Gustav Meier, beloved former LSO conductor, dead at 86

It’s hard to say good-bye to a friend – but alas, we must - I must. After reviewing almost every concert he conducted here for the past 27 years, I will miss his wide-eyed love for music and his sincerity of spirit. And we all deeply appreciate him building the Lansing Symphony into an orchestra the entire community takes pride in.

That is how I said farewell to Gustav Meier when he ended his career as the conductor of the Lansing Symphony from 1978 to 2006.

Now we are all having say our goodye again. The illustrious conductor, teacher and musician died of cancer May 27 in his home in Ann Arbor at the age of 86.

He was a guest conductor of orchestras throughout the world, but his longest conducting tenure was with the Greater Bridgeport (Connecticut) Orchestra for 41 years.

Meier also taught conducting at Yale, Eastman School of Music, Tanglewood Music Center, University of Michigan, and for the last 20 years, the Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute in Baltimore.

LSO cellist Eva Ell said, “He was a gentleman to everyone and the orchestra got better and better under his leadership. He rehearsed everything in great detail.”

Although the Lansing Symphony improved each and every year under his baton, maybe his greatest accomplishment was when the orchestra moved from Everett High School Auditorium to the newly completed Wharton Center in 1982.

The orchestra played the challenging Mahler Symphony No 2 in a stunning performance.

Frank Ell, clarinetist with the orchestra said the move to Wharton allowed the players and the audience see the orchestra in a different light. “He took the orchestra from a community orchestra to a very fine community orchestra with a high level of performance.”

Meier had an elegance and grace to his personality and manner, on and off the podium. He lacked any arrogance that is often associated with conductors. He loved the music of the early classical masters, and especially loved the music of Mozart.

Meier was born in Switzerland in 1929 and moved to the U.S. in 1957, when he studied with maestros Zubin Mehta and Claudio Abbado at the Tanglewood Conductors workshop. Later, Aaron Copland recommended him to teach at Yale.

Gustav Meier

1929 – Born in Wettingen, Switzerland, a small town eight miles from German Border. Father a metal worker in a factory.

1934 – Mother gave him a trumpet and taught him to play “Silent Night” for a Christmas gift to his father who was home for the holidays. “My father was deliriously happy and sent me to the conductor of the boys band in which he played when he was growing up.”

1935 – Father found an old piano for his mother and Gustav and his mother took piano lessons together.

1937 – Joined the boys band, one-hour walk from his hometown. and played the melodies of the great operas of Rigoletto, Carmen, Merry Widow and movements of symphonies.

1939 – Was in an Army training unit, as a sixth-grader, and trained with guns and live ammunition. “The parents were always nervous of the invading German Armies, but for the kids, it was fun”.

1944 – Entered the Conservatory as a piano and trumpet major.

1947 – Became accompanist for a famous Swiss vocal trio (jazz and yodel), touring Europe for a year.

1948 – Fell ill and took a year off, eventually working in father’s machining factory.

1950- Played in a 13-piece pit orchestra for a small opera house and found his love of conductor. Entered conservatory for another two years of conducting training.

1951 – First conducting experience was conducting a chorus that sang Italian folksongs and a band playing Beethoven symphonies and overtures.

1954 – First full-time conducting job is Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia as the court Conductor for Emperor Haile Selassie. Arranged all music to fit into the unusual instrumentation of the ensemble. “I survived for one year.”

1955 – Back to Europe to study conducting in Vienna.

1957 – Attended the world famous Tanglewood Conductors workshop, along with two of his classmates – Zubin Mehta and Claudio Abbado.

1957 – Coach and Assistant Conductor for Zurich Opera.

1958 – Free lancing in NY, conducting new music, orchestrating, playing organ.

1960 – Took faculty position (recommended by Aaron Copland) at Yale University in charge of orchestra, taught orchestration and conducting.

1974 – Left Yale to go to Eastman School of Music, conductor of opera and orchestra.

1976 –Left Eastman to be Professor of conducting at University of Michigan.

1978 – Music Director and Conductor, Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestra

1980 - Head Coach of Tanglewood Conducting Seminar

1997 – Retired University of Michigan

1997 – Teaching conducting at Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore.

2006 – Retire from Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestra.