Frances Darger, one of the longest employed musicians to ever play for the Utah Symphony , has died. Darger, who in 1942, at age 17, joined what was to become the Utah Symphony and played there for 69 years , died July 30 of natural causes, her family said. She was 99.
When Darger retired in 2012, at age 87, she held the unofficial world record for the longest tenure any musician had performed with an orchestra. (A bassist with the Atlanta Symphony broke that record in 2016.) “One thing about playing in the symphony orchestra [that] is so interesting is that you just have multiple generations in the workforce,” said Tad Calcara, principal clarinetist for the Utah Symphony since 1999.
“A lot of the more senior members of the orchestra are people that were here [or] were hired by Maurice Abravanel, or prior to Abravanel, being part of the orchestra. Frances was one of them.” Darger joined the orchestra when the symphony — then called the Utah State Symphony Orchestra — was just two years old.
Calcara said Darger “just had a fantastic memory, to recall so many of the details historically about the organization.” Calcara said he and Darger really hit it off. His wife, Lynn Rosen, who is a violinist for the symphony and also plays the viola, ended up purchasing a house just up the road from Darger.
Over the years, they carpooled to work together many times. After Darger retired, she would check in on whatever repertoire the symphony was playing that week. When Darg.