The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s principal trumpet player and principal librarian are stepping down.
George Vosburgh, who has led the orchestra’s distinctive trumpet section since 1992, and librarian Joann Vosburgh, who has been with the orchestra since 1984, are retiring. The married couple met in Pittsburgh.
As a result, the PSO will have four open principal seats within the ensemble: principal trumpet, concertmaster, principal second violin and principal timpani.
The quartet of openings is a rarity for the PSO, which prides itself on having a strong core of principal musicians who play with the orchestra for decades and define its sound.
Mr. Vosburgh, who has performed with professional orchestras for four decades, said the couple had been contemplating retirement anyway, but the orchestra’s painful labor dispute this fall expedited the move.
“We were prepared to go one way or another, but I can tell you I never signed up to play in a second-tier orchestra, and that’s essentially what they did to this orchestra,” the Grammy Award-winning trumpeter said.
The musicians’ new contract was ratified in November, nearly two months after the musicians went on strike. The pact knocked the PSO out of the top 10 orchestras when it comes to musicians’ base pay. The musicians’ negotiating committee warned that a significant concession might result in the departures of key members.
“We thought the strike was really important because of what we were trying to accomplish, and that’s about trying to keep the orchestra great, but that being said it was difficult to go through and difficult to come back from,” Ms. Vosburgh said.
“I’m hopeful, and I’m trusting,” she said. “I know that we have a very dedicated board and management, and I’m wishing them all the success that will be needed, and I think they can do it.”
The Vosburghs already planned to take a sabbatical from March until August, so their retirement officially takes effect at the end of the season. They had always expected to retire together, Ms. Vosburgh said.
“I think our decision was what it was no matter what,” she said. “It was time for us.”
Mr. Vosburgh, who previously was a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, is performing in the symphony’s education concerts this week. He may play the last week of the current season and join the orchestra when it goes on tour to Europe this summer, he said. The couple plans to stay in Pittsburgh, and Mr. Vosburgh, who was hired by former music director Lorin Maazel, will remain on the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University.
Ms. Vosburgh, who as librarian manages and grows the orchestra’s music collection, started her career at Heinz Hall with the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra. She joined the PSO in 1984 and became principal librarian four years later.
“Both Joann and George are an integral part of what makes the PSO a world-class orchestra,” said senior vice president and COO Christian Schörnich. “We will miss both of them very much ... and obviously wish them all the best in their well deserved retirement. They are certainly very difficult to replace.”
The organization is starting to make arrangements to audition for the Vosburghs’ replacements, but no auditions have been scheduled yet, he said.
The other principals have left the PSO for a variety of reasons. Timpanist Ed Stephan is currently on a yearlong leave, having won an audition with the San Francisco Symphony. In 2015, concertmaster Noah Bendix-Balgley departed for a position with the Berlin Philharmonic, while principal second violinist Jennifer Ross resigned in January for personal reasons. Principal flutist Lorna McGhee recently won an audition with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra but turned down that job.
Elizabeth Bloom: ebloom@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1750 and Twitter: @BloomPG.
First Published: March 1, 2017, 7:36 p.m.
