George J. Saslow (1925–2004)
George Saslow, was the cello teacher and a chamber music coach at ASMC from 1969–1972.
Mr. Saslow, was a cellist and music educator.
He studied cello with Leonard Rose, Bernard Greenhouse, Diran Alexanian and others, and participated in music festivals at Marlboro (including the Pablo Casals master classes), Aspen, Tanglewood and Dartmouth. He studied at the Manhattan School of Music and Mannes, and earned his M.A. from Columbia.
Mr. Saslow began his performing career as the principal cellist of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. He later returned to New York, performing chamber music as well as orchestral concerts under conductors such as Leon Barzin, Leopold Stokowski and Mstislav Rostropovich.
Mr. Saslow was also an esteemed music educator. He initiated the first instrumental training program in the New York Public Schools in 1948 and, in his career, worked for various schools in New York, including as an assistant principal and a supervisor of music. He was featured as a conductor of student orchestras on some of the earliest broadcasts on NBC and CBS.
Mr. Saslow was a member of the Richmond String Quartet in residence at Wagner College (Staten Island), and later worked at Kingsborough Community College as a lecturer and performer. He coached chamber music at the Meadowmount School of Music for several years as well as many other summer music centers, and was the director of the Hebrew Educational Society Music School (Brooklyn) for 15 years, also organizing and performing in chamber music concerts.
A former student (not from ASMC) wrote of him: »George Saslow was a great guy. He was very happy to have me as a student. He used to come to our house for lessons. My lesson was supposed to be for an hour but he almost always did at least an hour and a half; sometimes two! In the second half or 12th grade we went to two lessons a week, and both were long ones. I worked my ass off trying to make up for missing a whole childhood of cello lessons in one year! It worked, I got into Boston Conservatory of Music the following year. For several years after that, during breaks, I would meet Saslow at the HES to get free lessons during which I would show him what I was learning in college and he would give me his opinion.«
(Sources: (source 1) (source 2))
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