Schermali, Thomas (Kielty)
Schermali, Thomas (Kielty)
Schermali, Thomas (Kielty), American conductor; b. N.Y., Feb. 12, 1917; d. there, May 14, 1979. He was a son of Harry Scherman, founder and president of the Book-of-the-Month Club. He attended Columbia Univ. (B.A., 1937), and then studied piano with Vengerova, theory with Weisse, and conducting with Bamberger, Rudolf, and Klemperer, whose assistant he became in conducting a chamber orch. composed of European refugees at the New School for Social Research in N.Y. (1939–41). He subsequently served in the U.S. Army (1941–45), reaching the rank of captain in the Signal Corps. In 1947 he became asst. conductor of the National Opera in Mexico City; that same year, he organized in N.Y. the Little Orch. Society for the purposes of presenting new works, some of them specially commissioned, and of reviving forgotten music of the past; he also gave performances of operas in concert versions. He terminated the seasons of the Little Orch. Soc. in 1975, but organized the New Little Orch. Soc. to present children’s concerts, which he led until his death.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire