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with Joseph Eger about his book |
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Eger harmonizes music, science and humanity
Saturday, April 16, 2005
By Andrew Druckenbrod, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The United Nations may be in some discord these days, but its resident orchestra has been promoting harmony for decades.
Conductor and former Pittsburgher Joseph Eger founded the Symphony for United Nations in 1974, looking to promote harmony anywhere and everywhere he could.
"I always had a dream to start an orchestra that could employ the power of music for various human concerns and issues," he says. "We raise money and focus on issues such as kids who survived wars, refugees. We raised millions for causes."
Eger, 84, is still passionate about the cause. "I haven't stepped down yet. I am looking for someone who cares about making an impact." To that end, he's touring the country to promote his new book, "Einstein's Violin" (Tarcher, $27.95).
The book is wide-ranging, reflecting his experiences as a conductor and musician while also putting forth some provocative concepts about music and science. Perhaps most provocative is his comparison of string theory and quantum physics to music.
"Since music is nothing more than wave and energy forms, you [can] postulate a theory that the universe is made up of music," he says. "Some very prominent physicists have taken the theory seriously."
The seeds of Eger's book and career were planted in his youth in Squirrel Hill. He was the youngest of nine children born to Jewish parents who had immigrated from Romania. He attended Allderdice High School, where he also had a strong interest in science. But music eventually proved to have a stronger pull -- and even kept him out of trouble.
"I was on the way to becoming delinquent, and I joined the band so I could get into football games free," says Eger. "I was in eighth grade when I started. I was a latecomer."
Eger first took up the clarinet, but later switched to French horn. Later, armed with a degree from the Curtis Institute and with stints in the New York Philharmonic, he wound up a much-admired soloist in the Los Angeles Orchestra and in Hollywood. The New York Times once labeled him "one of the greatest horn players alive." He later turned his attention to conducting, studying with Pierre Monteux.
Eger's life took a dark turn in the years that followed. He was blacklisted during the McCarthy era in 1951, in part, he says, because he had worked with Eleanor Roosevelt on human rights in Washington, D.C.
A member of the U.S. Army Air Forces Band, he worked to create a racially inclusive canteen for servicemen.
"The blacklist ... had a terrible effect on my psyche," he says.
It also thwarted his attempts to land solo work and conducting posts. But in the end, it pushed him to realize he wanted to do more than play classical music: He wanted to use music as a means for social change.
To do that meant founding and leading his own orchestra. He did this first in New York, creating a group called the West Side Symphony. But it was the Symphony for United Nations that achieved his goals.
He has led benefits for Bosnia, conducted in Moscow and connected classical music to rock (working with John Lennon and Keith Emerson, to name a few) and other popular music from around the world.
"I want people to realize their humanity and their ability to grow and change and contribute to society. Music is a wonderful tool in that respect," he says.
Article
reprinted with permission from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Andrew Druckenbrod is classical music critic at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette