George N. Tuerck Concerto Competition

The George N. Tuerck Music Education Fund was established in 1998 to commemorate the career and contributions to music education of George N. Tuerck, a Belleville native and lifelong musician and teacher. The Tuerck Competition is open to Belleville Philharmonic Youth Orchestra members. Winners typically perform with the Youth Orchestra at the December concert.

About George N. Tuerck

Mr. Tuerck’s career with the violin began at age 10 and lasted until he died in 1998 at age 91. Over this period, he made a number of significant contributions to the musical life of Belleville. He conducted the Belleville Philharmonic Orchestra from 1954 to 1961 and founded the Belleville Junior Philharmonic Orchestra in 1962, which he conducted until leaving Belleville in 1976. He maintained an almost full-time teaching schedule thereafter, establishing a practice first in Fairfax, Virginia and then in Braintree, Massachusetts. Besides teaching, Mr. Tuerck had a long career as an instrumentalist, performing on several instruments with many notable ensembles in the local area and with many well-known personalities. He also directed a number of school bands. Throughout his career, however, his first love was the violin, followed closely by the viola and cello. In his teaching, he emphasized a logical and systematic understanding of music theory, rhythm patterns, sight-reading, and bowing techniques. His influence on music education continues today through the hundreds of students that studied with him. An important element in George Tuerck’s philosophy of music education was his conviction that any student with minimum talent and the desire to succeed could attain proficiency. The key to success was an understanding of the proper fingering and bowing techniques, which, when learned, would produce, as he put it, “dramatic results.” He combined a no-nonsense approach to teaching with a determination to produce dramatic results in every willing student. The goal of the George N. Tuerck Music Education Fund is to provide encouragement and assistance to young aspiring string players in the Belleville Metropolitan area. A further related goal is to advance the mission of the Belleville Philharmonic Society in enriching the musical life of the community it serves. (Profile prepared by David G. Tuerck)