Some thirty years later, I visited Dr. Kallir. I asked him how he was. “Almost dead” was his unsmiling and typical response.
He was 84 years old and dressed, as usual, in an olive/brown jacket with matching vest, black skinny tie and white shirt. He typically had a dead pan “poker face” which belied his lively sense of humor and agile intelligence. His ears were oversized and jutted out a little bit. “I have something for you” he said matter-of-factly. We went into his enormous, old-fashioned Park Avenue apartment and he hurried over to an antique table to retrieve a small, sealed envelope which he then handed over to me. “Do not open it, please” he said. I promised that I would not. The tiny envelope was addressed to a Frau Leonore Haupt-Stummer. We both sat down on the couch in the front of the living room. Kallir told me, “Since you are going to perform at the Salzburg Mozarteum I wanted to give you this letter of introduction. Dr. Haupt-Stummer is the director of the Mozart Geburtshaus . Give it directly to her. She will know what to do.” He then went on to talk about his grand daughter violinist Pamela Frank. She was twelve years old at the time. I remember how he pronounced her name with an emphasis on the second syllable. “Pamela is an extremely talented musician. She studied violin this summer with Dorothy DeLay at Aspen.” He went on at great length about his grand daughter, and it was clear to me that he adored her. We talked about the upcoming Orpheus tour where I was to meet the group midway through the tour in Jerusalem. After that I was to play a month long State Department tour of India followed by concerts in Amsterdam, Vienna ( Musikverein ) and Salzburg ( Mozarteum ) BTW The Musikverein and the Mozarteum were both concert halls that Kallir was exceedingly familiar with throughout his eight decades. He mentioned a concert he attended that featured the two Ciesinski sisters- Kristine and Katherine. The two sang vocal duets by Schubert and Brahms and Kallir thought that they were wonderful. He asked me if I knew them and I told him that I did not.
Kristine Ciesinski
Katherine Ciesinski
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