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Raphel’s Rocky Route

Maestro Andre Raphel faced a rocky journey from Philadelphia to conduct the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra for the final time Friday night.

No, Raphel didn’t have to run up and down the famous “Rocky” steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but he did spend all day and into the evening hours Tuesday at Philadelphia International Airport. After Raphel’s flight to Pittsburgh was delayed and then canceled because of heavy storms battering the East Coast, he had to wait several more hours for a flight that was rebooked and rerouted.

Eventually, he made it to Wheeling to take the podium for the final rehearsal and performance.

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Robert Troeger, Wheeling Symphony board member and music director of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Wheeling, joined the orchestra Friday night to play organ and celesta for the performance of Respighi’s “Pines of Rome,” the closing number for the WSO’s season finale and Raphel’s final concert.

The celesta — a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard — set to be played by Troeger is a very special instrument. This celesta is the same one that was used on the PBS children’s series, “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” which was filmed in Pittsburgh.

Incidentally, Fred Rogers visited St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church many years ago when a friend appeared as guest soloist for a choral concert. Some very young parishioners were surprised and left speechless when they encountered the real-life “Mister Rogers” in their midst.

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The importance of maintaining archives and conducting research was demonstrated during the West Virginia University College of Creative Arts’ commencement last weekend.

Erin Rothenbuehler, head of programming and archives coordinator for the Ohio County Public Library, was on hand to see WVU President E. Gordon Gee award an honorary Doctor of Music degree for Wheeling native Everett Lee, a barrier-breaking African American music conductor and violinist.

Lee, who is 101 and lives in Sweden, could not attend the ceremony. His daughter, Eve Lee, traveled from California to accept the honorary doctorate for her father.

Sean Duffy, executive director of the Wheeling Academy of Law & Science (WALS) Foundation and Rothenbuehler’s predecessor at the library, noted Rothenbuehler’s role in rediscovering Lee’s legacy and his remarkable career.

“Yet he (Lee) had been all but forgotten in his hometown and home state, until Erin found a photo of Mr. Lee in the OCPL Archive and from there did a massive amount of research to create a blog post about Mr. Lee’s life that was published on Archiving Wheeling.org,” Duffy said.

Regarding the impact of Rothenbuehler’s work, Duffy commented, “This honorary doctorate would not have happened but for Erin’s research and story, and it serves as the best example I’ve yet seen of the power of archives, when accessible to great researchers like Erin, to illuminate history and bring it to life. This blog post had a profound impact. Not only did it warm Mr. Lee’s heart (and those of his family), but hundreds of students of the arts on the verge of graduation got to hear this fellow West Virginian’s inspiring life story. That sort of thing can have a ripple effect.”

Duffy said Rothenbuehler was mentioned by Gee when he presented the award to Eve Lee. “Erin was then thanked by Eve and was mentioned a third time by Mr. Everett Lee himself in a video made in his home in Sweden,” he related.

In addition, Duffy said, “After the ceremony, Erin got to meet Eve and shared with her some of the documents she had found about Everett Lee’s life in Wheeling. Eve Lee was visibly impressed and had not seen any of the documents before despite doing a lot of genealogical research herself. She said she would love to visit Wheeling some day to see her father’s hometown.”

Linda Comins can be reached via email at: lcomins@theintelligencer.net.

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