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The Chicago Symphony Orchestra family joins the music world in mourning the loss of American pianist, teacher and administrator Gary Graffman, who died yesterday, December 27, 2025, following a brief illness. He was ninety-seven.
Born in New York City to Russian-Jewish parents on October 14, 1928, Graffman began violin studies at the age of three and soon switched to piano. He entered the Curtis Institute of Music on scholarship at age eight, studying with Isabelle Vengerova. Graffman later continued studies with Rudolf Serkin at the Marlboro Music Festival and informally with Vladimir Horowitz. In 1947, eighteen-year-old Graffman made his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy in Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto, launching an extraordinary, globe-trotting professional career.
In 1980, Graffman joined the faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music, but shortly thereafter, he was diagnosed with focal dystonia, eventually losing the use of his right hand. He increased his focus on teaching and administration, as well as performing repertoire for the left hand. Graffman took over as Curtis’s director in 1986 and added the title of president in 1995, serving in both capacities until 2006, during which he counted both Yuja Wang and Lang Lang among his myriad of students.
Graffman appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on numerous occasions, and a complete list of his appearances is below.
January 13, 1951, Orchestra Hall
RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18
George Schick, conductor
March 19, 1956, Pabst Theatre, Milwaukee
PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26
George Schick, conductor
April 7, 1956, Orchestra Hall
TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23
George Schick, conductor
November 17, 1958, Pabst Theatre, Milwaukee
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37
Walter Hendl, conductor
February 10, 12, and 13, 1959, Orchestra Hall
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37
Walter Hendl, conductor
Recorded in Orchestra Hall on May 5, 1959, for RCA
February 18, 1961, Orchestra Hall
February 20, 1961, Pabst Theatre, Milwaukee
RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18
Walter Hendl, conductor
July 29, 1961, Ravinia Festival
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37
Paul Hindemith, conductor
August 5, 1961, Ravinia Festival
RACHMANINOV Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Izler Solomon, conductor
January 10, 11, and 13, 1974, Orchestra Hall
RACHMANINOV Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Guido Ajmone-Marsan, conductor
July 22, 1976, Ravinia Festival
PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26
André Previn, conductor
October 14, 15, and 17, 1976, Orchestra Hall
MENDELSSOHN Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25
Sir Georg Solti, conductor
Numerous tributes have been posted online, including the Curtis Institute of Music, New York Times, and Philadelphia Inquirer, among many others.
This article also appears here.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra family mourns the loss of Frank Kaderabek, who served as a member of the trumpet section from 1958 until 1966. He died at his home in East Falls, Pennsylvania, on December 28, 2023, at the age of ninety-four.
Kaderabek was born in Cicero, Illinois, on May 24, 1929, the son of Czech immigrants—his father a butcher and his mother a seamstress. He began playing trumpet in middle school and continued as a student at Morton High School. In 1946, at seventeen, Kaderabek began studies with Edward Masacek, who had been a member of the CSO’s trumpet section since 1921.
He won a scholarship to the Chicago Musical College (now the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University) and began studies in the fall of 1948. During his freshman year, Kaderabek first heard the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in February 1949 as a member of the Chicago Musical College Chorus, performing in Mahler’s Second Symphony under the baton of Fritz Busch. During the 1949–50 season, he was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and studied with the CSO’s principal trumpet Adolph “Bud” Herseth.
In 1950 Kaderabek joined the West Point Band, serving for three years during U.S. involvement in the Korean War. Following military service, he became principal trumpet of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 1953, a position he would hold for five years. A month before beginning his tenure in Dallas, Kaderabek was invited to perform as an extra trumpet with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on Fritz Reiner‘s first concerts as sixth music director in October 1953, in Berlioz’s Overture to Benvenuto Cellini and Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben. He also performed as principal trumpet of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra from 1954 until 1957.
In the fall of 1957, Kaderabek was invited by Reiner to audition for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and won the position of assistant/third trumpet. He began his tenure in March 1958, continuing to perform under seventh music director Jean Martinon. He won the principal trumpet spot in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 1966, and in 1975, he was hired by music director Eugene Ormandy as principal trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra, a position he would hold until his retirement in 1995.
For more than three decades, Kaderabek was on the faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music, and he also taught at West Chester University, Oakland University, University of Michigan, and Temple University. In his retirement, he continued to practice the trumpet every day, and he enjoyed woodworking, refinishing old furniture, collecting model trains, visiting flea markets, and reading (particularly about history). Always the student, he began piano lessons in his late eighties.
“The finest hours were always when the Orchestra sat on the stage and played its heart out,” Kaderabek remembered during a 1988 interview for the CSO’s Oral History Project. “Even after being away from this orchestra now for twenty-two years, I still remember that and I still think it’s a tribute to the artistry of all of those people.”
Frank Kaderabek is survived by his beloved wife of sixty-three years, Mary; daughters Elizabeth (Michael Tucker), Laura (Adam Eyring), and Sarah (John Galbraith); and sons Vincent and Anthony (Ella Fok); seven grandchildren: Dylan, Nina, Luke, Nicholas, Tristan, Elly, and Nadja; and his devoted dog Blarney. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Humane Society, the Red Cross, or the American Federation of Musicians Local 77. Tributes have been posted online here and on the International Trumpet Guild website.
A celebration of life and reception will be held at Laurel Hill West in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, January 6, 2024, at 12:00 p.m. To join virtually, click here (meeting ID: 856 3427 1824, passcode: 683446).
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The Chicago Symphony Orchestra family mourns the loss of pianist Gail Niwa, who passed away on February 9, 2021, at home in New York City, following a long illness. She was sixty-one.
Born in Chicago in 1959, Gail was the daughter of two professional musicians. Her mother (and first teacher) Eloise was an accomplished pianist and pedagogue, and her father Raymond was a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s violin section from 1951 until 1997. David Niwa, Gail’s brother, also is a skilled violinist with degrees from the Curtis Institute and the Juilliard School, and he currently serves as assistant concertmaster of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. Together, the Niwa family claims a singular distinction: all four have been soloists with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
At the age of eight, Gail Niwa was a second-place winner (tying with cellist Gary Hoffman) in the CSO’s youth auditions on December 11, 1967, and she subsequently made her debut with the Orchestra on youth concerts on February 19 and April 8, 1968, performing the third movement of Haydn’s Piano Concerto no. 11 in D major with Irwin Hoffman conducting. She later appeared with the Orchestra on special Music is the Message concerts for high school students, performing Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto on March 7, 1972, and Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos in D minor (along with David Lackland) on April 8, 1975, both under the baton of Henry Mazer. A graduate of William Howard Taft High School, Niwa was a two-time Chicago City Parks tennis champion.

On scholarship to the Juilliard School, Niwa earned bachelor and master’s degrees as a student of Adele Marcus. She was awarded first prize at the 1987 Washington International Competition, which led to her recital debut at the Kennedy Center. In 1991, She became the first woman to win the top prize at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, receiving not only the gold medal but also the audience and chamber music prizes. This led to her debut at New York’s Alice Tully Hall in October of that year. Recognized as an excellent chamber musician, she received the award for best accompanist at the 1986 Tchaikovsky Competition for violinists in Moscow.
She gave recitals in Athens, Miami, Montreal, Seoul, Toronto, and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and she also performed as soloist with the Augusta, Memphis, San Luis Obispo, Utah, Reno, and Grant Park symphony orchestras, and performed Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with the California Philharmonic. Niwa also appeared with the Highland Park Strings, Kammergild Chamber Players in Saint Louis, the Ocean State Chamber Players, and the Banff Festival Chamber Orchestra, and she was a member of the Partita and Chelsea chamber ensembles in New York. With violinist David Kim, she made recordings for the Musical Heritage Society and Teldec labels, and with CSO bassoon Bruce Grainger on the Centaur label.
On April 4, 1993, Niwa made her Orchestra Hall recital debut on the Allied Arts series, performing the following program:
BACH/Busoni Chaconne from Unaccompanied Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004
CHOPIN Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58
SZYMANOWSKI Shéhérazade and Sérénade de Don Juan from Masques, Op. 34
TCHAIKOVSKY Dumka, Op. 59
LYAPUNOV Lezghinka, Transcendental Etude, Op. 11, No. 10
“It was easy to hear why the young Chicago pianist already has racked up so many competition victories,” wrote John von Rhein in the Chicago Tribune. “She plays with the kind of confident fluency that makes competition juries take notice. . . . Taste, elegance, and musical intelligence were the hallmarks of Niwa’s Chopin sonata [and] the afternoon’s finest playing came in two of Szymanowski’s Masques [that] emerged here in all their exotic coloration, with plenty of intensity and atmosphere.”
On April 25, 1994, Niwa, along with Philip Sabransky—a former student of Eloise Niwa and the son of CSO violin Jerry and founding Chorus member Martha Sabransky—joined the Orchestra at Medinah Temple for recording sessions for Disney’s Fantasia 2000. Together they recorded the finale from Saint-Saëns’s The Carnival of the Animals with James Levine conducting.
Niwa was back in Orchestra Hall for her subscription concert debut on February 9, 11, and 14, 1995, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as soloist in Schumann’s Piano Concerto with Sir Georg Solti on the podium. “She reveled in Schumann’s lyricism, especially in the concerto’s first movement, lingering over the expressive opening theme, stretching its rhythmic outlines to the limit,” commented Wynne Delacoma in the Chicago Sun-Times. “The CSO, in turn, provided unusually sumptuous accompaniment [and] the second movement was a relaxed, expansive conversation between soloist and sections of the Orchestra.”
At the University of Southern California, she served as assistant professor of piano and was founder and artistic director of Chamber Music at Great Gorge in northwest New Jersey.
Niwa is survived by her partner Glenn Powell, son Matthew, and brother David (Mariko). There are no immediate plans for services. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in her memory.













