To the Editor:
I am an amateur violist/violinist who has lived in Hanover for over 50 years. I started playing in the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra in 1950 and was the only violist for some years. Very few students played and "ringers" were brought in for concerts. It wasn't until the Concord String Quartet was in residence in the '70s that there were string players to teach students. They were in residence for 12 years and students would apply to Dartmouth so that they could continue their string study, no matter what their major. But it wasn't until the arrival on the scene of Tony Princiotti that student participation in the orchestra grew and grew. Tony has music degrees from Julliard and Yale but, most important, he is a fine artist and teacher who dedicates himself to his students and their understanding of the music at hand. They think he is wonderful, and he is. In 54 years I have never seen such student enthusiasm. Every concert manages to have a full house in Spaulding unheard of in the past. And more students attend the concerts that ever before. Read former student Bob Mirakian's letter ("In Defense of a True Mentor," Feb. 10). It says it all. The music department is crazy to even think of dismissing him.
