Former VSO Conductor Guigui
Dies, Often Performed Here

Efrain Guigui, 81, former conductor of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, died a week ago Monday in Los Angeles from complications of cancer, his son Martin Guigui said.

Guigui brought his orchestra to Randolph several times for concerts. His collaborations with the Randolph Singers remain strong memories for those who took part. His vivacity, dedication to excellence, and his appreciation for the earnest efforts of amateurs made him the ideal collaborator.

Those joint programs included a 1982 performance of the Haydn oratorio, "The Creation," in which 70 singers joined Guigui and his orchestra on stage. Later came a shortened version of Mendelssohn’s "Elijah" and a performance of Haydn’s "Te Deum" with Guigui and the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra, which he continued to conduct even after he left the VSO

Trained as a clarinetist, Guigui conducted the VSO from 1974 to 1989, notably taking the orchestra on a tour of all of Vermont's 251 towns to celebrate the 50th anniversary. During his reign, he was awarded the Alice Ditson award from Columbia University (considered to be the conductors' equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize) and the Vermont Council on the Arts 1989 Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts.

Martin Guigui told the Burlington Free Press last week that his father "loved the spirit for the arts in Vermont. He said that it was unequaled anywhere else he had worked: the support for the arts, the spirit of the people he got to work with, and the spirit of the audience."