Spotlight | First Violin

Anthony DeMarco

Tony DeMarco has been a member of the Kansas City Symphony for quite some time now, but it’s been so much fun that the time seems to have flown by. (Either that or he’s just getting old.) His previous professional experience includes Assistant Concertmaster of both the Virginia and North Carolina Symphonies, substitute for the Pittsburgh Symphony, member of the Pittsburgh Opera and Ballet Orchestra, and numerous freelance symphonies and chamber orchestras. His favorite of the latter is the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra of which he is currently co-concertmaster. DeMarco enrolled at Carnegie-Mellon University at age fifteen and finished his college education at Oberlin Conservatory at nineteen. His principal teachers include Albert Hirtz of the Pittsburgh Symphony (who later became his step-father), Stephen Clapp, Nathan Gottschalk and Raphael Bronstein. DeMarco credits the violin, his mother Bonnie, and Al Hirtz for the opportunity to travel to Asia, Europe and all around the United States, making lasting friends and playing great music with them. Best among those friends is his wonderful wife, Jeannine Elashewich. Together with sons Albert and Roman, they now reside in a Little House In Prairie Village, Kan., Somewhere Over On Rainbow. Rainbow Drive, that is… DeMarco’s latest challenge lies in woodworking – he is attempting to master the art of crafting an unbreakable custom baton out of maple, for our own Maestro Stern to use at the helm.