Famed Cello Instructor Geber Dies at 81

Gretchen Geber, a renowned cello instructor for more than a half-century whose students have gone on to fill the ranks of orchestras across the nation, has died. She was 81.

Geber died Saturday at her Woodland Hills home after a lengthy illness, said her husband of 54 years, Edwin.

Born Sept. 17, 1914, in Los Angeles, Geber adopted the cello at an early age, developing a rapid proficiency with the string instrument by age 12, her husband said. She studied briefly at USC and later taught there while pursuing studio work and performing occasionally.

She met Edwin Geber, a now-retired cellist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, while she was performing with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. After they married, the couple moved to Van Nuys to start a family, and Geber began devoting her full attention to teaching.

“She was regarded as a prima teacher here in Los Angeles,” Edwin Geber said, noting that her students are currently members of symphonies in cities such as Los Angeles and New Orleans. “She was a leader. She was a firebrand.”

The couple moved in 1969 to a hilltop home in Woodland Hills, where Geber tutored her students in a private studio. Edwin Geber estimated his wife had instructed hundreds of musicians during her career, usually spending between six and eight years with each.

“She devoted the major part of her life to putting things in such order that she knew exactly what material each student had to have,” he said.

Weakened by a stroke in 1986, Geber slowly reduced her teaching load and spent time traveling abroad with her husband, visiting such locales as Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and the Mediterranean.

In addition to her husband, Geber is survived by two sons, Stephen Geber, the principal cellist with the Cleveland Orchestra, and David Geber, a cellist with the American String Quartet and chairman of the Manhattan School of Music’s string department, and six grandchildren.

There will be no funeral. A memorial service for Geber will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills’ Church of the Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Geber’s name to the American Lung Assn. of Los Angeles County, 5858 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 300, Los Angeles 90036.