Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:02 Welcome to Chicago musician. I'm your host, Shawn Stengel. My guest today has been a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's violin section for over 30 years After apparently making a Faustian bargain to be the female Dorian Gray, she remains a vivacious, lovely young woman with a surprising range of interests, both inside music and beyond. I'm looking forward to getting to know more about Florence Schwartz.
Speaker 1 00:00:46 Welcome to Episode Five of Chicago Musician. Today is Tuesday, April 19th, 2022. It's been a couple of very rough days here in Chicago for our theater community. On Easter Sunday, we lost Hollis Resnik who was truly one of the biggest stars of the Chicago stage over the last 40 years. She died way too young at the age of 66 and our community is just reeling. It's shocking. She worked with so many people and had so many fans that it's just a kind of inexplicable loss. She came to this city in the '80s and really dominated musical theater for pretty much 20 years for those years at Candlelight and beyond she and Paula Scrofano were pretty much the leads of every show. If it wasn't Hollis, it was Paula. If it wasn't Paula, it was Hollis. And sometimes you were lucky and you got both of them. Fortunately for us, Paula is still with us, but we're really feeling the loss of Hollis. She did so many different kinds of roles. In the middle of her career, she said, I need a challenge. And she stopped taking musical roles and went to Court Theater and did plays. Probably for about a 10th of the money she would've been paid elsewhere. And she made a real commitment to Chicago theater. She could have gone to New York, she could have toured. And yet she stayed in our community and worked here, pretty much nonstop for over 40 years.
Speaker 1 00:02:42 I first met Hollis in the late eighties. I came to town and I was doing Pump Boys & Dinettes with a man named Tom Mendel. He was in the show. One night he said, "Do you wanna go see Little Shop of Horrors down at the Royal George theater? I have tickets." I guess, on a mat, or sometime when we didn't have a show. And I said, sure. So I went, I think Little Shop was the very first production in the "new" Royal George theater. That's how old this story is. There was no Steppenwolf across the street, or even a dream of it. At that point, it was kind of a out there in the middle of nowhere. Anyhow, we go to see Little Shop. It's starring Hollis Resnik and Gene Weygandt and it's loads of fun. And after the play is over, Tom says to me, you wanna go backstage and meet Hollis?
Speaker 1 00:03:32 And I said, oh, do you know her? And he gave me the weirdest look. And he said, yeah, I married to her. Doing! Way to go, Shawn! Okay. Didn't know. So that's how I first met Hollis. And for me personally, I knew Hollis more socially than I did professionally in the early part of our knowing each other, since she was married to my friend, Tom. I knew her more from backyard barbecues. And we used to play tennis. She was rabid about her tennis and Rafa Nadal, and she was a good player. It was fun to go out and hit with her cuz she, whatever she did, she worked very hard at and she wanted to get better and loved the challenge. It was probably over 15 years before I actually got to work with her professionally. I finally did a show called Enter the Guardsman up at Northlight Theater.
Speaker 1 00:04:32 We got to work together. I mean, what a cast, I just thought of this. It was John Reeger. David New, Hollis, Iris Lieberman and the chorus was Ed Kross, Ron Rains, Kelly Ann Clark. Oh, now that I'm listing people, I'm gonna miss people. But I mean it, these are still amazing performers in our world. So anyhow, this is the first time I got to work with Hollis and I only knew her from seeing her on stage professionally and by reputation. So when I actually got to work with her, I was so pleased that she was the consummate professional. Always prepared, always early, knew her stuff, knew her notes, took your notes. If you asked her to do something, she'd go sure. How would you like? And if you gave her a direction, she would do it and usually make it better. Almost always make it better than what you dreamed it could be.
Speaker 1 00:05:34 That's how she was. And the surprise to me was she was also loads of fun. Because she was in her element, and so prepared, and so professional, she was almost always relaxed. There wasn't out of the ordinary, you know, unnecessary drama offstage with Hollis. It was fun. It was a cool hang and she, you know, she was fun to work with. And then you saw her work, and that was exciting! To get to see her work up close, as it developed and as it changed. She really was the real deal. She had a splendid voice, a golden voice with a really cool low baritone range. And then, you know, that mixy belt that had a lot of money notes in it. And it got her a lot of jobs and rightfully so. It was a singular instrument. She was a wonderful musician with wonderful instincts and diction that anything theater artist could dream of. That's why I think audiences loved her so much. You understood everything that Hollis sang or said.
Speaker 1 00:06:49 So she was the real deal. It's, uh, kind of hard to fathom, just two days in now, that she's actually gone. It doesn't make any sense. I know the pandemic was really hard on her. It was isolating, as it was for all of us. And even though she talked about, 'oh, I can't wait to retire. I'm, I'm so tired of, you know.' And I think that was true. But I really feel like we are being cheated out of an amazing Act 3. I know Hollis would've been asked to do a number of things. And I think, knowing her and her love of the stage, she could have cherry picked roles and just done projects she loved for another 20 or 30 years. And I feel like we're all cheated out of that out of a golden third act of Hollis Resnik. Anyhow, it's a, it's a tough loss for the Chicago theater world. We're heartbroken. So we miss you Hollis. Um, you'll always be a star, a bright star in our hearts. So rest in peace by friend,
Speaker 1 00:08:54 Especially for of you listening on other platforms like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, if you can navigate your way over to my home webpage, which is bestshawnstengel.com. That's where I host these podcast. There's a link at the top of the homepage to 'Shawn's Photos'. If you click that, it'll take you to my photo website. And there's a dedicated gallery for the Chicago Musician podcast. I'll post some personal pictures I have of me and Hollis and surrounded by a lot of our theatrical friends from a couple years ago, I guess. There are also photos there from all of my previous episodes. Plus I'll post new photos from today's guest. So let's get to her. She is a violinist in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. And beyond that, I know nothing about her! Welcome, Florence. Hi,
Speaker 5 00:09:54 How are you?
