Orchestra

Dr. Jerome "Jerry" Gaber, a retired Govans general practitioner who during his more than 50-year career personified the old-time family physician, died Tuesday of complications from dementia at Atrium Village in Owings Mills. The Govans resident was 88. Dr. Gaber, the son of a Romanian tool and die maker and a Lithuanian mother who owned and operated a sandwich shop, was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and moved with his family in the early 1920s to a home on West Pratt Street. After graduating in 1940 from City College, he attended the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, graduating in 1944, and then served in the Navy for several years.

Jack Hook, a trombonist who was also the longtime secretary-treasurer of Local 40-543 of the American Federation of Musicians of Metropolitan Baltimore, died Tuesday of a ruptured aneurysm at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The Towson resident was 76. Mr. Hook, who was born in Baltimore and raised on St. Paul Street, graduated in 1952 from City College. Mr. Hook didn't start studying and playing the trombone until he was a teenager. "He was largely self-taught and held no degrees in music," said his daughter, Susan L. "Lorrie" Loveland, who lives in Parkville.

A decade ago, something called the Soulful Symphony appeared in Baltimore. With its roster of predominantly African-American players and its emphasis on the vibrant music of founding director Darin Atwater, the ensemble made quite a statement. Its high-energy performances soon earned a sizable fan base and, in 2004, a valuable partner in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Soulful Symphony hasn't performed for more than a year, but will be back in the spotlight Saturday for a 10th anniversary concert.

Under music director J. Ernest Green, the Annapolis Chorale and the Annapolis Chamber Orchestra presented a transcendent program of joyous masterpieces titled "Praise and Majesty" to open their 38th season. Green delivered a pre-concert lecture, accompanied by solo violinist Natasha Korsakova. Promising "an evening of beautiful music," Green shared what inspired him to put together a program that featured two musical giants: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his "Overture to Don Giovanni," plus religious anthems "Laudate Dominum" and "Ave verum corpus," combined with Johannes Brahms' Violin Concerto and "How Lovely are Your Dwellings " from his German Requiem.

Baltimore-born billionaire and philanthropist David Rubenstein pledged $10 million Wednesday to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, with half of those funds earmarked for the National Symphony Orchestra. The five-year gift will include $5 million to the symphony in connection with the arrival of the group's new music director, Christoph Eschenbach; $2.5 million for a major annual cultural program at the institution; and $1.5 million for a program that brings the arts into classrooms around the U.S. The remaining $1 million will be used to support such major events as the center's annual honors gala and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

A hotshot quintet called Classical Jam — Jennifer Choi, violin; Cyrus Beroukhim, viola; Wendy Law, cello; Marco Granados, flute; Justin Hines, percussion — was formed recently "to reach out to diverse audiences" and promote classical music "to people who feel that they cannot relate to it, or for one reason or another, are not exposed to it." One way Classical Jam fulfills that mission is through collaborative projects and the creation of new music. The ensemble is heading to Maryland for a residency next week at the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda and a side trip to Baltimore that promises interesting sounds for veteran and novice classical music listeners alike.

I n celebration of Holy Week, the Annapolis Chorale Chamber Chorus and the Annapolis Chamber Orchestra presented two performances of Bach's "St. Matthew Passion," which describes the betrayal of Christ, his arrest, trial, crucifixion and entombment. J. Ernest Green conducted the groups, along with two guest soloists, at St. Anne's Church in Annapolis. Bach's monumental "St. Matthew Passion" is perhaps his grandest musical composition. With the two choruses, two separate orchestras and solo voices, this work is considered by some to be the finest piece of music ever composed.

T he Baltimore Symphony Orchestra put the best possible face on a dire situation when it announced Thursday that it had reached an agreement with the musicians that will allow it to continue as one of only 17 U.S. orchestras that perform 52 weeks a year. The good news of the BSO's survival, however, was tempered by the fact that it was able to avert catastrophe only after the players agreed to accept a 17 percent cut in pay and benefits, a sacrifice that virtually wiped out all the gains they had made during the last decade.