Downbeat of the BPO Archive – Sources, Holdings

The current BPO Archive Project was initiated on February 22, 2001, with formal support from music director JoAnn Falletta and executive director Larry Ribits. The full extent of the Archive will be defined in steps over the coming months, under advisement of Friends of the BPO Archive, a small but intent group of individuals from the Greater Western New York community who are in a unique position to lend ideas and guidance to the effort. At this point Friends of the BPO Archive comprises representatives from the Buffalo Philharmonic, the University of Buffalo (UB), the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, the Buffalo News, WNED-FM and Niagara County Community College.

Edward Yadzinski,
BPO Program Annotator and Historian, 15 March 2001

Archive Sources, Holdings

Materials and data are held by the BPO Library and by the BPO Archive at Kleinhans Music Hall.

Additional materials are held at the Central Library of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library system in downtown Buffalo.

Archive materials comprise printed programs, brochures, newspaper clippings and reviews, scrap books, photographs, posters, recordings, videos, etc.

The BPO-Kovach Journals

Also included are fully documented journals for each BPO season from 1967-68 through 1993-94. The journals were initiated and maintained by the late Jules Kovach, a long-term BPO violinist who also served as the Orchestra’s librarian. Detailed information is provided about every BPO performance during those years, including Classics, Pops, Youth Concerts, Tour Concerts, etc.

The journals number 28 volumes, each in a large 3-ring binder; they are preserved in the BPO Archive holdings at Kleinhans Music Hall.