Two months after his sudden death, friends and colleagues of Amadeus Orchestra founder and conductor Timothy Rowe are still reeling from his death. To heal their wounds, some have decided to continue his legacy and love of music by following through with a planned trip to Salzburg, Austria at the end of May, a trip Rowe had lead for years.
“The trip is very much on,” said Margaret Johnson, a friend of Rowe’s who took the trip with him last year.
Rowe was found dead at a park near the Shenandoah Valley in early March, of a self-inflicted stab wound to the upper torso.
“Tim really had a lot planned before he died, he planned to continue this trip for years to come,” she said. The trip includes a week-long stay in Salzburg, the home of Rowe’s idol, Mozart, and consists of visiting several places that were important to Mozart’s life. One destination is the Rococo Palace, which was featured in the movie “The Sound of Music.”
“Next year is the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, so all of Salzburg will be in celebration,” Johnson said, adding that the trip will continue for as long into the future as possible.
About 20 tickets for the trip are still available, Johnson said, for the week of May 22. The tickets cost $3,000 each, not including airfare. Anyone interested may contact Johnson at 703-759-6937.
Additionally, although the remainder of the Amadeus Orchestra concert series was canceled for this spring following Rowe’s death, former board member Jack Hardman said the group will most likely begin performing again in the fall.
“THERE’S A NOMINATING committee meeting Monday night which will put together a slate of perspective board members,” Hardman said. the committee will then vote on new board members, who will decide what the concert series and theme will be for the 2005-2006 season.
“It will be up to the new board of directors how many concerts there are,” he said. “There was a rumor that Amadeus Concerts would go out of business after Tim died, but it was made clear at the last meeting on April 4 that Amadeus Orchestra will remain, in some form.”
Both said Rowe’s death is still a disheartening mystery to his friends.
“A lot of people are still angry with him for doing this,” Johnson said. “He worked for 24 years to get this going and we don’t want it to stop. I can’t begin to describe the wonderful things we did that week when I took the trip last year.”
“Tim did so much work behind the scenes with the orchestra on his own that we will need additional help to get it all done,” Hardman said. “Some people thought when he died the orchestra died with him, that there was nothing left to it. There’s a heck of a lot left without Tim, but we miss him.”