Speaker 1 00:09:55 Good. Thanks for coming.
Speaker 5 00:09:58 My pleasure.
Speaker 1 00:09:58 I'm very interested to hear, well, I have a lot of questions for you. You're my first podcast guest who I haven't really worked with or known very well before. So it's a different taking off point for me. So that's why I'm sure people want me to shut up and hear from you now. Okay. So you just popped out of the womb fully formed and into the Chicago Symphony. Is that your story?
Speaker 5 00:10:22 Uh, not exactly. <laugh>
Speaker 1 00:10:26 I read today you're from Cleveland.
Speaker 5 00:10:28 Yeah, actually it's a suburb of Cleveland called Beachwood. Okay. Um, yeah, I didn't spend very much time in Cleveland, in the city at all. In fact.
Speaker 1 00:10:40 Do you still have family there?
Speaker 5 00:10:43 I have some relatives, but not too many,
Speaker 1 00:10:46 Not much of an anchor in your,
Speaker 5 00:10:48 There's not an anchor there for me at all.
Speaker 1 00:10:51 Okay. Um, so you grew up there. Did you go to high school and everything in that area?
Speaker 5 00:10:57 Mm-hmm <affirmative>. I went to all through school in Beachwood and I left, I graduated a year early and
Speaker 1 00:11:04 Of course,
Speaker 5 00:11:05 Of course. And, uh, I went to Eastman.
Speaker 1 00:11:09 Okay.
Speaker 5 00:11:10 Yeah. Which I liked very much. I studied with Donald Wallerstein, who was the first violinist of the Cleveland quartet.
Speaker 1 00:11:17 Oh, wow. And, um, do you come from a musical family?
Speaker 5 00:11:24 Not really. My father was an amateur violinist. Uh, his profession was, uh, a pharmacist, but he played in high school and then he took it up again. Um, when I started playing,
Speaker 1 00:11:39 He played violin.
Speaker 5 00:11:40 Yeah. I was five and my older brother was eight and we both started at the same time. And then I think he also started taking lessons again and ultimately played in the suburban symphony. Okay. Um, and in fact, very shortly before he died, he, he played his first solo. He played two movements of the Mozart, a major concerto with them.
Speaker 1 00:12:01 Oh, a late bloomer. Yes. That's kind of fun though. I, my mother in a way is sort of that story. My, my sister and my brother and I were all plays and musicals and doing stuff. And my mom was kind of goofy around the house, but we finally said like, mom, either do something or can it, and to our surprise, she went out and auditioned for the local community theater and got to be in my fair lady. And then she, oh, that's nice. And then blossomed into sort of the leading lady of the theater for number of years. So, uh, followed in her children's footsteps, like your dad Uhhuh <affirmative>. Okay. Were you, um, did you love music? Was it a, a thing that you just did or did you find, how did you, how did you get here? I wanna know. Was it a passion of yours?
Speaker 5 00:12:52 Uh, it's a somewhat interesting, a little sad, um, story for me. Um, I was handed a violin when I was five. Okay. And then, uh, to everyone's amazement, I could find a out of the sky and that was, seemed like a big deal. I don't know why it was. Yeah. But, um, I, it turned out that I was pretty good at it. And so,
Speaker 1 00:13:21 So violin is not a, it's not an easy instrument to just, you know what I mean? It's, it's not like there's buttons on a piano that you just press and you sound good,
Speaker 5 00:13:31 Right? No, I don't think I sounded great right off the bat, but there was just, uh, you know, a lot of open strings and, and whole notes and clapping in my father counting 1, 2, 3, 4 a, you know, so, um, but you know, it took a little while, but eventually I got to be pretty good and the better I got the more attention and accolades I got and I unfortunately am from, um, how do I put this? Uh, I'm not from a very happy family. Okay. So the violin was the only way that I got, uh, positive reinforcement and love and attention. And so at a certain point, um, it, it just was what I did. Right. I didn't really feel that I had a choice, but that being said, I did love it. Yeah. I did really love it. And, um, it got me out. It got me away. Uh, the first time was when I went to interlock in when I was 11. And at that time it was eight weeks. Oh, wow. And
Speaker 1 00:14:50 I that's in, um, Northern Michigan, right
Speaker 5 00:14:53 Outside of traverse city in
Speaker 1 00:14:55 Michigan summer music program,
Speaker 5 00:14:56 Right? Yeah. It was for eight weeks and I adored it. I was a little bit of, I wouldn't say a freak, but I was an outsider in my school because nobody else played the violin. Nobody else had to leave school and be, you know, taken to violin lessons, you know, for makeups or stuff like that. And, um, so I was definitely an outsider. I wasn't a cheerleader. I wasn't in the cool group. And so when I went
Speaker 1 00:15:20 And you didn't have, um, orchestra within your school,
Speaker 5 00:15:24 There was no orchestra in my school. Okay. I started going to youth orchestra. I, I can't remember. I might have been 11 or 12 or, or 10 even. I, I don't remember at the Cleveland Institute of music okay. On Saturdays. Um, and so that was my only musical experience. And when I went to interlock and I discovered pretty much everyone there was like me, and I mean, they weren't all violinists. Obviously there were musicians and dancers and, you know, artists and people in theater, but it was a revelation.
Speaker 1 00:16:00 And I'm, I'm not the only one like this.
Speaker 5 00:16:03 Yeah. It was just fantastic. And I ended up going there for six summers in a row. And so, um, that was a real eyeopener and, and
Speaker 1 00:16:14 They have world class teachers there too.
