THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 23, 1994 TAG: 9410220052
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: MARK MOBLEY
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
ONE OF THE loneliest places on Earth is a conductor's podium. Luke Douglas Sellers found both fulfillment and frustration there.
Sellers ended a four-year tenure as assistant conductor of the Virginia Symphony in May, and moved to New York. Last week, he was found dead in Virginia Beach, apparently the victim of self-induced carbon monoxide poisoning.
Sellers' death shocked orchestra members and staff, as well as his many friends in Hampton Roads. It stilled any hope that he would return to the pops audience that loved him.
I happened to spot him as he was hearing the Virginia Symphony for the first time. It was in 1990, at Winston Dan Vogel's final appearance as music director, an outdoor pops concert in a Smithfield pasture. I saw a distinctive, neatly dressed young man alone at the back of the crowd, perched on a chair while everyone else was on blankets. I thought he might be a local antiques dealer.
The next morning I arrived at the symphony office to watch assistant conductor interviews. The orchestra had never hired an assistant conductor, so I was writing about the selection process. As I was walking in, the young man from Smithfield stepped out of a cab.
He was the first candidate to interview and the last to audition. He told the search committee that at Rice University, he had produced creative children's programs from standard repertoire. ``The Magic of Music'' juxtaposed Mozart's ``Magic Flute'' overture and Dukas' ``Sorcerer's Apprentice'' with a magician onstage. The Virginia Symphony players were impressed with his baton work, and he was chosen by a clear majority.
Over the next four years, Luke improved his technique and developed a distinctive personality at pops concerts. His classical subscription concerts were uneven, but he developed a promising side career as a ballet conductor. He toured with the Joffrey Ballet and led local performances by the Stars of the Bolshoi Ballet, the Martha Graham Dance Company and Royal New Zealand Ballet as well as four seasons of Old Dominion University Ballet's ``Nutcracker.''
The ballet tours put him in front of such major orchestras as Detroit and San Francisco, and fostered a new assurance and expressivity in his conducting.
Upon leaving the Virginia Symphony, Luke chose to focus on pops repertoire. It seemed appropriate, as he was a curious mix of 1990s and 1950s. Once the orchestra was hired to accompany a Beatles cover band, but Luke had never heard any of the songs. As pops subscribers know, he had an extreme fondness for flashy dinner jackets. And he enlivened Richard Rodgers' ``Victory at Sea'' by having the orchestra perform a stadium-style wave.
We knew each other fairly well, and I narrated Britten's ``Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra'' for a school concert in Suffolk. Though we socialized only as much as was seemly for a critic and a conductor, I saw real-life counterparts to his on-stage humor and joy. He had a good laugh.
Luke ended his Virginia Symphony tenure with a concert at that same Smithfield farm. He entered in a spacesuit - in a previous appearance he'd been led in on a horse. He accepted gifts from the orchestra. He even relinquished the baton to play fourth horn on a march. Shortly afterward, he moved to New York, where he'd hoped to boost his conducting career.
One of his favorite gestures was a flamboyant cut-off - swirling the baton above his head to stop the music. I wish I could see it again.
Datebook
``La Traviata.'' Virginia Opera presentation at 2:30 p.m. today at Harrison Opera House, Norfolk. 623-1223. Ends today.
``Phantom of the Opera.'' Virginia Symphony Pops perform at 7:30 tonight at the Virginia Beach Pavilion. Tickets: $15 to $34. 623-2310.
Virginia Beach Symphony Orchestra Concert. 3 p.m. today at the Virginia Beach Pavilion. 428-8000.
``Bolivar Revealed.'' Thea Musgrave and a guest historian compare historic and artistic perspectives on ``Simon Bolivar,'' 6 tonight at Harrison Opera House, Norfolk. 623-1223.
Simone Pedroni, piano concert Saturday night at 8:15 at Christopher Newport University, Gaines Theater, Newport News. Part of the Ramseur Series. 594-7552.
The David Parsons Dance Company with Billy Taylor Trio, Saturday at Hampton University's Ogden Hall. Part of the Great Performer Series. Tickets $8 to $15. 722-ARTS. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Luke Douglas Sellers, former assistant conductor of the Virginia
Symphony, died.
by CNB