Martha Dalton 1919-2010

[laura-smithburg-byrne]

Martha Dalton second harpist in the Cleveland Orchestra for 35 years has passed away. Martha was a great harpist, a gracious lady, and a loyal friend to many, especially harpist Alice Chalifoux and the Cleveland Orchestra.
I remember chatting with her on so many occasions and was always impressed with her support of all the harp students. She frequently attended student recitals and stayed to socialize with everyone at the receptions.
She was genuinely interested in everyone and how life was treating you on any given day.
I especially remember her wry sense of humor and the stories she would tell about performing 2nd harp with Alice Chalifoux in the CO. I do believe they had an awful lot of fun together. They were quite a team and we all left Cleveland with the expectation that this was the “norm” in professional orchestras.
They set a real example of how harpists could play together beautifully and be great friends on and off the stage.
She was such a warm and generous person, gracious and lovely to everyone who knew her. What a sad day. : (
There is a nice article about her on cleveland.com.
http://www.cleveland.com/obituaries/index.ssf/2010/01/martha_mayfield_dalton.html

[carl-swanson]

I met Martha and her husband George in Maine several times where they had a wonderful summer home in Deer Isle, right on the water. She was elegant, warm, and gracious. I’m so sorry to hear about her passing. The mention of her name here brought back a flood of memories of Alice as well as Martha. Time passes…

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