Posted on: Friday, March 16, 2001
Symphony's Robert S. DeMello dead at 66
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor
Robert S. DeMello, who had a Honolulu Symphony music career spanning 50 years, died March 2 in Honolulu from complications of cancer. He was 66.
He was a percussionist, music educator and conductor who served under four music directors of the symphony orchestra for a term equalling half the time the orchestra has been in existence.
Among the posts he held were principal and associate principal percussion, head and assistant librarian, and personnel manager.
DeMello was known for two unusual accomplishments: He staged the first-ever pidgin English version of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf," redubbed "Peetah and da Wolf," a favorite among the youth of Hawai'i, and he wrote a 427-page reference work on Portuguese immigration to Hawai'i based on extensive genealogical research conducted during trips to the Azores and Salt Lake City.
Emmett Yoshioka, who earlier worked at his family's music store, Harry's Music in Kaimuki, said DeMello's passion for music was well known.
"But what people didn't know was that Bob was also a roller derby person; he skated with the Hawaiian Warriors and he was always the Hawaiian kid who got beat up. He was a friend of my mom and dad, so he always came over to the house and packed up the car with me and my cousins to go see roller derby."
Yoshioka said DeMello conducted classes at Harry's for about 35 years.
Lois Russell, who was principal percussionist with the orchestra and who had 25 years of service with the symphony, also taught with DeMello at Harry's.
"He was very devoted to the symphony," said Russell, who retired in 1985. "He did whatever needed doing and was good-humored and very energetic."
DeMello made an impact on the music scene on several fronts.
While at McKinley High School, he launched his conducting career by taking over the school orchestra when the band director took ill.
At Central Intermediate School, he was encouraged to begin viola studies by the wife of the then-maestro of the orchestra, George Barati; and at age 14 in 1949, DeMello made his symphony debut on viola.
Also while in school, DeMello was tapped by Barati, who needed an anvil player for a performance of "Belshazzar's Feast," and the young musician, who had no percussion training, was chosen to play it on an old brake drum. From then on, DeMello learned different percussions, earning a stipend of $10 a month.
In the Army, he was stationed in France as an electronic specialist, a job that enabled him to repair chapel organs on Army bases. He longed for a conducting career, so he studied the genre and later pursued a degree in music education at the University of Hawai'i, taking positions at St. Louis High School and Kahuku High School.
For the past 19 years, DeMello led the O'ahu Civic Orchestra as director, mentoring youths at high schools and middle schools.
Privately, he donned Santa's outfit during the holidays to bring cheer to the needy in his neighborhood.
He was an avid collector of the recorded works of Arturo Toscanini; his collection is perhaps the most extensive in the state and will be donated to the Wong Audiovisual Center at the University of Hawai'i.
His orchestral sheet music collection includes more than 3,000 works, which will form the nucleus of a lending library for orchestral organizations around the state.
He is survived by nieces, Gilda Ann Hoohuli, Joycelynn Kahue, Donna Lynn Kaimi, Cheryl Ann Apo, Benney Mae Stein, Benedine Piliahoha, Benny Kahue and Benelee Kahue; nephews, Boyd Alan Kahue and Benjamin Kahue. Services were held yesterday.
