Due to the impending snowstorm, the funeral of Paul Stanbery, music director emeritus of the Butler Philharmonic, has been moved to Feb. 18.
A family-only funeral mass will be held at 11 a.m. Feb. 18 at Immaculate Heart of Mary, and will be live-streamed at www.ihom.org. (click on picture of church, click on Stanbery Funeral.)
Please see the post below for more details.
A few years ago, Paul John Stanbery, conductor of the Butler Philharmonic, endured chemotherapy, radiation and finally, proton therapy to tackle what began as a sore in his mouth that wouldn’t heal. The cancer was eradicated. An elated Stanbery was going to Carnegie Hall.
“Conducting your own music in Carnegie Hall after having beaten cancer – it just doesn’t get any better than that,” Stanbery told the Cincinnati Business Courier in 2018.
Unfortunately, cancer doesn’t always cooperate, and it returned. Mr. Stanbery died at his home on Feb. 6. He was 66.
He did get to Carnegie Hall to conduct his own “Music for Mass” in June, 2018. The performing forces included the Butler Philharmonic Orchestra Chorus in the choir of 200 singers from around the country and the New England Symphonic Ensemble. It was, for him, a personal and artistic triumph.
Christopher Scott Wyatt, who performed as tenor soloist in the Mass and is now director of the Butler Philharmonic Chorus, recalled, “We got a standing ovation and people were yelling. It was a wonderful climax and the audience loved it.”
As a result, the presenters, MidAmerica Productions, commissioned Mr. Stanbery to compose a new work to be premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2022, Wyatt said. “They wanted a patriotic work, in the powerful sense of people coming to America trying to fulfill the American dream.”Read More »
Since 1997, Paul John Stanbery has led a festival that is unique in the Midwest: The Ohio Mozart Festival.
“Our Mozart presentations continue to be a cultural drawing card for the entire region,” says Stanbery, music director of the Butler Philharmonic. “The chance to present this stunningly beautiful score in a place that has such an acoustically and visually rich environment is surely a ‘bucket list’ opportunity. Upon entering, one feels as though they were transported to Vienna, just for an afternoon.”
Stanbery and his orchestra, the Butler Philharmonic, presents the “Grand Finale Concert” of the Ohio Mozart Festival at 4 p.m. Sunday; April 22 at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 171 Washington St. in Hamilton.
This concert marks the first performance of symphonic music in the historic church, which has an acoustical environment that rivals the cathedrals of old Europe.Read More »