Speaker 5 00:16:17 Oh yeah, absolutely. They have great teachers. I, I saw, I think duke Ellington there, Maynard Ferguson. Um, I can't, I played in a quartet. I played Mozart, uh, clarinet. No, because it was the Quinte with, uh, Benny Goodman at
Speaker 1 00:16:36 A
Speaker 5 00:16:36 Seriously concert. Once he came in with his, you know, jazz band played a real concert. And then I was asked as part of a quartet to play with him and I still have his autograph and a photo. And it was, it was pretty thrilling.
Speaker 1 00:16:50 That is amazing because a lot of people don't know he had had classical chops or classical interest outside of his big band. Right. Well,
Speaker 5 00:16:59 I think he was trained probably, you know, classically. So, um,
Speaker 1 00:17:04 That's a good one.
Speaker 5 00:17:05 Yeah. So that was nice, man. Claron was there, I mean, a lot of famous people went at the time.
Speaker 1 00:17:11 I, what I'm jealous of, I never did something quite on that level. And I think one of the things I wish I had in my life was being a young person, rubbing shoulders with those people and knowing that they're famous, but also not quite aware enough to be in awe of them. They're like, well, they're walking around here, like you and me. Right. And then they play and your hair flies off. But, um, that's so cool. So that was your, your saving grace interlocking.
Speaker 5 00:17:41 Yeah, it was. And then, um,
Speaker 1 00:17:44 How did you, how did that translate into Eastman? Did that let me back up. So you studied in Cleveland then right? With the guy from the Cleveland quartet?
Speaker 5 00:17:56 No, no. That up in <laugh>
Speaker 1 00:17:59 I make, I make up all my facts <laugh>
Speaker 5 00:18:01 I
Speaker 1 00:18:01 Studied that's how it works.
Speaker 5 00:18:02 Okay. In Cleveland with, um, she was the most well known pedagogue in Cleveland at the time. In fact, couple other symphony players also studied with her. Her name was Margaret Randall. Okay. And she was wonderful. And I studied with her until I was 13 and she unfortunately, um, passed away. And after that, I, uh, was very fortunate and I got to study with David Cerone, who was, I don't know if he was head of the department at the time, but he was, um, a violin teacher at Cleveland of P music. And I was this only, uh, prep student. Um, unbeknownst to me, one of my colleagues in the orchestra flew in from Detroit every two weeks to study with him. But I, and she's, you know, a year younger than me, but I didn't know that I was, I thought I was the only kid at the time.
Speaker 5 00:18:53 Um, so I studied with him for three years and I ended up going to Eastman. This is kind of a funny story. So my father was an amateur violinist, right. And he had a friend, uh, who was a surgeon, David Klein and David Klein was also an amateur violinist. And in fact, he was the one that told my father about interlocking and said, Florence should go. So turns out David Klein was very friendly with the Cleveland quartet. And when they would come to Cleveland to play a recital, uh, Donald Wallerstein would stay at the house of this doctor, David Klein. And when I was a junior, I think junior in high school, cuz well, junior, senior, same year, um, David Klein said to my father, Florence should go to Eastman and study with Donald Wallerstein. So I went to Dr. Klein's house and I auditioned for Donald Wallerstein in his bedroom or living room. I don't remember. And he said, I will take you, but you have to go and audition officially. And I did. And I got in and I didn't audition anywhere else. And that's how I ended up with Eastman. And Donald Wallerstein is still one of the most famous and just fantastic violent teachers today. He's he's still teaching
Speaker 1 00:20:31 F fantastic. Do you remember your audition at the house? Oh yeah. Was it mortifying or,
Speaker 5 00:20:38 Uh,
Speaker 1 00:20:38 I was friendly. No,
Speaker 5 00:20:40 He's very friendly, but I was pretty scared. And also I think, I think I wasn't feeling well, I had the flu or strep or something, but, um, he was only there for, you know, that, that amount of time. And so I went, um, so that's how I ended up at Eastman.
Speaker 1 00:20:56 And did you enjoy your Eastman experience?
Speaker 5 00:20:58 I did. I didn't enjoy, uh, the winters in Rochester.
Speaker 1 00:21:03 Holy moly. Um, yeah,
Speaker 5 00:21:06 But all in all, I really liked it and I have a lot of friends still from those days and it was a really, it was a good place for me.
Speaker 1 00:21:15 That's interesting. There are, you know, some of the music, conservatory factories are not pleasant for a lot of people necessary, but not pleasant. And then there's those who thrive in that. I dunno if it's because you have the right teacher, you like the ensembles,
Speaker 5 00:21:33 It's a, a number of things. I left Eastman for a time because my teacher went on sabbatical and I ended up, um, which is another story, but I ended up at Juilliard, uh, and I stayed there for one year and I hated it. I hated I was absolutely miserable. I didn't fit in. Um, it was just a very bad place for me. I'm sure. Part of it was, I was too young mm-hmm <affirmative> uh, and inexperienced, but
Speaker 1 00:22:05 You popped into New York city
Speaker 5 00:22:07 In this rat race, cutthroat environment. And, um, I wasn't used to it. I didn't like it. I didn't feel comfortable. So I ended up going back to Eastman and finishing and getting my degree there. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so I think it depends. I think it would've been okay. Maybe as a grad student mm-hmm <affirmative> but at the time for was not good.
Speaker 1 00:22:29 Okay. Yeah. Interesting. So I read, cuz I Googled you, you also have a, a Aspen festival relationship. What is that?
Speaker 5 00:22:41 I went there for the next five summers <laugh> after interlocking, uh, specifically because my two Donald Wilderstein taught there. Okay. Um, and that was like Juilliard of the west. I had never been to the mountains. Right. It was spectacularly beautiful. Mm-hmm
Speaker 1 00:23:05 <affirmative> where is it? It's in as it's in
Speaker 5 00:23:07 Aspen, Aspen. Yeah. Colorado, um, gorgeous place. The, the quality of the musicians, uh, was fantastic. I was in the chamber symphony, which is the top orchestra for four, the five summers. I still, when we play certain pieces, I still see the sunlight, you know, in the mornings just coming through the, the openings and the big white tent, you know, when we play Broms, serenade, and D I just instantly I'm transported.
