The Conducting world has lost a Giant

Through the years of running the Ithaca International Conducting masterclasses, Larry Rachleff was the most requested teacher by the many students who came to work with the orchestras of Ithaca College and Cornell Orchestras. Through the years Jeffery Meyer and I were very fortunate to bring Larry Rachleff back to Ithaca for many moments of inspiration. Many of our participants have gone to great careers in the field. I am grateful to have been able to be in a position to collaborate with Jeffrey to create a masterclass environment that benefitted not only the participating conductors but also our students in our orchestras.

Every time Larry stepped on the podium to demonstrate or to work with our student orchestras it became a highlight event for our students in the orchestras to witness how it is supposed to be done.

I will forever be grateful for Larry pushing us to set the bar higher for ourselves musically and as human beings.

Rest In Peace Larry we will all miss you.

Chris Kim

April 2012 LF with CK and JM

April 2012 LF with all the conducting participants (from left to right: Damien Mahiet, Patrick Valentino, ?, ?, Evan Meccarello, Scott Seaton, Larry Rachleff, Rei Hotoda, ?, Michelle Merrill, Robert Boardman, Samuel McCoy, Stefan Sanders, Jeffery Meyer, Chris Kim

teaching in 2015 LF at Ithaca College with JM

April 2015 LF with all the participants (from left to right: front row: Shun Yao, Tiffany Lu, ?, ?, Jeffrey Meyer, Rebecca Smithhorn, Larry Rachleff, Chris Kim; Back row: Mario Torres, Christopher Whittaker, Paul Grobey, ?, Joshua Hong, Sameer Patel, Avishay Shalom,

April 2015

April 2018 LF with all the participants (from left to right: Larry Rachleff, Shen Dao, Kin Szeto, Benjamin Firer, ?, HyeYeon Jang, Alexander Magalong, Evan Meccarello, Shohei Kobayashi, Keehun Nam, Jacob Nieman, Matthew Straw, Daniel Bukin, Etienne Abeline, Ryan Tani, Dajoung Choi, Octavio Mas Acoras, Chris Kim

2018 LF demonstrating “Are your ears open?”

April 2018, LF with members of the Cornell Chamber Orchestra