Dorsey Whittington
Dorsey Whittington was a pianist and music teacher, and was organizer and director of the Birmingham Civic Symphonic Orchestra.
Wittington moved to New York from California to pursue his musical education in 1917. He held degrees from the Institute of Musical Art (1922) and a Musical Doctorate from Boguslarvski College of Music (1934). He was a popular performer at the Aeolian Hall in New York City in the 1920s, and toured Europe in 1926.
In 1932, Whittington conducted the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at its first informal concert at Phillips High School, and continued to helm the orchestra as it gained the backing of the Birmingham Music Club and established itself as the city's preeminent symphonic ensemble.
He and his wife Frances were instructors at the Birmingham Conservatory of Music, and he took over for Edna Gockel Gussen as director in 1930. In 1939, the conservatory was folded into Birmingham-Southern College as their music department. Whittington continued to instruct students there until 1944.
The Whittingtons lived in Roebuck Springs in the 1930s and 1940s. Their living room was large enough to hold two grand pianos so they could practice at home for their duo-piano concerts. In the summers, he directed the piano program at the National Music Festival in Interlochen, Michigan.
In 1955, the Whittingtons moved to the Roberts Bay side of Siesta Key in Sarasota, Florida.
BSC holds the annual Whittington Music Competition for its music majors, and allows the winners a chance to perform with a symphony. Whittington's daughters, Barbara and Naru. Naru married composer Alan Hovhaness. The Whittington's scrapbooks and other papers are housed at the Birmingham Public Library Archives.
References
- Musical Alabama Volume 2 (1936) Federated Music Clubs of Alabama. Tuscaloosa: Weatherford Printing Company
- "Pianist Guest Soloist at Concert Tonight" (February 3, 1955) "'Sarasota Herald-Tribune
- Hamilton, Virginia (April 2, 1989) "Recollections of Roebuck Springs." Accessed June 24, 2008