Music / Civil rights & activism
Paul Ganson
?–2021 · bassoonist, preservationist, orchestra historian
Detroit-born DSO bassoonist who in 1970 founded Save Orchestra Hall and led the 20-year campaign that rescued the 1919 hall from demolition.
- Died
- Detroit years
- 1969–2004
- Field
- Music, Civil rights & activism
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Ganson, a Detroit native, took up the bassoon at thirteen but majored in English literature at the University of Michigan before playing in Toledo and Dallas. He won a Detroit Symphony audition in 1969 and served as assistant principal bassoon until 2004. When he joined, the orchestra's original home on Woodward Avenue had stood empty for years and was slated to be torn down to make way for a restaurant. In 1970 he organized Save Orchestra Hall. The volunteer committee raised about $100,000 in the early 1970s to buy the building, at one point only two weeks before the wrecking date, won it a place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and restored it piece by piece. The DSO moved back in 1989, and the campaign led on to the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center in 2003. Ganson later co-wrote the orchestra's history, published in 2016.
Highlights
- Assistant principal bassoon of the DSO, 1969–2004
- Founded Save Orchestra Hall in 1970
- Orchestra Hall listed on the National Register in 1971
- DSO returned to the restored hall in 1989
- Co-author of The Detroit Symphony Orchestra: Grace, Grit, and Glory (2016)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Memorial · 1970–2004
Detroit Symphony Orchestra — Orchestra Hall
The 1919 hall Ganson saved from demolition through the Save Orchestra Hall campaign; the DSO returned in 1989 and it anchors the Fisher Music Center.