Dale NewtonVioloncello
Dale Newton
Hometown:
St. Paul, Minnesota
Year you joined the Grant Park Music Festival:
1974
Where did you study?
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Minnesota
What were your earliest connections to music?
My father was a professional violist in Chicago (around 1935-45 he was principal violist with the Kansas City Symphony, then in the mid 1940’s joined the NBC Symphony with Arturo Toscanini). In 1948, Raphael Kubelik invited him to be assistant principal violist of the Chicago Symphony. My father also later performed with the Grant Park Orchestra, so I began attending Grant Park concerts as a young kid. I eventually came down to rehearsals and hung out with the musicians and studied scores of the music. I got real serious about music and loved what Grant Park was doing. After I became a professional musician, my dad and I eventually performed together in the Grant Park Orchestra for 5 years.
Who would you love to work with in a future musical collaboration (conductors, guest artists) that you have not previously worked with?
Truls Mork, cellist, and Edgar Meyer, bassist. The band Radiohead (although they’ll already be at Lollapalooza this summer). We should be the first to have Led Zeppelin back, if ever they tour again.
Can you share any memorable stories about your experience with the Grant Park Music Festival?
During the first week of the first season I joined the orchestra (1976), my cello was smashed onstage in a freak accident at the old Petrillo band shell. A very strong wind swept in through the back door of the band shell, pushing a string bass, chair, and my cello over a 3-foot ledge on to the floor. I was off the stage for probably less than a minute when this happened. I was in shock when I returned to the stage and saw the pile of rubble that had been my cello. I was performing with Gary Stucka on first stand at the time and Gary generously loaned me a cello for most of the season while my instrument was resuscitated. But in the end, the damaged goods survived and I later sold the instrument to purchase my current cello.
What would you be if you were not a musician?
Building businesses, investing and contributing to the arts, environment and humanitarian good (I’m doing this anyway).