Speaker 1 00:23:41 Isn't that a wonderful sense memory sort of connection to have.
Speaker 5 00:23:45 It's really fantastic. And some other pieces, you know, that, that's just the first one that pops into mind, um, from that, from that time. So, um, it was beautiful. The music was good, but a lot of the time I was unhappy because it was the same
Speaker 1 00:24:05 It's it's as prestigious as they get, but also still the high powered sort of, is it competitive? Like
Speaker 5 00:24:13 It's very, very competitive there's. And then later, uh, when I was 25 and 26, I think I spent two summers at the Merle borough music festival. I, um, and that was very different that they have, uh, professionals like, um, I played in a couple groups with David Sawyer from the Guer quartet. He was a cellist. And, um, I met a man named Felix Gallier, who was a famous, his, uh, teacher, um, and coach violinist, uh, he's from a Hungarian family. And I played in a group with him and I just, I just really loved him. And so after my second summer at Marlborough, I decided to go back to school. I was kind of at a loss. I didn't know what to do. And I went to Manis, which was the only place he taught privately. Uh, so I could study with him
Speaker 1 00:25:14 And Manis is located.
Speaker 5 00:25:16 It's in New York city. It used to be on west 85th street, but they've moved downtown. I think they, they merged with the new school. Oh, okay. Downtown someplace.
Speaker 1 00:25:24 So were you ready for New York this time? A little bit, a little bit more.
Speaker 5 00:25:29 I was a little more ready. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:25:32 Excellent. I mean, that's, that's some pretty heavy duty stuff. You've through your like early years,
Speaker 5 00:25:39 It was not easy. And I was driven, um, because as I said, that's, it, it was my, it was my entire identity, you know, mm-hmm <affirmative> and I, I, I had to, I had to succeed in order to, to be a real person.
Speaker 1 00:26:00 But obviously, like you said, you had a facility because they don't waste their time with people who aren't gonna hack it. You know what I mean? You obviously showed skill that made it worth their time to focus on you.
Speaker 5 00:26:13 Right. I mean, I, I think I, I came through, you know, yeah.
Speaker 1 00:26:18 Seems, seems like you're doing okay. Florence <laugh> I don't know. People say everyth,
Speaker 5 00:26:23 Everything worked out, uh, in the end. Yes.
Speaker 1 00:26:26 So how does that get you to the Chicago symphony then? What were those mechanics you're studying at Manus you audition? Or is it later?
Speaker 5 00:26:35 Uh, it was a little after that. I was pretty much at a loss for what to do for, for some years. Um,
Speaker 1 00:26:43 And then you said, why don't I go play in the best symphony in the world that might be fun? Um,
Speaker 5 00:26:48 Kind of <laugh>, that's kind of how it happened. Um, <laugh> people like me violinists in, in particular, um, have a certain kind of, uh, training, you know, to stand up and play concerto and win contests and be concert master. And, you know, um, and most of us are not trained, um, with the goal of being in an orchestra. Um, right. We're all supposed to be, you know, the next high Fitz, um, obvious everyone can't do that for many reasons. Um, I didn't have the support system. Um, it just, it wasn't in the cards.
Speaker 1 00:27:32 Was it, was it your dream though, to be a soloist when
Speaker 5 00:27:36 I was very young? I, I think maybe, um, but then as I got old, um, I don't know, just my priorities changed. And at a certain point I realized, number one, this isn't gonna happen. I wasn't really pushing to make it happen. And I decided, obviously I was, you know, gonna make a living. I wanted to play the violin. I didn't wanna go to law school. So I started taking auditions and I was very picky and snobby, and I only wanted to be in, you know, the top orchestras. So generally when that happens, you know, people are usually in their twenties, they're not married or have kids yet, and they don't have other obligations. And so they can just practice all day long, you know, there's, you're in training basically, and you take a bunch of auditions and you know, the chips fall and that's where you end up. And so that's kind of what happened with me. Um, Chicago was one of my very top choices. So, um,
Speaker 1 00:28:47 How many rounds did you have to go
Speaker 5 00:28:49 Through? There were two. There you get in the finals. And usually the finals are, uh, pretty quick after the preliminaries, like within days or weeks in my case, it had to do with Schulte's schedule. Um, sir, George Schulte was the music director at the time. And I remember my preliminary was in mid-December and the final was, I think it was April 15th. And so I had many months in between, which was a kind of a slow torture <laugh>
Speaker 1 00:29:23 I would, I would think on a certain level. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:29:26 But, um, I just kept practicing and, you know, taking breaks and, um, I was quite determined. I was very, very, very determined. And um, when Deborah OBS, who was a personnel manager at the time, uh, said, congratulations, you know, you got the job. When can you start? I literally jumped up and down and said, now, now I can start now.
Speaker 1 00:29:54 <laugh>, that's adorable. I hope they, I hope they signed you up for next week. And then there you went.
Speaker 5 00:30:00 I was moved. I was moved to Chicago a few weeks later and started, uh, I started June 19th, 1989.
Speaker 1 00:30:08 And what, how long was Schulty the music director after
Speaker 5 00:30:12 That?
Speaker 1 00:30:12 Two years. Two more years.
Speaker 5 00:30:13 Yeah. He came, you know, often to conduct, um, after that, but Daniel bar boy became the music director two
Speaker 1 00:30:21 Years. Okay. Wow. You've already like blown everything out of my resume. Like, oh, I've got Benny Goodman, George Schulte and Daniel barren Baum. So end of interview. Okay. That's really cool. Um, so you've come to Chicago. Have you ever been here before at this? In 1989?
