Leonard Sharrow (August 4, 1915–August 9, 2004), was one of the foremost American bassoonists of the 20th Century. Born in New York City, he joined the NBC Symphony Orchestra when it was first organized, eventually becoming principal bassoonist (and recording the Mozart Bassoon Concerto with Arturo Toscanini in 1948); he also served in the U.S. Army in World War II. In 1951 he moved to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the invitation of then-Music Director Rafael Kubelik and served in a similar position there until 1964, when he retired and joined the music faculty at Indiana University Bloomington. He spent many summers on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival before joining the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as co-principal bassonist in 1977. After retiring from Pittsburgh a decade later he returned to Bloomington, and eventually relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he died of leukemia.
{{Persondata Leonard Sharrow was one of four 1st bassoonists in the NBC Symphony; the first one to have been William Polisi, then Benjamin Kohon, Leonard Sharrow, and lastly Elias Carmen. I believe the principal bassoonist, when the NBC Symphony was formed, to have been William Polisi. The cadenzas for the Mozart Bassoon Concerto were written by Arturo Toscaninni. Leonard Sharrow studied at the Juilliard School of Music with Simon Kovar of the NY Philharmonic, after a doublele switch from violin; to French Bassoon, and then to the German bassoon. | NAME = Sharrow, Leonard | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH = | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = }}