Harry Ellis Dickson, Music Director Laureate

Harry Ellis Dickson was appointed Music Director of the Boston Classical Orchestra in 1983 and Music Director Laureate in 1999. He served as Associate Conductor Laureate of the Boston Pops and the Founder and Conductor Laureate of the Boston Symphony Youth Concerts until his death in March 2003.

A native of Cambridge, Mr. Dickson was a graduate of Somerville High School and the New England Conservatory of Music. He joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1938 under Serge Koussevitsky, was named Assistant Conductor of the Pops in 1958 and Associate Conductor in 1980. He founded the Boston Symphony's current Youth Concert series in 1959.

The distinguished recipient of numerous awards, Mr. Dickson was honored by the City of Somerville in 1976, when the Harry Ellis Dickson Center of Fine Arts and Humanities was dedicated in its Winter Hill Community School. In 1983, the Boston Public Schools honored him by dedicating the Harry Ellis Dickson Orchestral Suite at Madison Park High School. In 1991, the City of Boston, in collaboration with the Boston Fenway Group and the Boston Redevelopment Authority, dedicated the Harry Ellis Dickson Park on Westland Avenue near Symphony Hall.

An ardent collector of anecdotes about music and musicians, Mr. Dickson incorporated many of them into his books, Gentlemen, More Dolce Please, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, and Beating Time.

In March 2003, Harry Ellis Dickson died at the age of 94.

Steven Lipsitt remembers Harry Ellis Dickson.

• Music Director - Steve Lipsitt
• Concertmaster - Sandra Stecher Kott
• The BCO musicians
• Pre-concert lecturer - Mary Ann Nichols
• Program notes writer - Doug Briscoe

  Back to top

SCHEDULE & TICKETS  •  ABOUT US  •  PROGRAM NOTES  •  SUPPORT US  •  CONTACT US  •  SITE MAP & CREDITS