S2's beloved teacher and mentor at Juilliard passed away the day after Christmas, after fighting prostate cancer for 2 years.
AfriClassical: In Memoriam: Jerome Ashby, Associate Principal Horn, New York Philharmonic, Dec. 26, 2007
His health had been up and down over the 2 years, and last January he became critically ill. Another teacher warned my S at that time that Mr. A would never return to teaching. He surprised everyone when he returned to Juilliard 6 weeks later, and returned to the NY Phil this past September. A miracle. This latest downturn seemed to come just a couple weeks before the end of the semester. After so many "false alarms", I don't think S2 was prepared for such an abrupt ending. However, just before coming home for Christmas break, S2 was able to travel to his teacher's home for a lesson, and received a bit of a blessing/benediction from him, so we are thinking he knew this was good-bye.
We were in Florida at the time. We debated trying to get S2 up to NJ for the funeral, but for a variety of reasons decided it wasn't going to be possible. I'm sorry S2 had to miss it, but am hoping Juilliard will have a memorial service for the students when school starts back.
S2 has just one semester of school left. It is going to be a difficult semester for him, I think. For a musician, the private teacher is nearly everything. I know Juilliard will have other arrangements in place for the rest of the year, and my S is glad he had 3½ years with Mr. A. But his loss will be deeply felt.
Jerome+Ashby" rel="tag">Jerome Ashby
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