Brief Obituary in Star Tribune and Pioneer Press

Complete Obituary in pdf form from Albin Chapel Funeral Home

Pioneer Press: Carlson's legacy: Schubert Club

Star Tribune: Obituary: Bruce Carlson

Minnesota Public Radio: Morning Edition talks with Dominick Argento about Carlson's legacy

Minnesota Public Radio: Bruce Carlson's friends remember musical visionary

North Park University: Bruce Carlson C’62, Champion of Music, Dies at 66

Obituary: Bruce Carlson

He managed the group for 38 years, cultivating successful events and attracting coveted soloists.

Michael Anthony, Star Tribune
July 31, 2006

Bruce Carlson, manager of the Schubert Club for 38 years and one of the Twin Cities' most respected musical figures, died Friday night of complications from leukemia. He was 66.

Carlson had been treated for leukemia over the past four years, including a bone-marrow transplant, for which his son Max was the donor. "We all thought he was improving, until about a week ago," said pianist Thelma Hunter, a longtime friend of Carlson's. "Then things just seemed to dissolve, a total organ failure."

A Minneapolis native who graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Law in 1968, Carlson took over the Schubert Club that year, becoming the first professional manager of a group formed in 1882 and run by volunteers. During Carlson's reign, the Schubert Club's annual budget went from $13,000 to $2 million. At a time when the vocal recital was thought to be an endangered species, Carlson managed to build a large Twin Cities audience for the organization's main presentation, the International Artist Series, often engaging such prominent, hard-to-get soloists as Daniel Barenboim, Cecilia Bartoli and Renée Fleming as well as showing a sharp eye for the important newcomer.

He created smaller series for early music, chamber music, electronic music and, in recent years, jazz. His weeklong Summer Song Festival in downtown St. Paul has been a special success. He published books and records and commissioned new works, including Minneapolis composer Dominick Argento's "From the Diary of Virginia Woolf," which received the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1975. Carlson picked up all his star performers at the airport himself, and he catered to their special needs, bringing a television set to Itzhak Perlman's dressing room at the Ordway Center, for example, so that the violinist could watch a Yankees game.

A draw for music stars

Argento had lunch with Carlson just a week before he died. "The artists I know well, like Flicka (Frederica von Stade) and Hakan Hagegard, loved coming here," he said. "That had a lot to do with the way Bruce made them feel, and the kind of audience he cultivated. Flicka said she'd rather sing here than any place else in the country."

"We've lost a wonderful friend and a great impresario," said Richard Cisek, former president of the Minnesota Orchestral Association. "He took the Schubert Club even further up the ladder of renown, respect and artistic quality as well as community engagement, and he died very much the way he lived: modestly, graciously and courageously."

A familiar figure at concerts around town in his thick glasses and preppy bow tie, Carlson was modest and, in his own way, eccentric. He kept an old outboard motor in his Landmark Center office. He collected vintage wooden boats and first editions of Henry James. "He was a much-loved boss, a most wonderful friend and such a sweet, gentle spirit," said Sharon Carlson, Carlson's secretary of 30 years and no relation.

"Bruce was so generous to so many musicians," said soprano Maria Jette, who organized and performed in a mini-Schumann festival for the Schubert Club last month. "He helped Judy Kogan and me with funding for our two CDs, and Sopranorama, our trio, has had several grants from the Schubert Club. Years ago he offered me assistance for a recital debut in New York City. That was so typical of him."

Carlson had hoped to live through the Schubert Club's 125th anniversary, the 2007-08 season, and maybe even, he said in an interview in the Star Tribune in 2004, the 150th, at which time, he said, laughing, "I'll be about 100."

Carlson seemed to sustain a lighthearted attitude toward his illness. Jette said that when he was going to the hospital last fall, he said to her, "Hey, Maria, if I croak, will you sing at my funeral?"

Carlson is survived by his wife, Deanna; children Max and Vanessa, and three grandchildren. Details of his memorial service are pending.

Michael Anthony • 612-673-4445