Anthony Quartaccio pushes orchestra to new heights
Just 20 years ago, Anthony Quartuccio, then a student at Santa Clara University, had to bribe musicians with his mother’s lasagna so they would play for him. Now, musicians would bribe him, even with lasagna, to be able to play for him.
Luckily, the musicians with the South Valley Symphony do not have to wear themselves out in the kitchen – Quartuccio has been leading them since June 2006, when he appeared as a guest conductor for the season finale and was hired the following September as the new music director.
“Here we were becoming one of the best community orchestras in the area and he took the baton from Henry (Mollicone) and we’re continuing to move upward,” said Beverly Olivier Blount, concertmaster and violinist with the symphony for more than 10 years.
Though now secure, Quartuccio’s career in music is not unlike the history of the South Valley Symphony – slow to start, supported by devoted people and nourished by community ties.
Quartuccio’s first hiccup in the pursuit of music came when, as an early teen, he told his parents that he wanted to learn the piano.
“We couldn’t get a piano. I did what most Italian kids did and played the accordion,” he said.
Nonetheless, playing an instrument heightened his sensitivity to musical compositions and piqued an interest in orchestral repertoires. This fascination lasted through high school, when he actually learned the piano, and drove him toward a degree in piano at Santa Clara University.
While in the program, however, he switched to major in conducting and remains the only person to graduate from the college with a degree in it. It was during these four years when Quartuccio experienced the next challenge in his musical career – putting on a full concert.
While he had contacted a number of musicians and begged them to play in his program, they all refused. In a move of desperation, he turned to his mother for help – his mother offered lasagna.
The pasta dish turned out to be a big incentive and, with whetted appetite, the musicians decided to play for Quartuccio.
After graduation, his career picked up steam. Quartuccio was given an apprenticeship with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and, when not conducting or coaching his musicians, he was free to meet with the players of the San Francisco Symphony and its conductor.
“I could pretty much roam through Daly Hall at will. It was pretty much a great, great playground for me,” Quartuccio said.
From here, Quartuccio was accepted to Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he earned another degree before returning west.
In the Bay Area, Quartuccio balanced odd jobs, including helping to develop the Internet at the NASA Ames Research Center, with continued work in music.
His breakthrough came when in 1996 he started the Bay Shore Lyric Opera in Capitola. He remained its musical director through 2003.
“It was a really, really rough but fantastic experience,” he said.
In addition to conducting, Quartuccio was responsible for administrative duties such as auditioning musicians, determining a budget, fundraising, scheduling, negotiating salaries, interfacing with the board and even penning draft contracts.
It was a lesson in “how to build an orchestra from nothing,” he said
Due to budget constraints, the Bay Shore Lyric Opera was forced to close its doors. Quartuccio, however, quickly found himself flooded with offers.
While he became conductor of the Opera San Jose and assistant conductor of the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, he also agreed to be a guest conductor for the South Valley Symphony for last season’s finale at the Gavilan Theater.
“It was during the time that the board was looking for a conductor and we all liked each other,” Quartuccio said.
He was soon hired as the new conductor and has since been pushing the orchestra to do more difficult pieces, such as the The Blue Danube, which the symphony played at its Christmas concert. He plans to lead the orchestra in playing Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony at the season finale.
