Ferdinand Sorenson

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Ferdinand Sorenson (1882-1966) was a prominent music educator in Oregon as well as a conductor, composer, dance instructor and performer. Originally from Grenaa (Djursland), Denmark where he was born in 1882, Ferdinand Sorenson came to the United States as an infant with his parents, Lars and Matilda Sorenson.

Ferdinand's music education began with his father, Lars, when he was 5 years old. At an early age Ferdinand not only played the violin but also brass instruments to join in family and community orchestras. When Ferdinand went to Salt Lake City in 1898 he continued his violin studies with Willard Weihe. In Salt Lake City Ferdinand played in his first symphony and opera orchestras and met his friend and mentor in music and dancing, Mose Christensen.

In 1905 Mose Christensen and his group of musicians in Boise, Idaho helped Ferdinand collect enough money to travel to New York and studied cello with the Frenchman William Ebann at the New York College of Music. In New York City Ferdinand played the cello in the orchestra of Walter Damrosch and in shows starring David Warfield and silent film star Nazimova.

When he returned to the West, Ferdinand played briefly in the Boise Philharmonic (1908) under Mose Christensen's direction and was briefly principal cellist in the Portland Symphony under David Rosebrook (1909). Ferdinand married in 1909 and moved to Spokane, Washington in 1910. Ferdinand taught music, dancing and conducted a theater orchestra in Spokane. Besides playing in the Spokane Symphony he also played in the Gesner-Sorenson String Quartet, the Gottfried Herbst String Quartet, the Spokane Citizen's Band and the Chuck Whitehead Orchestra.

In 1919 Chuck Whitehead built his own dance hall in Spokane: the Whitehead Dancing Palace where Ferdinand started his dancing school after having graduated from Mose Christensen's dance school in Portland, Oregon. Ferdinand moved back to Portland, Oregon in 1924.

In Portland, Ferdinand began playing in the Portland Symphony again when Willem van Hoogstraten began as conductor of the orchestra. Other groups he played in were the Ashley Cook Band, the McDougall Concert Band, the Ted Bacon String Orchestra, Kelly's Restaurant Orchestra and the Gershkovitch Symphony Orchestra. He also played in the KGW, KOIN and other radio orchestras over the years. Ferdinand also conducted the Sorenson Concert Orchestra and the Inter-Community Orchestra in Longview, Washington.

With Ferdinand's numerous string and brass students and extensive teaching experience he was able to assist Mary Dodge, Jacques Gershkovitch and others develop the Portland Junior Symphony. Besides his private string and brass students Ferdinand taught, over the years, as an adjunct professor at Pacific University, Lewis and Clark College, Portland University, the University of Oregon and Portland State College. He conducted the student orchestra at Marylhurst College for Women and the student band at Pacific University. Ferdinand was still teaching privately and at Portland State College when he died in December 1966 at the age of 84.

[edit] Sources

• The Christensen Brothers, An American dance epic Debra Sowells, author
• Memories of Little Denmark Gwendolyn Jacobson, editor
• Thru the Years, A History of Sevier County Irvin Warnock, editor
• Nearly 70 Years of Orchestral Music Frederick Goodrich, author
• Assorted Spokane, Washington and Portland, Oregon newspapers.