Gunther Schuller in The Independent
(Gunther Schuller at the Mingus Festival 2013, photo by Sue Mingus)
"Gunther Schuller’s passing is a major loss to the world of both classical and jazz music. Not many have covered the musical spectrum as he did. One of Schuller’s earliest collaborations with Charles Mingus was conducting a Mingus composition called “Revelations” in 1955 at the Brandeis Festival of the Creative Arts. His last association with Mingus music was editing and conducting Mingus’s magnum opus “Epitaph"— a work that was 4000 measures long, required thirty-one musicians and almost three hours to perform. It was premiered in 1989 at Philharmonic Hall in New York, and was subsequently performed at Wolf Trap, Tanglewood, Chicago Symphony Center, Cleveland Symphony Hall, San Francisco Symphony Hall, and other venues." -- Sue Mingus