Full Name Harley Hamilton Name Harley Hamilton Cause of death Apoplexy Stroke Role Composer | Nationality American Died May 14, 1933 Children Viola Hamilton Taylor | |
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Born 1861 New York, US Other names Harley Burnham Hamilton Occupation Conductor, violinist and composer Known for Founder and Conductor of LA Symphony Education Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development | ||
Harley Hamilton (1861 – May 14, 1933) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He was the founder and first conductor of the LA Women's Orchestra in 1893 and of the LA Symphony in 1897. Hamilton was one of the first symphony American directors in those years, when most conductors were born and trained abroad.
Hamilton was born in 1861 in New York to Susan C. Williams and Henry W. Burnham. He was a member of the Oneida Community in New York, which his parents joined in 1848, until the Community dissolved in 1881. Shortly before his mother's death, he was adopted by Erasmus H. Hamilton, from whom he took his name. He was trained as a violinist and a printer and it is believed that his stepfather sent him to study to the New York College of Music, where he graduated, and abroad. In 1881, when the Community dissolved, he started travelling as a member of a minstrel group and in 1883 he arrived to Los Angeles. He worked in Los Angeles both as a printer and as a musician, with several experiences as director and member of choirs, bands and orchestras. He worked with both amateur and professional orchestras.
Hamilton formed the LA Women's Orchestra in 1893 and the LA Symphony in 1897. Both became quite popular and contributed to the development of symphonic music in the Los Angeles area. He resigned from both in 1913, probably due to advancing deafness.