John Stroman at MITSO rehearsal, 1977
MIT freshman and cellist John F. Stroman of Wayne, PA rehearses with the MIT Symphony Orchestra for three March concerts to be performed in the Boston area, 1977.
John Fells Stroman '83, whose freshman advisor was Professor Wesley Harris, earned an SB in Aerospace Engineering from MIT. Stroman was a member of the MIT Symphony Orchestra (MITSO); as he recalls:
Back then, we weren't taking selfies...We were working hard getting through the 'Tute. I have very few pictures from those days, but I do have many memories-- including trying to get into Ron McNair's [PhD '77] karate dojo. I played 5th-seat cello, and [guest conductor] Marcus Thompson conducted some of our concerts. What he didn't know was that I'm a saxophone player. I started learning cello in my junior year in high school, and in less than two years, I got good enough to play 4th chair. To this day, I remember him motioning me to not play so loud during one of our concerts (Mussorgsky-Ravel, "Pictures at an Exhibition")--I was nervous!
John F. Stroman, August 2020
