Witness to History: Carole Haas Gravagno on the Importance of Arts Education

Above: Carole Haas Gravagno at the opening of the Kimmel Center on December 15, 2001, with Philadelphia Orchestra Music Director Wolfgang Sawallisch (left) and her husband, Philadelphia Orchestra bass player Emilio Gravagno

By Judith Kurnick

It would be tough to find someone who has worn more hats at The Philadelphia Orchestra than Carole Haas Gravagno. Officially, she has been a Board member, a major philanthropic supporter, and a tireless advocate for Philadelphia music education. But it was Gravagno’s unofficial role as “harmonizer” that led to her least expected hat: that of Orchestra spouse.

EARLY EXPOSURE TO CLASSICAL MUSIC

Growing up in Philadelphia and North Carolina, music was ever present, Gravagno remembers. Her parents, who sang in a chorus, kept their five kids quiet on long car trips by singing in harmony. Her surgeon father would come home at night, put on the latest recording by Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra, and conduct along with the music. “He was so excited, the happiest you ever saw,” she recalls. A piano student, Gravagno was thrilled when her mother’s twin cousins came to visit. “They were concert pianists. They would play our piano and they’d play together and then one would get up and they’d swap places; they’d play the other part. It was such fun. I always got inspired to practice more when they would come to town.”

Most important to her later work, “When I lived in Philadelphia, from the first to the fourth grade,” she continues,” we had music in school every day. We weren’t doing instrumental music, but we sang every single day. There was a piano in the classroom. They would open all the doors between the different classrooms, and we’d all sing together.”

When Gravagno married and moved back to Pennsylvania in 1965, she attended Orchestra concerts until children and work kept her too busy. Fast forward to 1989, when a request from a friend set her on a path toward the orchestra world. She was asked to help with a presentation of the American Soviet Youth Orchestra. “They were bringing 50 Soviets and 50 American musicians,” Gravagno explains, “to play together on the Mann Music Center stage. [First ladies] Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Gorbachev were the honorary sponsors. My job was to help raise money and to find placements; they were going to stay in homes, one Soviet and one American in each of the homes. I thought, how am I going to do this? So I called The Philadelphia Orchestra. I don’t even remember who I talked to. I just said, ‘I need somebody to help me.’”

The Orchestra lent a staff member, and the event was successful on multiple levels. “There were 5,000 people in the audience, from all walks of life. It was just the kind of place that I enjoyed being. It was wonderful to see these musicians, Soviets and Americans. Even though they didn’t speak each other’s language, they did speak the music. And you could tell how they used the music to help them communicate.”

A CHAMPION FOR THE ARTS

After this success, Philadelphia Orchestra Board Chair Peter Benoliel invited Gravagno to join the Board. Unfortunately, her husband, Otto Haas, had recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer, so the answer was “yes, but not now.” Meanwhile, Gravagno had become a performing arts champion. An early project helped create what became the Kimmel Center. “I was asked by Tony Checchia to help the Chamber Music Society buy the Prince Theater. There had been a big fire across the street and that whole block was a mess. So I went to [Philadelphia’s then-mayor] Ed Rendell and said, ‘I’m interested in doing something on Chestnut Street because there is no performing space for a small group, like chamber music, in the city.’ That was just important. And he said, ‘Well, if you’ll give us that money so we can buy the property at Broad and Spruce, I’ll assure you that we will build a space for chamber music.’” After discussing it with her husband, Gravagno went ahead with the gift for the land.

Otto Haas died in January 1994. In 1995, Benoliel repeated his invitation. “He was such a persuasive gentleman,” Gravagno recalls. “And I said, ‘Sure, I’d be happy to do that.’” Naturally, she was asked to serve on the New Hall Committee. But her heart lay in her second assignment. “The Artistic Committee was fascinating,” she recalls. “It was really the Artistic and Education Committee because they were all in one. I did not understand why there weren’t two committees, because artistic took up the whole time and a very little bit of time was devoted to education. Finally, after many years, I convinced [Orchestra President] Joe Kluger that it would be better to have two different committees, one for each. It was a long process to get that moving. Today, I’m so glad that that attitude has changed.”

A PASSION FOR MUSIC EDUCATION

Gravagno threw herself into developing and supporting music education projects. A major one was a collaboration among the Orchestra, Settlement Music School, and the School District of Philadelphia. The goal was to bring musicians to certain schools four times a year to show students what was possible with instruments. If students then wanted lessons, the school music teachers would teach them. When Orchestra musicians hesitated based on past concerns, Gravagno convened a lunch and pleaded with them. “‘We used to have one of the most phenomenal music programs in the country,’” she said. “‘A lot of you came from our schools, and then those programs were dismantled because of money. Some places still have music, but the places that really need it do not. You are the star musicians in the city, and if you aren’t doing something to help the people here learn about music, who is?’”

The musicians agreed to participate, and the program had some wonderful response but kept facing challenges in the public schools. Gravagno eventually moved it to St. Francis de Sales, a Catholic school, where it thrived for several years.

OPPOSITES ATTRACT

So, what about that Orchestra spouse hat? It all started in 1996, when the Orchestra musicians were on strike, a miserable experience for everyone involved. After a contentious Board meeting, Gravagno went downstairs to leave and saw the picket line. “It was freezing cold, and these musicians were out there in their parkas. They had their signs, and this nice man walked up to me and said, ‘Would you sign my petition?’” She later learned he was Emilio “Lee” Gravagno, one of the bass players.

It wasn’t until months later that the encounter took on new meaning. “After the strike was over, the tension among the musicians, the staff, and the Board was awful.” Gravagno decided to travel on the upcoming tour and try to “figure out what I could do as a Board member to help heal some of these wounds.” She planned to “just listen,” and ask for any ideas people thought could bring positive change. “I got a tap on my shoulder, and it was Emilio. He said, ‘Would you have lunch with me? There are a few things I could tell you about the Orchestra that I think would be helpful.’ So I had lunch with him. Years later he told me, ‘I had ulterior motives.’”

When they got home, Gravagno debriefed with the musicians after a rehearsal. Emilio was distressed because his car was missing. “I gave him a lift home, and we went to dinner. That was the beginning. After we got married, we had a reception for everybody in the Academy Ballroom: musicians and their spouses, Board members, ushers, staff, everybody connected with the Orchestra. We had dinner, we had a band, we had a wonderful time, all together. We tried to show how opposites could attract, how we could all work and be constructive together.”

Thirty years on, Emilio has passed, but Carole Haas Gravagno is still harmonizing.

Learn more about the Orchestra’s education initiatives here.