Speaker 5 00:30:41 I had been here for a couple of days once and that's, that's kind of all,
Speaker 1 00:30:48 Okay. So I mean, you're from Cleveland. The winters couldn't have scared you too much. No,
Speaker 5 00:30:54 No, no. It was the same. I mean, I, I basically have lived in Cleveland, Philadelphia and New York Columbus briefly and
Speaker 1 00:31:02 Rochester,
Speaker 5 00:31:03 Rochester and Chicago. So it's all, it's all winter.
Speaker 1 00:31:09 Yeah. You're in the, the rust belt. Right. So that's very cool. Um, so how long does it take you once you're in the Chicago symphony orchestra to actually be able to breathe? <laugh> is it, are you so in your zone, what you've worked so hard to get there and you're so focused. Is it just the natural next step then?
Speaker 5 00:31:35 No, it, it takes a couple years. It takes between, um, I don't know, I guess a year and a half to two to two years to get tenure. But aside from that, just to feel comfortable,
Speaker 1 00:31:47 What, what was the biggest surprise to you? Was there something about popping into this orchestra and
Speaker 5 00:31:54 Mm-hmm <affirmative> I remember my, it was my second rehearsal in the orchestra and I started at Ravinia on June 19. So I guess it was June 20th and James Levine was the music director at the time of Revinia and Verde Requiem was on the rehearsal. And I was sitting towards the back right in front of the trumpets and one of the trumpet players, uh, he's retired now, his name was Tim Kent, taps me on the shoulder and said, you might wanna get your plugs. And I looked at him and I said, are you kidding? And he said, no. And he looked so deadly serious, I thought, okay. And so I went off stage before the a and got earplugs and I put 'em on my stand. They have a box of 'em backstage. And I thought, how ridiculous is this? I worked my whole life to get here and now I'm supposed to put earplugs in. So anyway, we started and at the beginning of, uh, the second movement, or maybe it wasn't the beginning in the DS era, <laugh>, there's a huge brass fanfare and I'm sitting there and it got louder and louder until literally I, my head kind of started shaking and it hurt and I got a little dizzy and I thought I'm putting the damn ear pugs in. Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:33:29 So that was a big surprise.
Speaker 1 00:33:32 Yeah. That's I used to play trumpet and in college I got to play Verde Requiem. So yeah. You get to play as loud as you want and whatever, almost, um, yeah. How, uh, how is it to play with earplugs in, you know, you're, you're listening so intently, there's no frats, you know? Uh,
Speaker 5 00:33:56 It depends. It depends. Yeah. It depends what the pieces, obviously, uh, we, I only wear them when absolutely necessary, like for instance, not necessary during a Mozart or hide and symphony. Right, right. But if it's, you know, Peria or Shasta Kovi or Brookner, or, um, Carmina Barran, you know, it depends where you're sitting. Yeah. Um, usually it's the left ear. That's in firing range. Oh,
Speaker 1 00:34:27 For you. Right. Okay.
Speaker 5 00:34:29 Um, unless you're right in front of somebody and then it's both ears. So in general, I'd say I usually use one in my left ear, so I can still, you know, hear a little bit, but if it's that loud that I need to use too, first of all, we can play by feel, you know, but right. If it's so loud, um,
Speaker 1 00:34:55 They're not gonna hear you anymore.
Speaker 5 00:34:56 They're not gonna hear me anyway, you know? Yeah. I mean, but you can, you get used to it. They do have, um, we do have the option of getting custom made special earplugs that you're supposed to be able to hear yourself better, but I've never used those. I just use the disposable foam ones when it's it's necessary when it's necessary. And I basically always, unless it's a, you know, small orchestra and I know for sure we're not gonna they're is always a pair on my stand just in case.
Speaker 1 00:35:27 Okay. Do you, um, so it takes a couple years to sort of relax into your gig. You get tenure, I'm always curious. Um, it's like a family, a professional family on some level, right?
Speaker 5 00:35:44 Yes.
Speaker 1 00:35:45 I mean, it's you see the same people
Speaker 5 00:35:48 For 50 years?
Speaker 1 00:35:49 <laugh> yeah. The ones you like, the ones you don't, what, um, is it important to you? You have friends in the orchestra or is it a, I'm sure it's a different balance for everybody, right? You it's, I'm sure you have a cordial professional relationship, but it, how, how do you make friends? Is that sitting in the dressing room waiting for, you know, or just chit chatting? Do you pull like cards?
Speaker 5 00:36:20 Um, we don't play cards. Some, some of the guys do, but, um, it, that has, uh, that changes, um, over the years when I first got in, I knew a couple of people, so I had built in for, and then you just get to know people from being in the locker room, you spend endless hours in the locker room with your case next to somebody and changing before concerts and on tours. Tours are a nice place to get to know people because you're stuck there. You don't have to go home and, you know, do the dishes or the laundry, or, you know, feed your kids or feed your dog. And so you have a lot of free time and you have to, you know, feed yourself. So you got to meals. You don't wanna go by yourself. So right. You sometimes socialize with people that you wouldn't normally.
Speaker 5 00:37:12 Um, yes. And then you get to know people and it's very nice. Um, some of us, when I get in, there was a small group. We all had babies at the same time. Like for several years in a row, you know, I, I had one, then she had one, then she had one. Then she had twins and then two years, and then I had another one and she had another one. So we bonded a little bit over that. And we get together at holidays and talk about what to do and, you know, they were sick or, you know, stuff, mommy stuff,
Speaker 1 00:37:42 Real life stuff.
