Cellist Mary Oda Szanto joined the San Diego Symphony Orchestra in 1976. She has served as principal cello of the Cascade Festival of Music, California Ballet and San Diego Chamber Orchestras, and has performed with the Mainly Mozart Festival and San Diego Opera. A native Californian, Ms. Szanto studied cello in Los Angeles with Eleanore Schoenfeld, Jeffrey Solow, Alexander Reisman and Daniel Rothmuller. She received a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from UCLA, and she continued with graduate studies at Immaculate Heart College and California State University, Los Angeles.
GETTING TO KNOW MARY ODA SZANTO…
Q: What are your favorite three tunes or pieces?
A: Brahm's Piano Concerto No. 2 with Ashkenazy and Vienna; Piazzolla's Cuatro estanciones portenas by Gidon Kramer and Kremerata Baltica; Barber’s Violin Concerto with Elmar Olivera and St. Louis Symphony
Q: What are three of your favorite movies?
A: Shadowlands, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
Q: What is your favorite travel destination?
A: Scotland
Q: What good book have you read most recently?
A: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Q: What do you love most about San Diego?
A: Torrey Pines State Park
Q: What is your favorite San Diego Symphony Orchestra memory?
A: A performance of Berlioz's L'enfant du Christ with David Atherton at USD's Immaculata; Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Robert Shaw.
