The Solo Timpanist
Mr. Firth is the Solo Timpanist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops Orchestra. He joined the orchestra in 1952 at the age of twenty-one, being its youngest member for many years. He has performed with the orchestra in nearly every major city of the world, having played with the world's foremost conductors - Ernest Ansermet, Sir John Barbirolli, Leonard Bernstein, Guido Cantelli, Victor de Sabata, Antol Dorati, Arthur Fiedler, Carlo-Maria Guilini and many others....He is head of the Timpani and Percussion Department at the New England Conservatory of Music, and the Berkshire Music Center, Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. As well as teaching, he coaches percussion ensembles and chamber music at both schools. He has made many recordings with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops Orchestra on RCA Victor.