FRED GEIL, INVENTOR, MUSICIAN, SOUND ENGINEER, and VOLUNTEER TO RECEIVE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Distinguished inventor, accomplished musician, and beloved community volunteer; Fred Geil is being honored October 15th with a Lifetime Annie Award bestowed upon him by the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County.

Mr. Geil will be the fifteenth recipient of the coveted Lifetime Achievement Annie Award.

The Annie Awards were created in 2000 to recognize the contributions of local artists, educators, and arts patrons who reside in Anne Arundel County. The awards will be given at a presentation ceremony held in the Francis Scott Key Auditorium at St. John’s College in Annapolis on Wednesday October 15th.

During his career as an engineer working for Westinghouse/Northrup Grummond, Geil chalked up over 30 patents to his credit, primarily relating to underwater and sound communication. One of his inventions reduces the distortion of sounds transmitted underwater, while another localizes the sources of acoustic energy.

Geil’s interest in sound is directly related to his simultaneous career as a musician. A double bassist, equally at home on the clarinet and string base along with several other instruments, Fred Geil joined the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra (AS0) in 1975. He played with the ASO for many years while also playing for the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra, Baywinds (both in their Dixieland Group and the regular Baywinds ensemble),the Johns Hopkins Orchestra, the Washington Sinfonetta, and the Maryland Symphony Orchestra. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. he played with the Pittsburgh Carnegie Community Orchestra and the California Loyola Symphony Orchestra, before moving to Maryland. A versatile classical and jazz musician, in 1988 he performed at the Aspen Music Festival in a concert directed by James DePreist.

Putting the interests in the technology of sound production and musical performance together has led Geil towards his work as a professional sound engineer, His work has touched the careers of many musicians in the Baltimore Washington region, including Baltimore legend Virginia Reinecke. He has recorded for the ASO for decades as well for the National Orchestra in Washington. the Salisbury Symphony, Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra, and World Artists Experiences. Many of his recordings can be heard on National Public Radio.

Now retired from Northrup Grummond, Geil is generous with his time and serves as the secretary and technical advisor to the National Electronics Museum. Currently he is working on a large display that explains underseas mine hunting sonar. He also volunteers as secretary for the Washington D.C. chapter of the Audio Engineering Society. Years ago he would get orchestras he was working with to play music needed for Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre (ASGT) musicals, so he could record them in order to create tapes to use for the ASGT performances.

Geil has enriched the lives of the residents of Anne Arundel County and region and the world in a variety of ways, making him a perfect recipient of the 2014 Lifetime Annie Award.

The Arts Council of Anne Arundel County provides grants and support to over forty nonprofit organizations. Providing a resource for the cultural arts community through advocacy, funding, programming, and promotions; the Arts Council supports a variety of non profit Arts and Cultural groups and administers the Arts-in-Education Program serving both public and private Anne Arundel County Schools, which provides grant funding to bring performances and artists into auditoriums and classrooms.

For more information about the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County and to find out more about the Annie Awards and membership call 410-222-7949 or visit www.acaac.org.