Eric Kunzel, longtime conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, died this afternoon.

In the late '80s and early '90s Kunzel and the CPO released several CDs of popular movie music - STAR TRACKS, TIME WARP, STAR TRACKS II, and at least 4 or 5 others that were bestsellers nationally and internatioonally.

Maestro Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra also had at least TWO Holiday specials broadcast on PBS nationally. One was a Halloween specialk , the other was a Christmas special.

In 1994 I met him one weekend when the local Klingon group was invited to be onstage during 3 days of Halloween concerts - and yes we got K'Unzel to wear a Klingon forehead piece for a part of one the concerts. He was incredibly gracvious and nice with those of us there in our Klingon uniforms.

The last concert where I saw him conducting was May of 2008 - the guest narrators of the concert were John DeLancie and Robert Picardo.

EDIT: The Wikipedia article on him, just updated:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Kunzel


- Ed C.

He was a great ambassador for Cincinnati, and he'll be missed.

More on Erich Kunzel, from an article about his 35th Anniversary of conducting Orchestras locally:

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2000/11/26/tem_hail_to_maestro.html

This snippet from that is amusing:

Quote7. "It was Erich who gave me my start performing with symphony orchestras. We've had a lot of interesting things happen, like getting stuck at the race track in Cleveland, and almost missing a concert at Blossom because we were waiting for the concertmaster to make a comeback on the last race.

        "He's a very irreverent person, and so am I."

        — Doc Severinsen, trumpeter, traveling with his band in Wisconsin

- Ed C.

Found a news segment from 2008, just before the Pops and Erich Kunzel went to the Beijing Olympics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CpVsQDkWp8&feature=fvw


- Ed C.

nice to see someone else enjoying this music