BALAZS BLAST-OFF

posted by James Reel

The Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, which I help direct, is running an underwriting spot on KUAT-FM promoting this season’s first concert, tomorrow night (October 1). The spot promotes Trio Solisti playing music by three composers: Franz Schubert, Paul Schoenfield and Modest Mussorgsky. One composer was left off that list, whether to keep the spot within its 15-second limit or because whoever wrote it thought he didn’t have a recognizable name: Frederick Balazs. But that name should be immediately recognizable to classical music lovers who have lived in Tucson since the early 1960s.

Fred Balazs was the conductor of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra from 1952 to 1966. He doubled as a composer at the time, and once he left the orchestra and Tucson, that’s mainly how he occupied himself.

After we’d engaged Trio Solisti for the concert, I found out that its violinist, Maria Bachmann, and pianist, Jon Klibonoff, had played a violin sonata by Balazs on the east coast. Since Balazs, now in his late 80s, is living in Tucson again, I asked the AFCM president to try to persuade Bachmann and Klibonoff to play the sonata as part of the Trio Solisti concert. They readily agreed.

At the beginning of the concert, I’ll interview Balazs onstage; meanwhile, you can read all about him in this archived article Dan Buckley wrote for the Tucson Citizen upon Balazs’ last local sighting, some five years ago.