Eugene Ormandy A Centennial Celebration Curated by Marjorie Hassen Otto E. Albrecht Music Library University of Pennsylvania

Olga Samaroff Stokowski's Letter to Curtis Bok, 8 December 1934

Leopold Stokowski announced his intention to resign as conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra on 6 December 1934. Two days following, the pianist and pedagogue Olga Samaroff Stokowski penned her recommendation for Stokowski's replacement to then Orchestra Board President Curtis Bok. Samaroff, by this time many years divorced from Stokowski, was a respected member of the Philadelphia music community and a long-time friend of the Bok family. Her emphatic endorsement of Ormandy is indicative of the impression the young conductor had made on many of Philadelphia's musical elite during his early appearances with the Orchestra.