Speaker 5 00:37:43 Right. Um, so there was a lot of that. Um, and then, you know, there were people that you just liked that didn't have little children, your age and people, you played chamber music with mm-hmm, <affirmative> maybe, um, the, the dynamics do change over years. Partly the personnel changes and partly, you know, you change, you change, you know, I, I change and my priorities are different. I do have friends in the orchestra. It that's very important to me, but it's not as important. Um, as it used to be, it used to be a much bigger part of my social, uh, my social network, you know, my safety net. Yeah. Um, but I have friends from other places and I feel comfortable and, you know, cordial with everybody. Um, I don't really think there's anyone that I would hate to sit with on a, you know, three hour train ride in Japan.
Speaker 1 00:38:44 Right. Oh, dog time out.
Speaker 6 00:38:47 <laugh>
Speaker 1 00:38:49 Oh, see right on cue. And who, meanwhile, back at the ranch,
Speaker 5 00:38:57 It's important for me to get along with everybody. And I think most people make a pretty big effort. Um, unless you're planning on leaving, you know, you're gonna be there for a very long time. Yeah. So, you know, you're not gonna pick a fight with somebody cuz you're gonna have to see them for the rest of your life and they might be, you know, sitting next to you tomorrow. Yeah. Um, so that's important, but um, there are a couple of people that I'm extremely close with and that's very, very nice.
Speaker 1 00:39:29 That's nice. I mean, I think in everything in life, we, you know, you had a family, you have three, three children.
Speaker 5 00:39:36 I have three children. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:39:38 Wow. Okay. While doing a full-time job and um, but your life, um, your life work balance just changes by nature. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and um, uh, I think that's a, a pretty fascinating thought of, I mean, you guys, you're, your schedule is grueling.
Speaker 5 00:39:59 I, I think it is. I didn't think so, so much for a stretch, a stretch of time, I guess depends how old my kids were or what else I was up to. But, um, yeah, it, it can be pretty grueling
Speaker 1 00:40:16 Mean, are you on a 52 week contract or what is the mm-hmm <affirmative> because RIA the summer season is, you know, is there a break between now the subscription series and then summer?
Speaker 5 00:40:29 Yeah. We usually get a week or 10 days off, uh, at the end of the downtown season, before Roone starts and our, our, a big break is a month. And that's normally after RIA, like halfway through August and until the middle of September,
Speaker 1 00:40:46 When Ravinia goes to all their rock concerts and stuff and the symphony is off and right. Okay. And do you find that when you're off, do you travel or is it just like who you sit on my couch?
Speaker 5 00:41:00 Well, um, I've traveled a few times, but we travel so much in the orchestra that I like to be home.
Speaker 1 00:41:08 I wanna ask you about that. When we come back right now, we're gonna take a quick break, but Florence and I will be back and to talk about, uh, traveling with the orchestra and some of our other hobbies when we come back right after the interval, Today's interval was brought to us by no one. Again, I have no sponsors, but Florence. Wow. What was that? A 47th. <laugh>
Speaker 5 00:42:01 It was, uh, a major second, two Octas
Speaker 1 00:42:06 Twice removed, twice
Speaker 5 00:42:07 Removed.
Speaker 1 00:42:08 I don't know, filtered through a Stratus. What sort of, uh, instrument do you
Speaker 5 00:42:12 It's? Uh, actually Tyro. It's quite, I was made in the 16 hundreds.
Speaker 1 00:42:18 And is I asked you, but that's your main ActX right. Mm-hmm <affirmative> mm-hmm <affirmative> do you keep a second one? Mm-hmm <affirmative> do you have, you have to, right.
Speaker 5 00:42:26 Well, you don't have to, but um, most people play a second one for Ravinia and tours.
Speaker 1 00:42:34 Oh, for the tours completely. Mm-hmm <affirmative> well, we were just about to touch on touring when we left. So I wanna know two things. What you, the places you've gone, the amazing places you've gone and also what is it's grueling. Right. And the logistics are just,
Speaker 5 00:42:52 Yeah, it can be grueling and some tours are harder than others.
Speaker 1 00:42:56 Well, do you have a favorite one?
Speaker 5 00:43:00 I have favorite places that I like to go. I've been on so many tours. I, I don't think I can't place a favorite tour.
Speaker 1 00:43:10 Do you have time when you're on tour to see where you are?
Speaker 5 00:43:14 Yeah. Um, again, it depends on the tour, so we're lucky enough to be in one place for a week. And that's ideal when I was first in the orchestra, we used to go to Saltsburg for the, I dunno, Easter festival or some festival. And, um, we'd spend a week there and it was really nice. Sometimes we'd go to Japan and we're there for a week. Um, yeah. So when you're there for a few days, it's quite nice. It's the, the one nighters that are very difficult will take a plane, go someplace, play a concert, get up the next morning, do the same thing, go to bed in a different hotel, get up the next morning, do the same thing. You know, that's very, very exhausting.
Speaker 1 00:43:56 Yeah. Just, and when you're on tour, are you allowed to transport your own instrument? Oh yeah. Do you carry it with you?
Speaker 5 00:44:04 You can carry it with you if you like. And if you take a, a, you know, an expensive instrument, they also provide, uh, big rolling trunks with individual, uh, padded compartments. And you don't have to carry your or violent anywhere from, except from backstage to onstage. You, you put it in the trunk, it shows up at the hall in the next city. And that's generally what I do.
Speaker 1 00:44:31 What a logistical puzzle for the company management and all the,
Speaker 5 00:44:36 Yeah. It's a full-time job for the person who organizes the tours, buses and planes, and yeah.
Speaker 1 00:44:43 Yeah. I, I toured a lot with Broadway shows and we're not 120 people, but, you know, close and the logistics are just astounding. I, that's not a job I ever want. <laugh> being the company manager, you know? Oh, canceled flights. Right. Can't make it to Innsbrook. Sorry. Right. We'll have to walk. Um, okay. So you, did you like Japan?
Speaker 5 00:45:06 Yeah. I like Japan very much. I I've been there I three times at the, I can't remember. Maybe it's four.
