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TRIBUTE
November 14, 2006
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By Robert P. Commanday
Violist Tom Heimberg, a central person in Bay Area orchestral life for more than 40 years, died in his home in Kensington on the morning of Nov. 14 after a year-and-a-half-long battle with cancer. He was 69.
His career with all three of the major orchestras — the Oakland Symphony for two years and the San Francisco Symphony and Opera Orchestra for 15 years each — is probably unmatched. He also served as the Opera Orchestra's personnel manager for 13 of those 15 years, displaying an effectiveness that won the approval of the opera's general director, the late Kurt Herbert Adler, a famously demanding taskmaster. Heimberg's success was founded on a combination of high intelligence, sensibility in human relations, perspective, a congenial personality, and a great interest in his fellows.
Born Thomas Crotty in Los Angeles, he was given the last name of his mother's second husband when he was 7 and the family moved to West Hollywood. He began violin studies at age 10 and played in the school orchestras alongside boys who would become famous musicians: Lincoln Mayorga, Herb Alpert, and his lifelong friend Arnold Steinhardt, founding first violin of the Guarneri String Quartet. At USC, where he continued studying and playing music, he was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society in his junior year. He continued at UCLA in a graduate program in English.
Later, having switched to viola, he played for two years in the Oakland Symphony, also serving as personnel manager, then went to Paris on a Fulbright Fellowship for two years. While in Europe, he auditioned successfully for the San Francisco Symphony with Joseph Krips, leading Herb Caen to write in The San Francisco Chronicle, "He had to go halfway around the world to get from Oakland to San Francisco."
He never lost his love of playing in orchestras. "[T]he orchestras I've belonged to have, at times, been sort of my hometown," he said in his oral history, which was recently published by Legacy, a project of the San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum (PALM) and of the Musicians Union, Local 6, on both of whose boards he served. His great recall of the musicians and orchestras, the performances and individualities, the anecdotes and portraits is in part captured in the history. As Arnold Steinhardt reflected on Tom Heimberg's memories, "These vignettes were told with the relish and detail of someone who has never lost his wide-eyed love of music, of life itself." He played an important role in the reorganization of the Opera Orchestra in 1980, after the division of Opera and Symphony musicians triggered by the opening of Davies Symphony Hall. Opera concertmaster Zaven Melikian, conductor David Agler, and Tom Heimberg auditioned candidates in cities all over the country. Their choices for the 26 openings gave their final auditions in San Francisco for Adler. Tom Heimberg taught at San Francisco State University and wrote many articles for Strings Magazine, the San Francisco Opera's magazine, and San Francisco Classical Voice, as well as chapters in books on musical careers and on the viola. He was president of the Northern California Viola Society. All through the past year and a half, he faced several operations and the inevitability of his demise with an equanimity, poise, and even humor that was inspirational to all his friends. Last March, his colleagues honored him with a party in the lower lounge of the Opera House, attended by 200 associates and friends. The Opera's general director, David Gockley; his predecessor, Pamela Rosenberg; and the music director, Donald Runnicles, spoke in tribute to Tom and his contributions. Tom Heimberg is survived by his wife of 44 years, Rosalyn Heimberg, and their daughter Erica Devra Heimberg and two grandsons, Devin and Andrew. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Nov. 20 in the Northbrae Community Church near the corner of the Alameda and Solano Avenue in North Berkeley.
(Robert P. Commanday, founding editor of San Francisco Classical Voice, was the music critic of The San Francisco Chronicle from 1965 to 1993, and before that a conductor and lecturer at UC Berkeley.)
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Tom Heimberg
