Kenneth Schermerhorn

Kenneth Dewitt Schermerhorn ( ; November 20, 1929 – April 18, 2005) was an American composer and orchestra conductor. He was the music director of the Nashville Symphony from 1983 to 2005.

Early life Schermerhorn was born on November 20, 1929, in Schenectady, New York. He studied clarinet, violin, and trumpet in school.

Schermerhorn was a national patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.

Personal life and death Schermerhorn had a son, Stefan Schermerhorn, and two daughters, Veronica Chasanoff and Erica Ancona. He had a long-term relationship with Martha Rivers Ingram, a billionaire businesswoman and philanthropist.

Earlier, he was married to the former ballerina Lupe Serrano and, subsequently, to the soprano, Carol Neblett.

Schermerhorn died on April 18, 2005, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center after a brief illness with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. His ashes are buried in the base of the statue "The Flutist" in the garden of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville.