George Ockner
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George Ockner (October 19, 1916 – May 12, 1970)[1][2] was an American violinist, chamber music artist, recording artist, composer, and arranger. [upload photo to Wikimedia Commons at Commons:Special:UploadWizard, after getting permission from Air Force Museum]
Early musical life and career[edit]
George Ockner was born on October 19, 1916, in New Kensington, Pennsylvania to Harry Ockner and Selima Ockner, immigrants from Russia.[3] Ockner began performing on the violin at an early age [reference newspaper reviews of early performances]. When he was eight years old, his family moved to Philadelphia, where he studied at the Curtis Institute of Music as a scholarship pupil of Sascha Jacobinoff. He received a conservatory degree at Curtis, while attending and graduating with honors from Overbrook High School (Philadelphia), and received a fellowship to the Juilliard Graduate School (as it was known at that time), where he studied with Louis Persinger.[4] [ref. correspondence with Juilliard staff] Ockner was chosen at age 19 to be concertmaster of the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo,[5] and left Juilliard[6] to travel with the company in 1938, making four transcontinental tours of the United States and Canada with them. He won two competitions to perform as youth soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy: first in 1937, when he was a student at Juilliard[7] and again in November and March 1943.[8] In 1941, he joined the Perole Quartet as second violinist[9][10], giving weekly concerts with them over the Mutual Broadcasting System, until he joined the United States Army in World War II. He was a member of the NBC Symphony Orchestra.[11][4]
Military service in Glenn Miller's Army Air Forces Orchestra and "Strings With Wings" leader[edit]
While in Basic Training at Army Air Force Basic Training Center BTC #7, Atlantic City, NJ, Pfc Ockner was recruited for the string section of Major Glenn Miller’s Army Air Forces Orchestra, along with many of the finest performing musicians in the United States.[12] "Well-known violin virtuoso Sgt. George Ockner was master of the string section"[13] [insert correct citation], wrote arrangements for Miller, and led the "Strings With Wings" weekly radio broadcasts.[14] [use Army photo at the BBC microphone, with permission of Air Force Museum] The orchestra played for the Allied troops in England and France, including a performance at the Paris Opera House with Andre Kostelanetz and singer Lili Pons, as well as performances for heads of state.[15] Ockner's widow received the Air Force Medal of Honor posthumously for him on August 16th, 1986 at the first reunion of the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band.[16]
Later career[edit]
At the end of his military service in 1945, Ockner returned to New York City, where he continued to perform as an orchestral violinist, soloist, and arranger. He also resumed his violin studies with Professor D. C. Dounis.[17] Ockner worked as a free-lance studio and Broadway musician, and he was a member of the Perole Quartet (along with Joseph Coleman, Lillian Fuchs, and Ernst Silberstein),[18] the Manhattan Trio (Ockner, violin; George Neikrug, cello; Harold Bogin, piano), the Bach Aria Group, and the NBC Symphony Orchestra.[19] He also performed with Leopold Stokowski,[20] as well as other orchestras and conductors. Ockner was a featured soloist in the Naumburg Memorial Concert conducted by Robert Shaw in Central Park, NY, on May 30, 1946.[21]
From 1946 on Ockner worked frequently in the major recording studios of New York City, recording violin solos for Andre Kostelanetz, Percy Faith, Morton Gould, Alfredo Antonini, and other conductors and composers on commercial recordings, and on sound tracks for films, television shows, and television commercials. The liner notes for Bouquet - The Percy Faith Strings say: "The forty-eight string players, led by George Ockner, Percy's concertmaster, are some of the finest performers in music, men whose skill has made them the highest paid, most respected instrumentalists in America."[22] Ockner's solos can be heard on films by Walt Disney Pictures, MGM, Warner Brothers, and Universal Studios. He can be heard as violin soloist and/or concertmaster on numerous recordings of popular, jazz, and classical music. He performed unaccompanied works by J.S. Bach and Fritz Kreisler over WNYC-TV on April 25, 1966 Ockner was also often the concertmaster (leader) of the string section in these recording sessions. He continued to work until his death in 1970 as an orchestral and recording studio musician in New York, giving occasional solo recitals.
Ockner was well respected by his colleagues and was " ... a violinist who has probably been heard by more people than any other in history ... [he] brings to his work a concert-caliber technique, an exquisite tone, and the authority that comes with thirty years of experience and thorough academic training ... "[23] Ockner played a rare violin made by Vincenzo Ruggieri in Cremona, Italy in 1714.
Personal life[edit]
Ockner was married to Cecile (Wolsky) Ockner. They lived in Mount Vernon, NY. They had two daughters and a son. Ockner died on May 12th, 1970 at the age of 53 in Manhattan.[24][1]
Bibliography[edit]
- Polic, Edward F. (1989). The Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band: Sustineo Alas / I sustain the Wings, volumes one and two. Studies in jazz ; no. 8. Scarecrow Press and Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University, New Jersey & London. ISBN 0-8108-2246-6 Search this book on
., ISBN 0-8108-2268-7 Search this book on . - Rublowsky, John (c1967). Popular Music. Basic Books, Inc. New York, London. ISBN 9780465060245 Search this book on .
- Simon, George Thomas (c1974). Glenn Miller And His Orchestra. Thomas Y. Crowell, New York. ISBN 0-690-00470-2 Search this book on .
- Spragg, Dennis M. (2017). Glenn Miller Declassified. Potomac Books, Lincoln, NE. ISBN 9781612348957 Search this book on .
- Way, Chris (1996). Glenn Miller in Britain Then and Now. After the Battle, London. ISBN 0900913924 Search this book on .
- North, James (2011). Andre Kostelanetz on Records and on the Air: A Discography And Radio Log. The Scarecrow Press, Lanham.
- Malvin, Arthur (1986). Reunion and Remembrance, August 16th, 1986. Beverly Hills, CA
- Butcher, Geoffrey (1986). Next To A Letter From Home: Major Glenn Miller's Wartime Band. Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh. ISBN 1-85158-025-5 Search this book on .
https://books.google.com/books?id=mLfWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PP1 - Grudens, Richard (2004). Chattanooga Choo-Choo: The Life and Times of the World-Famous Glenn Miller. Celebrity Profiles Publishing. ISBN 9781575792774
- Bowman, Martin W. (2016). The Bedford Triangle: US Undercover Operations from England in the Second World War. The History Press.
External Links[edit]
- George Ockner biography on ArtistInfo
- As concertmaster and session supervisor: Recording: Scalinatella. Renato Cellini, Ferruccio Tagliavini. Victor matrix E1FB-3939.George Ockner
- The Air Force Museum Foundation, Inc. presents Major Glenn Miller and his Army Air Force Band. Vol. II. [New York.] : RCA Special Products, ℗1978. LP. Worldcat[25]
- Glenn Miller: "A Memorial, 1944-2004"
- Jazz Profiles: The Glenn Miller Years, Part 7
Partial Discography[edit]
- All about Percy Faith: Discography and Reference
- George Ockner in WorldCat Identities
- As soloist: Tchaikovsky, Andre Kostelanetz and His Orchestra, Swan Lake Ballet Music Op. 28 (Columbia Masterworks ML4308 LP)[26]
- As concertmaster: Miller, G. (1998). The best of The lost recordings: and The secret broadcasts. New York: BMG Entertainment. https://adams.marmot.org/Record/.b25198634 Access date=2022-05-22.
- As concertmaster: Glenn Miller and the Army Air Forces Training Command Band: Complete Shows, I Sustain The Wings (Compact Classics, 1944)[27]
- https://www.muziekweb.nl/en/Link/M00000377846/POPULAR/George-Ockner
- As soloist: Gershwin, George. Porgy and Bess (Album) (Columbia LP CS8105), liner notes[28]
- George Ockner recordings as concertmaster and supervisor: the Discography of American Historical Recordings
- Leopold Stokowski and His Symphony Orchestra: Personnel Rosters for the RCA Victor Recordings
- Ockner recording credits at AllMusic Guide
- George Ockner Obituary. "Deaths". 1970. New York Times (1923-), May 17, 1970.
