JEROME KESSLER wears many hats…
He is a Cellist, Composer, and Conductor, an Author, Photographer and Traveler, a Raconteur and Commissioner/Catalyst, a humorist, collector and Et Cetorist. In his spare time, in a parallel universe, he was an educator (at the college level and in his studio), a real estate investor and (yikes!) broker, a lecturer and, for over 55 years, an attorney in private practice.
He was born in 1942 in Ithaca, NY, because he wanted to be near his parents, who were then members of the music faculty at Ithaca College. Said parents were Philip S. Kessler, musician, educator and businessman and Elaine B. Kessler, musician and educator.
Aliases: He is Jerome to his audiences and readers, Maestro to his orchestras, Jeremiah to Stuart Canin, Grandpa Jerry to his grandchildren, Jerry to most family and friends, but Jerome to Stanley Sheldone.
Some say we are judged by the company we keep. Jerome Kessler has kept worthy, interesting company. To see some of his associates, colleagues, friends, relatives and chamber music buddies, click here.
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He is a graduate of Theodore Roosevelt High School, Yonkers, NY; Columbia College, NYC, NY; and UCLA School of Law
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Cello with Lillian Rehberg Goodman, and with three generations of Principal Cellists of the New York Philharmonic: Joseph Schuster, Leonard Rose and Laszlo Varga
Chamber music with William Kroll, Broadus Earle, Marie Roemaet Rosanoff, Lillian Fuchs and Artur Balsam.
Conducting with Richard Karp and Pierre Monteux
Composition with Alan Shulman and Heitor Villa Lobos (but without their knowledge)
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Cellist
Member, Philharmonic Symphony of Westchester (Franco Autori)
Principal Cellist, Chautauqua Student Symphony (Henry Janiec)
Principal Cellist, Columbia Univ. Orch. (Howard Shanet, Elias Dann)
Charter Member, American Symphony Orch. (Leopold Stokowski)
Charter Member, Philharmonic Symphony of Westchester (Siegfried Landau)
Principal Cellist, Pasadena Symphony (Richard Lert)
Principal Cellist, Brentwood-Westwood Symphony (Alvin Mills)
Member, L. A. Chamber Orchestra (John Barbirolli, Neville Marriner)
Member, Los Angeles Master Chorale (Roger Wagner, John Currie)
Member, California Chamber Symphony (Henri Temianka)
Member, orchestras in the recording, motion picture and television industries for over 55 years, including The Simpsons, Family Guy & American Dad.
Member, Frank Zappa’s Grand Wazoo and Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Orchestra
Performed under other conductors from Pierre Boulez to Nelson Riddle.
Participant in chamber music and solo cello performances in all four corners of the US and in between, including service as:
Founding member, Beverly Hills Trio Member, Modern Arts Quartet Founder and Conductor of the cello octet, I Cellisti Founder and Principal Cellist, Los Angeles Cello QuartetRecorded solo and chamber works for Arnaeus Music, Cambria Records, Everest Records, and Orion Master Recordings
He has received numerous appreciative reviews, such as those of The New York Times, The New Records and his grandmother.
Conductor
Asst. Conductor, Columbia University Orchestra
Music Director & Conductor, Hollywood Chamber Orchestra
Music Director, Congress of Strings (Seattle, 1980)
Music Director & Conductor, Topanga Symphony (over 40 years) and Beach Cities Symphony
He has never conducted an out-of-tune note.
Composer
Jerome Kessler’s music has been performed throughout the United States, in Canada, Great Britain and Australia. Most of his works are tonal, so conservative that they’re only written on the right side of the page.
Et Cetorist
Founding Board Member and past President, Los Angeles Violoncello Society Clinician, teacher and coach, including service as Music Director, Congress of Strings (Seattle, WA)
Catalyst and exponent of contemporary music
Jerome Kessler has served as Cajoler, Coercer, Commissioner, Encourager, and/or Presenter of the World or West Coast Premieres or recordings of works of other composers, from David Amram to Frank Zappa, including Jack Anderson, John Boatner, Pierre Boulez, Barry Brisk, Andrew Charlton, Bradley Dechter, Jesse Ehrlich, Ernest Gold, James Helms, Lee Holdridge, Michael Isaacson, Ron Jones, Fred Katz, Lincoln Mayorga, Bill Marx, William Foster McDaniel, Thomas Pasatieri, Don Peake, J.A.C. Redford, Nelson Riddle, Willard Roosevelt, Garry Schyman, Nicholas Slonimsky, Theodore Stern, Elizabeth Winard and Eugene Zador.
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His writings reflect his amused/bemused reactions to a world that is mercurial at best and chaotic at worst, and celebrate his vivid, slightly skewed imagination.
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Active as a photographer for more than seventy years, JEROME KESSLER has taken over 55,000 photographs. He has an appreciative eye for:
People, either well-known or anonymous
Travel subjects and landscapes (which he favors because they tend to stand still while he focuses and shoots). Some will remind you of places you’ve visited. Others may evoke a response of “I want to go there.” (Kessler says, “I’m really just a shill for travel agents.”)
“Whatzits” - closeups of inanimate objects which, out of context, may require a second look before you recognize what they are.
Workers involved in their various occupations, from artists to laborers, in the United States, Mexico, Central America and Europe.
His award-winning images have appeared in such shows as those of the Los Angeles Federation of Labor, the Santa Clarita Artists Association, Mission College and Valencia National Bank (which was absorbed by Union Bank, which in turn was bought by U.S. Bank). He has had one-man shows and commissions. His work has appeared in String Magazine, on record jackets and CD jewel cards. His works are found in private collections around the United States.
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Sibling: Janet Berman, retired musician/banking industry exec.
Daughters: Jennifer Kessler, arts executive, and Amy Neyer, physical therapist.
“Grandpa Jerry” to Isabella June Penman and David William Neyer.
Ultimate Spousy Person: since 2007, former actress/businesswoman Joyce Miller.
