Triangle Youth String Orchestra Conductor, we again have a string teacher from the Wake County Public Schools as part of our staff. And with Luanne Roth, our new Triangle Youth String Sinfonia Conductor, we have a former Wake County strings teacher with a flair for nurturing older string players.

The Philharmonic Association cannot thank Marta enough for all she has done and we want to do something very special in her honor. We hope that the students and families whose lives she touched in the Triangle Youth Symphony, Triangle Youth String Orchestra and Triangle Youth String Sinfonia, will welcome an opportunity to express their appreciation by contributing to a new endowment – The Marta Findlay-Partridge Triangle Youth String Orchestra Conductor Chair.

(*Reprinted with permission from the PA’s Fall 2015 News.)