Speaker 1 00:45:13 I'm hoping to go there soon. It's on my list. Um, what about, so this is my outsider observation from other ensembles I've played in whether it's college or professionally, when you go somewhere and you get to play for your colleagues, there's a certain level of adrenaline and, and, or pride, or, you know, chip on the shoulder. That's just natural when you're playing for those who, you know, are your equals or is that, is that fun? Is that different? Is it like I'm in Vienna now we better play Mozart, you know, <laugh>
Speaker 5 00:45:56 Yeah. Vienna's one of the few places that I think people really feel that, uh, we usually play at a spectacular hall, uh, both acoustically and it's very beautiful too, um, called the music Verine and you just walk into the place with the golden statues, you know, it's, it's a little daunting.
Speaker 1 00:46:19 Well, I'm sure everybody's seen it on PBS. The new year's concerts. Mm-hmm <affirmative> when it's all decked out, it looks spectacular.
Speaker 5 00:46:25 It looks spectacular even when it's not all decked out
Speaker 1 00:46:28 And are the, the acoustics are
Speaker 5 00:46:30 They're fantastic. Really fantastic.
Speaker 1 00:46:35 So I hear you love the cuisine in Moscow.
Speaker 5 00:46:38 Well, uh, the orchestra was there twice. The first time was in 1990, uh, right after the Berlin wall came down and there were, uh, cranes everywhere. There were building, um, <affirmative> there was no food. We were told to bring ballpoint pins, cigarettes, stockings, and toilet paper, maybe even soap. We brought, I think we brought a cook and we brought bottled to water and we stayed in this, uh, the big hotel, you know, for tourists, the official one. Right. And we had all our meals there because you couldn't go out and find a restaurant with food in it. It just, you couldn't do it at that time. And we went over Thanksgiving and they had a gigantic dining room, um, with big round tables of eight to 10 people. And we were all seated for dinner. And all of a sudden at the far end of the room, it was like, uh, one of those, like a, a wave at a football stadium where yeah. The people stand up and, you know, groups at a time. So one group, you know, table gets up and starts screaming. And then the next one does. And then the next one does, and we're all looking to see, what are they, what are they looking at out? Why are they screaming? And then finally it gets within eye shot of my table. There's a giant black rat running on the floor. <laugh> like practically under our feet. And so of course we all stood up and screamed too. So
Speaker 1 00:48:26 I like that image of the, the Moscow wave.
Speaker 5 00:48:29 Right. So, um, that was a famous story. And then my other, uh, famous tour story is that I left my appendix in Birmingham, England. We were on a tour that started in London and husband. And two little boys, uh, came along. We were there for a few days and then they went back and the next day we flew to Birmingham. I went out with a group of my friends for a nice dinner. And that night I became deathly ill and, uh, orchestra doctor came and, uh, it was determined that I had appendicitis and, uh, nobody knew except a couple of people that I was pregnant at the time, I think 11 weeks. Uh, in fact, the doctor said, um, you might wanna put your clothes on, cuz you gotta go of the hospital. And I said, these are my clothes. Cause they were maternity clothes.
Speaker 5 00:49:37 Oh. And um, it took a while. Um, in Vanessa MOS who is a general manager, came to sit with me and I was waiting to be taken to the hospital. And she called her on a cell phone, which was, there were too many cell phones in those days. And she said, oh, uh, Daniel bar, boy wants to come see you. Is that okay? And I said, well, I'm not at my best <laugh>. And she said, well, that's okay, he's coming. So we waited and waited and waited. And then finally it was determined that my appendix was gonna rupture and <affirmative> I had to be taken to surgery, you know, immediately. So they wheel me into the ambulance I'm in the ambulance. And all of a sudden there was a face two inches from my face and a very, very strong smell of Easter lilies. He had brought a huge bouquet of Easter lilies and he leans down and he said, are you okay? And I started to cry and I said, I'm scared, I'm pregnant. And he said, he patted my face. And he said, you'll be okay.
Speaker 1 00:50:47 This is Daniel Barron.
Speaker 5 00:50:49 Yeah. And then that's very sweet. Actually. They drove me, you know, off to the hospital where I had my appendix out and of course missed the rest of the tour. Um, but it was very kind and I will forever be grateful to Vanessa MOS were sitting, she stayed behind the orchestra left to go. I don't remember where Amsterdam, maybe the next day. Uh, she stayed behind, um, and sat with me in my room. I think for eight hours, I think maybe she took a break to go to the hospital cafeteria for lunch. She just kept me company. She read me the newspaper. We told stories. That's super sweet. It was so nice. Really, really sweet.
Speaker 1 00:51:32 You and I are kindred spirits. I left my appendix in Hollywood, Florida. <laugh> sadly, I joined a tour of a Broadway show. I just joined it. It had been going for a few months. So I was a replacement in the pit and the second week of a three week sitdown in Fort Lauderdale, I wasn't feeling well. And so finally in the middle of the night, I drove myself to the closest hospital, which was some French speaking, French Canadian people all go to Hollywood, Florida, and they all spoke. French, checked myself in they're like, does this hurt? I'm like, yeah. And they're like, oh, oh, that doesn't seem like enough. Like I wasn't in enough pain yet for them to do anything. And this is the, you know, R rated version of what I did. But finally I was so in so much agony, they were wheeling me into surgery and I was rith on the table, screaming, like, get
Speaker 9 00:52:28 This flip, been demon outta
Speaker 1 00:52:31 Me only. I didn't say flipping. And all I could hear was the nurse going, give him something, give him something, give him something. I was, I was not an egg. I was really funny until that moment. And then I was like Linda Blair from, I see the Exorcist. So you know, our appendix lives. Do you go hear other orchestras when they're, if Berlin's in town, do you go hear them
Speaker 5 00:52:53 Sometimes? You mean in Chicago? Yeah. Um, sometimes not often. We don't get too many visiting orchestras, but um, if I'm out playing a concert three or four nights a week, I generally wanna be home on those other nights. I don't wanna go to another concert.
