A special edition of my blog in honor of Black History Month and a wonderful man.
I was lucky enough to know Clavin Simmons personally. He was the conductor of the Oakland Symphony when I worked there.
Let me back up a little bit. My mom Sarah Chambers started working at the Oakland Symphony in 1977 when I was still in high school. She began as the receptionist and worked her way up the ladder to the Director of Education.
She would sign me up during the summer to hand out flyers at lunchtime events. One of our board members would do the same with her daughter Libby Schaff was the Mayor of Oakland from 2015-2023.
I was hired in 1980 as the receptionist and worked my way up the ladder to Box Office/Marketing Assistant. We both worked for the Symphony until September 1986, when they filed for bankruptcy.
Before the Oakland Symphony
Calvin was born in San Francisco in 1950 to Henry Calvin and Mattie Pearl Simmons.
Music was a part of his life from the beginning. He learned how to play the piano from his Mother.
By age 11, he was conducting the San Francisco Boys Chorus, started by Madi Bacon, of which he had been a member.
Calvin attended Balboa High School in San Francisco, where he was a member of the orchestra.
“did tons of conducting with school orchestra.”
Madi Bacon
The Maestro Kid
He was the assistant conductor with the San Francisco Opera from 1972 to 1975, winning the Kurt Herbert Adler Award.
He remained active at the San Francisco Opera for all his adult life, supporting General Director Kurt Herbert Adler, first as a repetiteur and then as a member of the conducting staff. He made his formal debut conducting Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème with Ileana Cotrubas. His later work on a production of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District drew national attention.
In 1979 he conducted the premiere of Menotti’s La Loca in San Diego.
He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, conducting Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, returning the following year. He was on the musical staff at Glyndebourne from 1974 to 1978.
Oakland Symphony
Simmons became musical director of the Oakland Symphony Orchestra at the age of 28 in 1978. He was one of the early African-American conductors of a major orchestra.
His debut audition was in early 1978.
A Maestro Wordless – September 1978
Calvin joined the Youth Orchestra tour in July 1982
His final concerts were three performances of the Requiem of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the summer of 1982 with the Masterworks Chorale and the Midsummer Mozart Festival Orchestra.
Finale – 1982
On Sunday, August 22, 1982, I was next door helping my husband, who was repairing our neighbor’s roof. All of a sudden, my mom screams out the window that Calvin has died. Such a sad day. It took another week to find his body. It was such a loss to Oakland and the music world. He was on his way to greatness.
Calvin was visiting friends in Upper State New York. Connery Pond was where he went a lot to unwind and regroup. While waiting for dinner, Calvin took a canoe ride out in the pond. He was by himself about 150 feet from the shore; he was a good swimmer. A woman was taking pictures of the sunset from the beach. She pointed her camera towards Calvin, and he must have noticed that, and being the ham he was, he stood up to pose. He then fell into the water.
A Final Tribute
There was a memorial service on September 07, 1982, at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco; more than 2200 people attended.
There was a memorial concert on September 20, 1982, at the Paramount Theatre.
More on Calvin
- 40 Boys and a Soprano – The Times 09/17/1969
- SF Schools’ Finest to Perform – SF Examiner 05/22/1969
- Calvin Simmons, Oakland Symphony Leader – NY Times 08/24/1982
- City’s Symphony rose and fell with Calvin Simmons – Oakland Tribune 12/07/2007
- Calvin Simmons Middle School – Oakland Local Wiki
- Calvin Simmons – Oakland Local Wiki
- Calvin E. Simmons – Wikipedia
- Calvin E. Simmons – Find A Grave Memorial
Calvin also played the French horn.
Thank you for letting “us’ know.
Calvin was my camp counselor at SFBC summer camp.
He couldn’t swim at all and we used to tease him about it…
His passing has been impactful in my life.
Calvin was an awesome person. I worked at the Oakland Symphony while he was the conductor. His death was such a tragedy. He was on the path to greatness.
I sang with the Oakland Symphony Chorus I believe 1980 under Calvin Simmons as a 1st Tenor. I recall how gentle he was in his approach to getting work done especially with the men.
I sang in the Oakland symphony chorus in 1980
Under the direction of Joseph Labeling. Calvin Simmons was director of the orchestra. It was a magical awesome experience. Bob White
Would you please delete the above comment.
Belinda Greenwood
I was in the SF boys chorus with Cal. We were also camp counselors together at the boy’s chorus camp and later saw him with mutual friends. When he was on the tonight show I helped him rinse out a listerine bottle so he and Herb Caen could have a little shot of courage before going on.I have Madi Bacon’s copy of Cal’s bio. What a privilege to have known him.
Yes, it was a privilege to know him. He was a rare treat and is missed.
I attended Balboa High School in SF with Calvin, performing in the jazz blues band and regular band with band instructor Sid Walker often asking Calvin to conduct. In 1967 we performed at a CMEA music festival and received top rating for our performance of several pieces. This was recorded on a vinyl record, and I have one. Of particular interest is Calvin Simmons performing piano solos on two of the songs, “Gigue” and “7/4 Shout”. I converted them to MP3 digital files and can upload them so the public may hear his wonderful performance. I was a trombone player, and fondly remembered Calvin’s humor from those high school days.