Happy 100th Birthday to Francis Madeira '34

On the heels of celebrating Theodate Pope Riddle's 150th birthday, we are also celebrating the 100th birthday of our oldest living alumnus, Francis K. C. Madeira '34 on Tuesday, February 21st. A true Renaissance man, "Maestro," as he is affectionately known, founded the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra in 1945 and served as its conductor for 33 years.

In 2010 Madeira received Avon's Distinguished Alumnus Award. The following is the short biography that will forever hang in our Brown Student Center to recognize his achievements:

Francis Madeira is the founder and retired conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra. Music has been the driving passion in his life for over 90 years, thus his nickname - the Maestro. Upon completion of his studies at Avon Old Farms, Mr. Madeira matriculated to Julliard where he was awarded a three-year fellowship to study piano under Olga Stokowski. He continued his education at Julliard for another three years in their graduate program in Orchestral Conducting working under Albert Stoessel.

In 1943, the Maestro joined the music faculty at Brown University where, despite tremendous obstacles, Mr. Madeira also realized his dream of creating the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, and its inaugural performance was in November 1945. For the next 33 years, the Maestro directed and conducted the orchestra while guiding its evolution. By the time he retired in 1978, the Maestro had expanded the range of the orchestra's programs to include children's concerts, high school concerts, and pop concerts. During his career, Mr. Madeira was a guest conductor of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, the Salzburg Mozarteum, and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

A renaissance man with many passions, Mr. Madeira has been an avid cross-country skier, canoer, and mountain climber. He has climbed throughout the Austrian and Swiss Alps and has twice reached the summit of all 65 mountains in New England that are over 4,000 feet - and the second time he accomplished this feat, he was over 70 years old!

Mr. Madeira is a former member of Avon's Board of Directors, is the Conductor Emeritus of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, and an Advisory Trustee of the Portland, Maine Symphony Orchestra.