Five Boston Symphony Orchestra string players play final concert

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The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) has bid farewell to five of its string players: violinists Victor Romanul and Jennie Shames, violist Rachel Fagerburg, and bassists Edwin Barker and Joseph Hearne. Their final performance took place on 27 July at Tanglewood’s Koussevitzky Music Shed, with a programme comprising Gabriela Ortiz’s ‘La Calaca’ for string orchestra, Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto no.2 with Lang Lang, and Beethoven’s Symphony no.6. It was conducted by BSO music director Andris Nelsons. The BSO’s vice president of orchestras and production, Lynn Larsen, also marked his retirement.

Victor Romanul first played with the BSO aged 13 as a winner of the orchestra’s youth concerto competition. A fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center, he studied with teachers including Alfred Krips and Jascha Heifetz and became associate concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony at the age of 21. Romanul joined the BSO in 1992, serving as assistant concertmaster from 1993–1995, and has performed as soloist with both the symphony orchestra and the Boston Pops numerous times.

Shames joined the orchestra in 1980 and held the Catherine and Paul Buttenwieser Chair in the first violin section, and has frequently appeared as a soloist with orchestra for the Boston Pops. Shames is a graduate of the Hartt College of Music and the recipient a Tanglewood Music Center fellowship. Her teachers included former BSO concertmaster Joseph Silverstein, Nathan Gottschalk, Rafael Bronstein, and Arianna Bronne. Shames also graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in biology, and is a graduate gemologist.

Fagerburg joined the BSO’s viola section in 1989 and was a member of the Renard Quartet alongside fellow BSO members, as well as appearing as a soloist for the Boston Pops. She is a graduate of New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) and a fellow at Tanglewood Music Center, studying with teachers including Heidi Castleman, Eugene Lehner, and Abraham Skernick.

Barker was appointed principal bassist of the BSO in 1976 aged 22, making him the youngest bass principal in the orchestra’s history. He is an NEC graduate and Tanglewood Music Center fellow, and studied with teachers including Henry Portnoi, Peter Mercurio, Richard Stephan, Angelo LaMariana, and David Perleman. Barker has served as associate professor at the Boston University College of Fine Arts, as chairman of instrumental and orchestral studies at the Tanglewood Music Center, and taught at the University of Maryland’s National Orchestral Institute. He has premiered numerous new works for double bass and was the 2025 recipient of the International Society of Bassists’ Distinguished Achievement Award. Barker is succeeded as principal by double bassist Caleb Quillen.

Hearne joined the BSO’s double bass section in 1962 at the age of 20. He was the recipient of the Eleanor Saterlee Memorial Scholarship at Juilliard, where he studied with Stuart Sankey, and was previously a member of the Portland Symphony Orchestra, the Aspen Festival Orchestra, and has been a member of the Incredible Quartet. Hearne is also licensed as a commercial pilot, and has flown with BSO colleagues and artists such as violinist Isaac Stern as passengers.

The BSO paid tribute to the departing musicians at the end of the concert, and later wished them well in a post on social media:

‘Join us in congratulating Vice President of Orchestras and Production Lynn Larsen, violinist Victor Romanul, violist Rachel Fagerburg, violinist Jennie Shames, and bassists Edwin Barker and Joseph Hearne on their outstanding careers with the orchestra as they took their final bows at the end of yesterday’s performance.’

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