- "FINAL CONCERT GIVEN BY BACH ARIA GROUP". 1949. New York Times (1923-), Mar 17, 1949.
- "George ockner, concert violinist". The Jewish Exponent (1887-1990). May 29 1970:77.
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "George Ockner Dies, Was Concert Violinist", Mount Vernon, NY: Mount Vernon Daily Argus, May 15, 1970, p. 2
- ↑ Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 14, 1970, p. 42
- ↑ 1920 United States Federal Census. Pennsylvania, Westmoreland, New Kensington District 0175
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "George Ockner, Concert Violinist". Jewish Exponent. May 29, 1970. p. 77.
- ↑ Stinson, Eugene (December 28, 1939). "Music Views: Ballet Russe (review)". Chicago Daily News.
- ↑ https://juilliard.resourcespace.com/pages/download.php?direct=1&noattach=true&ref=34114&ext=pdf&k=
- ↑ "TO PLAY IN YOUTH CONCERT; Ockner, Student Violinist at Juilliard School, Wins Honor". The New York Times. 1937-01-31. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
- ↑ Philadelphia Orchestra Programs, 1943, p. 25
- ↑ https://lccn.loc.gov/2010479648 The Perolé Quartet. 1941. 1 v. (concert program) PN2093 .C64 1995 no. P214
- ↑ The Perolé Quartet. (1941). (n.p.): (n.p.).
- ↑ Simon, George (1974). Glenn Miller and his Orchestra. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell. ISBN 0-690-00470-2. Search this book on
- ↑ Spragg, Dennis. "Glenn Miller Army Air Forces Orchestra, Diamond Jubilee Commemoration, 1943-2018" (PDF). Glenn Miller Archive, University of Colorado Boulder.
- ↑ Butcher, Geoffrey (1986). Next To a Letter From Home: Glenn Miller's Wartime Band. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 1851580255. Search this book on
- ↑ "Glenn Miller Archives" (PDF). American Music Research Center. 2014-08-28. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
- ↑ Spragg, Dennis (2017). Glenn Miller Declassified. Lincoln, NE: Potomac Books. p. 11. ISBN 9781612348957. Search this book on
- ↑ Malvin, Arthur (August 16, 1986), Reunion and Remembrance, August 16th, 1986
- ↑ Constantakos, Chris A. (1997). Demetrius Constantine Dounis: His Method in Teaching the Violin (American University Studies). Peter Lang, Inc., International American Publishers. p. 8. ISBN 9780820438955. Search this book on
- ↑ The Perole Quartet, 1941, Concert programs. Starlight Chamber Music Committee in cooperation with the National Capital Parks Service, C.C. Cappel, manager. n.p.: n.p. 1941. Search this book on
- ↑ Simon, George T. (1974). Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. New York: Crowell. p. 335. ISBN 0690004702. Search this book on
- ↑ Leopold Stokowski and "His Symphony Orchestra"
- ↑ "Notable Events and Performers".
- ↑ "The Percy Faith Strings - Bouquet, liner notes". Discogs.
- ↑ Rublowsky, John (1967). Popular Music. New York, London: Basic Books, Inc. p. 134. ISBN 9780465060245. Search this book on
- ↑ New York State, U.S., Death Index, 1957-1970
- ↑ Air-force-museum-foundation-inc-presents-major-glenn-miller-and-his-army-air-force-band-vol-ii/oclc/51057828, OCLC 51057828, retrieved 2022-04-01
- ↑ As soloist: Tchaikovsky, Andre Kostelanetz And His Orchestra / André Kostelanetz - Swan Lake Ballet Music Op 20a, retrieved 2022-02-19
- ↑ Glenn Miller And The Army Air Forces Training Command Band - "Moon Dreams" Complete Shows "I Sustain The Wings" 26 February & 4 March 1944, retrieved 2022-02-19
- ↑ "Percy Faith album: Porgy And Bess". www.percyfaith.info. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
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