Robert Rosner
I just learned of the passing of my teacher and long lost and found acquaintance, Mr. Howard Rosen. He was 86 years old and passed away in Boynton Beach, Florida. I am so glad I briefly reconnected with him a few years ago on the phone. I haven’t spoken to him for 50 years until that call! Below is how profoundly this man has affected my life, especially the music portion.
My whole life has been a series of close associations and participation in the music industry. My father, his brothers, and my grandfather were in the music business before and after World War II. It’s a DNA “matter” 😬
1968: They took us sixth graders to the PS 196Q school auditorium where we would be auditioning for the varied music departments in the junior high school that we were going to eventually attend. A bunch of 11 and 12-year-olds we were.
One of the main auditioning tests was sightsinging a few notes that was just played on the piano. I nailed the increasingly complex tests multiple times, but this tall black haired man said that he wanted me to play the French horn, not the trumpet as I insisted. The trumpet was “cool“, the French horn absolutely was not. The tall black haired man says “you are going to play the French horn“. He said the reason is because the French horn is the most difficult brass instrument to play by far and he need French horn players who could learn and actually play that twisted curly piped beastie. 😱 He trusted in my talent.
1971: Flash forward a few years and there I was on stage, at the age of 14, playing principal French horn, at Carnegie Hall no less, in the yearly “Salute To Music” program that used select students that were highly skilled to play in orchestras and bands, divided by the five boroughs in NYC, for those big final concerts.
Well we were lucky and we got Carnegie that year 😊
I remember arriving really early for one rehearsal and the security guard let me in and I was literally the only one in Carnegie Hall so I whipped out my French horn, and I had a ball just playing in that beautiful historical venue. What a resonance! You don’t forget things like that.
And the man who conducted that senior orchestra from Queens New York? He was none other than Mr. Howard Rosen. Handel’s “Messiah” was on the program and especially exciting with a 100 voice choir behind the orchestra.
Thank you Mr. Rosen for starting my musical journey off right and leading our orchestra with such amazing passion and your help in guiding my passion as well. 🙏❤️ 🎶
