contract#2

デプリースト氏が亡くなられました。『のだめカンタービレ』にも本名で登場し、東京都交響楽団の常任指揮者だったため日本でもお馴染みでした。
「契約する」でお馴染みのcontractですが、ここでは目的語にpolioがあるため「〈重い病気〉にかかる」（『ジーニアス英和辞典　第４版』大修館）という意味です。(Minnesota)

cf.contract - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心：言葉の森から

The conductor James DePreist has died

The American conductor James DePreist has died; he was 76. A nephew of the contralto Marion Anderson, DePreist was the first African-American conductor to appear regularly with the world’s leading orchestras.

DePreist was born in Philadelphia where he later studied, working at the Philadelphia Conservatory with Vincent Persichetti and gaining both his bachelor and master’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. DePreist contracted polio on a trip to Bangkok but recovered sufficiently to work as Leonard Bernstein’s assistant at the New York Philharmonic in the 1965-66 season.

http://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/the-conductor-james-depreist-has-died-0