Ferdinand Sorenson

Who was Ferdinand Sorenson?

Ferdinand Sorenson was a prominent music educator in the U.S. state of Oregon as well as a conductor, composer, dance instructor and performer. Originally from Grenaa, Denmark, Sorenson came to the United States as an infant with his parents, Lars and Matilda Sorenson.

Sorenson's music education began with his father, Lars, when he was five years old. At an early age Sorenson played the violin and brass instruments to join in family and community orchestras. When Sorenson went to Salt Lake City in 1898, he continued his violin studies with Willard Weihe. In Salt Lake City, Sorenson played in his first symphony and opera orchestras and met his friend and mentor in music and dancing, Mose Christensen.

In 1905, Mose Christensen and his group of musicians in Boise, Idaho helped Sorenson collect enough money to travel to New York, where he studied cello with the William Ebann at the New York College of Music. In New York City Sorenson played the cello in the orchestra of Walter Damrosch and in shows starring David Warfield and silent film star Alla Nazimova.

When he returned to the West, Sorenson played briefly in the Boise Symphony Orchestra under Mose Christensen's direction and was briefly principal cellist in the Portland Symphony Orchestra under David Rosebrook. Sorenson married in 1909 and moved to Spokane, Washington in 1910. Sorenson taught music, dancing and conducted a theater orchestra in Spokane. Besides playing in the Spokane Symphony he also played in the Gesner-Sorenson String Quartet, the Gottfried Herbst String Quartet, the Spokane Citizen's Band and the Chuck Whitehead Orchestra.