Sandor Salgo, Carmel Bach Festival Music Director from 1956 to 1991 passed away in 2007. He was 97.

 

A native of Hungary, Sandor Salgo studied music in Budapest, Berlin and Dresden. He came to the United States for the first time in 1937, playing the violin with the Roth Quartet on a coast-to-coast tour.  He immigrated to the United States in 1939, and taught violin and music theory at Westminster Choir College.   He became an American citizen in 1944.  In 1949 he became Professor of Music at Stanford University and Music Director of the opera orchestra and symphony orchestra.   He also was Music Director of the Marin Symphony from 1956 to 1989.

 

Maestro Salgo is credited by many for developing the Carmel Bach Festival from a local event into a nationally recognized celebration of Bach's music.  The current three-week schedule of concerts and recitals began under his direction.  The professional Chorale was added early in his tenure.  For many years his wife, Priscilla, was the director of the chorus and chorale.  We can thank Maestro Salgo’s powers of persuasion for gaining permission for the Festival to resume concerts in the Carmel Mission.  In an oral history done in the mid-1990’s, he called the Carmel Bach Festival his “life’s work”.

 

Many of our current patrons and performers were introduced to the Festival under Sandor Salgo, and developed a passion for the festival that lives on. 

 

All three performances of the Saint Matthew Passion in 2007 were dedicated to the memory of Maestro Salgo.

 

The festival presented a concert in memory of Sandor Salgo on July 23 in Stanford's Memorial Church.  The Festival Chorale, under the direction of Associate Director, Andrew Megill, presented the Mission concert repertoire.

 

In 2008 we return to Stanford University Memorial Church for another free performance of our Wednesday Mission Concert. Associate Director, Andrew Megill will lead the Festival Chorale and members of the Festival Orchestra in an unforgettable performance of Songs of Solace on July 28 at 8pm.

 

The Carmel Bach Festival is pleased to announce the establishment of the Sandor Salgo Conductor Chair.  For more information or to donate to this endowment chair, call the office or visit www.bachfestival.org.