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Jack Wellbaum (1922-2011)

Editor | February 2012


   Renowned piccoloist Jack Wellbaum died December 27, 2011 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was solo piccolo of the Cincinnati Symphony from 1950-1988 and personnel manager from 1974-1990. Wellbaum played principal flute in the Cincinnati Summer Opera Orchestra and the Dayton Philharmonic.
   Wellbaum grew up in Greenville, Ohio where he received his first musical training from his mother, a piano teacher. During WWII he served with distinguished service as a lieutenant in the Navy. He entered the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music where he was a student of Robert Cavally. Besides performing in the Cincinnati Symphony, he taught at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. His students perform in orchestras throughout the world. 
   He co-authored Facing the Maestro: A Guide to Orchestral Auditions, published in 1983 by the American Symphony Orchestra League. With Martha Rearick, he also co-authored Orchestral Excerpts for Piccolo with Piano Accompaniment, published by Theodore Presser in 1999.
   In 1985 Wellbaum was honored by the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music with the Distinguished Alumni Award. In 2008 he was honored by the National Flute Association in a tribute concert at the Kansas City convention. 
   Wellbaum was married to long time Cincinnati Symphony harpist Linda Iacobucci. They were the parents of three children: Lisa Geber (recently retired harpist of the Cleveland Orchestra), Ray Wellbaum (orchestra manager of the Boston Symphony Orchestra), and Laura Kalaitzoglou (of the Cincinnati Public School System.)