He had been in visibly frail health for some time, and was often helped on and off-stage by associate principal cello Peter Wyrick or assistant principal cello Amos Yang. He missed a portion of a recent season and had been on leave since the beginning of the 2019-20 season. Over the last couple of seasons, Wyrick and Yang played in the principal chair a fair number of times.
Grebanier was principal cello of the Pittsburgh Symphony for 14 years before joining SFS. He played in the FOG Trio with pianist Garrick Ohlsson and violinist Jorja Fleezanis. He studied at Curtis and won the Naumburg Competition at 19.
He is survived by his wife Sharon, a violinist in the orchestra, and two children.
No announcement for a principal cello is on the SFS audition page, so it seems that this opening will be left for incoming music director Esa-Pekka Salonen to fill.
Elsewhere:
- Joshua Kosman, SF Chron
- Janos Gereben, SFCV
Thanks for posting this, Lisa. Michael was my very close friend Danny Morganstern's older cousin (and life-long mentor). My father also played quartets with Michael in Cleveland when they were both very young.
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome, Elaine.
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