Detroit Symphony Orchestra pays tribute to late leader Anne Parsons

Shortly before her death in late March after a years-long battle with lung cancer, the longtime leader of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Anne Parsons, told her husband that she'd done her best.

"'I've given all I have to give,'" her husband, Donald Dietz, said during a public tribute Tuesday to Parsons at Orchestra Hall.

"We know every performance, even the most familiar, must come to end," he said. "But as Anne used to say, it's the music that stays with us."

Music is how Anne was remembered Tuesday at a special, free performance called the "DSO in Concert for Anne Parsons." Playing for a crowd of roughly 1,000 people and led by Music Director Jader Bignamini, the DSO performed eight pieces during the 90-minute concert, all of which had significant meaning in some way to Parsons, including Mozart, Haydn and Brahms.

A string of stars, meanwhile, also paid tribute to Parsons in several video recordings played for the audience, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who performed a Brahms piece, and "Star Wars" composer John Williams. Williams and Parsons had been friends since Parsons was orchestra manager at the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

"I've always admired Anne greatly and she broke many barriers and glass ceilings through her intelligence, grace, hard work and humor," said Williams. "And for those like myself who were fortunate to work with her and loved her dearly, she is going to be sorely missed and truly irreplaceable."

Parsons, who arrived in Detroit in 2004, led the DSO for nearly 18 years, ushering it through a series of difficult challenges during her tenure, including the Great Recession, Detroit's bankruptcy, a bitter six-month musicians strike and then the pandemic. At the same time, she oversaw the DSO's launch of neighborhood concerts and free webcasts more than a decade ago, a move that positioned the orchestra ahead of other cultural groups when COVID hit.

Erik Rönmark, who was named the DSO's new CEO last year when Parsons retired so she could focus on her health, remembered one of his first one-on-one interactions with Parsons and one of his last exchanges with her.

Rönmark recalled picking Parsons up from the airport 15 years ago, hoping she'd at least remember his name afterward.

"Instead, Anne asked me question after question, wanting to know who I was and what I wanted to do," he said. "At that moment, I decided that this someone who I not only wanted to work for but learn from."

Rönmark said working with Parsons was a "life-changing" experience and he never stopped learning from her. In one of their last text exchanges, Parsons told Rönmark that she knew he would be "amazing" in his new role but apologized for not giving him more time.

"I replied to her with what I think all of us would, 'Oh please. You've given me so much,'" he said. 

Tuesday's program included small, poignant pieces, such as Mozart's "Larghetto" by a Clarinet Quintet in A minor and Debussy's "Syrinx" performed by Sharon Sparrow on flute (Parsons played the flute throughout her life, including at her alma mater, Smith College). It also included larger, buoyant pieces, such as"Allegro giocoso" of Brahms' Symphony No. 4 - Third movement. Brahms was Parsons' favorite composer.

Dietz said Parsons found "her calling" in Detroit. He said of all the cities where the couple had lived — Boston, Los Angeles and New York — before moving to Detroit with their daughter, Cara, Detroit was the only city that answered back when she said "good evening" on stage.

"In Detroit, Anne was not just making remarks to the audience. She was engaged in a conversation, a conversation that would last nearly 18 years," said Dietz, who also noted that the conversation wasn't always easy. "... In Detroit, she found people she loved and who loved her back — a place full of opportunity where she felt entirely at home, and her purpose, to give people and the place everything she had to offer."

mfeighan@detroitnews.com