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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

J. Karla Lemon

J. Karla Lemon, who conducted at Stanford and with many new music ensembles nationwide, died on October 15 at age 55. She had a catastrophic stroke during surgery intended to correct a congenital heart defect. The full SFCV obituary is here.

Deepest condolences to her partner, soprano Christine Brandes, and other family members.
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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 23, 2009 at 11:13:00 PM PDT

    I really only knew Lemon for her stint as orchestral director at Stanford. But those were wonderful student orchestra concerts; no disrespect to the able Jindong Cai who succeeded her, but I've missed her greatly. Blessings to her memory.

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  2. UnknownOctober 27, 2009 at 2:52:00 PM PDT

    I took her conducting class at Stanford and still have the handouts she gave us -- essays by Erich Leinsdorf, Gustav Meier, Schuller, Bernstein. She would sit on a backwards-facing chair in the middle of the room and talk about the business in a smart and funny way. You could tell she had paid her dues.

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  3. Lisa HirschOctober 27, 2009 at 2:58:00 PM PDT

    Thank you, calimac and David.

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  4. AnonymousNovember 9, 2009 at 4:43:00 PM PST

    I was glad to see this blog on wonderful Karla. She was my best friend from lst - 3rd grade at Emerson (aka Emerstink) in Berkeley. We had wonderful adventures together and I have many happy childhood memories. The service Saturday at lst Congregational was so healing and beautiful. She touched so many lives. She was very special.
    Janet

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  5. Lisa HirschNovember 9, 2009 at 4:57:00 PM PST

    Janet, thank you, and I'm sorry - her death was such a personal loss for you.

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