Preminuo maestro Charles Ansbacher

Dear Friends,
>
> It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Charles Ansbacher, board
member and beloved husband of Institute Chair Ambassador Swanee Hunt. He died on
September 12, 2010, at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts surrounded by Swanee,
his children-Henry Ansbacher, Lillian Shuff, and Theodore Ansbacher-Hunt-and his
brother, Ted.
>
> Although knowing for the past 13 months he had an incurable brain tumor, Maestro
Ansbacher, the founder and conductor of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra,
courageously continued his life's mission of bringing free orchestral music to
diverse audiences, including return performances in Sarajevo, Bosnia; Beirut,
Lebanon; and Chisinau, Moldova.
>
> In accordance with the family's wishes, we ask that you not email Swanee directly
with your condolences. Also should you wish, in lieu of flowers, please send
contributions to the Landmarks Orchestra as indicated on
www.landmarksorchestra.org
>
> Many of you have gotten to know Swanee and Charles over the years. To share your
thoughts and wishes with Swanee, please send them to Kalpana at
kalpana_simhan@huntalternatives.org. We will assemble them in a memorial book for
Swanee and her family. Please send Kalpana any messages you would like included by
October 1.
>
> I know that you join me in extending condolences to the family at this time.
>
The Board and Overseers of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra announce with profound
sadness that its founder and conductor, Maestro Charles Ansbacher, died at home on
September 12, 2010. Although knowing for the past 13 months he had an incurable
brain tumor, he courageously continued his life’s mission of bringing free
orchestral music to diverse audiences. Even after he was diagnosed, he conducted
for more than 100,000 people, including–with his Landmarks Orchestra–the
first-ever symphony orchestra concert in Boston’s Fenway Park and the 2010 season
of Beethoven on the Charles River Esplanade. He also traveled to Hanoi, and was
the first-ever American to lead the Vietnam National Symphony. In addition, the
maestro made return performances in such faraway places as Sarajevo, Bosnia;
Beirut, Lebanon; and Chisinau, Moldova; and also shared his music close to home at
Harvard’s Sanders Theater.
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> Born in Providence, Rhode Island, on October 5, 1942, Ansbacher took up cello as a
boy and began by conducting a Mahler piece with his high school orchestra in
Burlington, Vermont. His parents, noted Adlerian psychologists Drs. Heinz Ludwig
and Rowena Ripin Ansbacher, encouraged his study by sending him to Greenwood Music
Camp and Tanglewood. He majored in physics at Brown University but switched to
music after creating a successful chamber orchestra with his classmates. He
studied music at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio and at the Mozarteum in
Austria.


While in the course of his career, Maestro Ansbacher led major orchestras in more



than 40 countries, in the past 15 years he focused his international work on
countries in economic or political transition, such as Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, and
Serbia. In 2004, he conducted the world premiere of the Mandela Portrait in
Johannesburg, South Africa. The next year he led the Jerusalem Symphony with
Palestinian soloist Saleem Abboud Ashkar. In Russia, the Moscow Symphony named
Maestro Ansbacher guest conductor. His final foray into public policy and the arts was the creation of the Free for
All Concert Fund, to raise a $20 million portfolio to support in perpetuity
outdoor orchestral concerts and related activities that are accessible and
friendly to families from every neighborhood in the Boston area.
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> Ambassador Swanee Hunt, the maestro’s wife of 25 years, said,
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> Concerts, audience members, and passengers can be counted, but the impact of his
ideas is incalculable. He imagined opportunities where others saw barriers. How
many of us have dreamed bolder dreams, reached unimaginably farther, because of
his stubborn encouragement and prodding? Our work is an extension of his work –
no, of his life.