Speaker 1 00:53:14 It's the same thing. When you're doing a, a run of a show, it's like, okay, do eight shows a week and I'm gonna go see someone else's show on my night off. Right. I mean, we do sometimes
Speaker 5 00:53:24 Occasionally, occasionally, but it's, it's a little rare for me. It's probably too rare. And now that my children are, you know, are grown and outta the house, um, I have less of an excuse.
Speaker 1 00:53:35 So you have three kids. Mm-hmm <affirmative> what do they do? Are they musicians?
Speaker 5 00:53:39 Um, sort of, uh, my oldest son is, uh, well used to play cello pretty well, but he hasn't touched it. Um, since high school. What
Speaker 1 00:53:49 Is his name?
Speaker 5 00:53:50 His name is max. Okay. And he is engaged to be married.
Speaker 1 00:53:54 Nice.
Speaker 5 00:53:54 First one soon. Uh, next year, summer.
Speaker 1 00:53:57 Oh,
Speaker 5 00:53:58 Your first? Yeah. And he is, uh, does computer science? He's uh, engineering. Physics major.
Speaker 1 00:54:05 Okay. Above my pay grade.
Speaker 5 00:54:07 Well, I have no idea come three. I have no idea what he does. Okay. But anyway, uh, so he's and he's working and going to school getting a master's also in computer science. Okay.
Speaker 1 00:54:18 That's max who's
Speaker 5 00:54:19 Max that's max. And then Solomon is, um, he lives in Brooklyn and he works for an, uh, auction house called artnet and he really loves it.
Speaker 1 00:54:29 And he sells NFTs.
Speaker 5 00:54:31 Um, sometimes
Speaker 1 00:54:32 Really <laugh>
Speaker 5 00:54:33 Sometimes mostly
Speaker 1 00:54:34 It's. Does he know what they are?
Speaker 5 00:54:36 Yes. He knows what they are. Okay. Mostly it's real, you know, art on paper or, and
Speaker 1 00:54:41 Does he have an art history or a interest or
Speaker 5 00:54:43 He does. He was a French and art, uh, double major in college. Um, and he's a very fine artist himself.
Speaker 1 00:54:51 What sort of medium?
Speaker 5 00:54:52 Um, pencil charcoal paint. Yeah, he was pretty classically trained.
Speaker 1 00:54:59 That's a, a skill I was not blessed with on any level.
Speaker 5 00:55:03 <laugh> okay
Speaker 1 00:55:03 At all. Can't
Speaker 5 00:55:05 Draw. And then my youngest is, uh, a daughter and she is, um, she has taken piano and flute and voice as in several shows and school. And in college. What's her name? Her name is Sally. My middle son is Solomon and she's in grad school at Loyola and she Chicago for social work at the moment.
Speaker 1 00:55:29 Okay. And what do they, what do they think about you? I mean your career, is it, is it cool? Was it weird? Is it just what mom's always done? So
Speaker 5 00:55:41 I think it's just what mom's always done. Uh, Solomon is the person who's most into stood in concerts and goes to all kinds of concerts. You know, mine when he is in town and in New York, all kinds of things in the opera. Um, max comes occasionally and Sally has let me know that she is not terribly interested.
Speaker 1 00:56:04 Okay.
Speaker 5 00:56:05 Um, so, but they're all, they all had some musical training. Um, but I, I just couldn't keep after him, you know, to practice. I just,
Speaker 1 00:56:16 Well, you know how hard it
Speaker 5 00:56:17 Is. I know how hard it is and I didn't wanna ruin our relationship.
Speaker 1 00:56:24 Okay. Well, it sounds like a pretty wise choice when people, kids ask me, like, how do I do what you do? I'm like, well, if you can do anything else, you should <laugh>. But if you need to do this, uh, I mean there's ways to do it. You have to
Speaker 5 00:56:39 Work really hard.
Speaker 1 00:56:40 It's really hard. Yeah. It's a hard way to make a living. I mean, you've, you've had a pretty secure job for 30 years. That's the exception in our,
Speaker 5 00:56:51 I know, I know in our, I understand that and I am very grateful that I was able to raise a family.
Speaker 1 00:56:59 Amazing. Yeah. I'm I love people in the arts with stories of, I work in the arts and I made a living and I raised a, I had the life I wanted with the job I wanted. We know people that have had to choose between. Sure. You know, it's not always possible to keep up your passion and whatever. Okay. So Solomon's the art I hear. You're an artist.
Speaker 5 00:57:27 Um, I,
Speaker 1 00:57:29 A visual artist as
Speaker 5 00:57:30 Well. Yeah. I have become a little, I don't know if a little and obsessed go together, but I've become somewhat obsessed.
Speaker 1 00:57:39 It's like almost exactly
Speaker 5 00:57:40 Right. That's right. That's right.
Speaker 1 00:57:42 A little obsessed.
Speaker 5 00:57:43 Yeah. So I've become very passionate. Um, in the last couple years about art, I used to draw a lot when I was a teenager. And if you had asked me when I was 12 or 13, what I wanted to be when I grow up, I think I would've said, I did say I would like to be an artist. Well, that didn't happen. And then I got this job and I got married and I had children and I didn't touch it for, I don't know, 25 or 30 years. And several years ago, maybe four or five years ago. Um, we were on a tour, a European tour and we were across the Lou in Paris. And I was with, uh, my best friend in the orchestra. And she took me to a very famous old art store where, you know, the old impressionist used to go and buy their supplies.
Speaker 5 00:58:47 And I'm a big color person. I, I color motivates me and affects me. And anyway, so there was this wall of pastel pencils, colored pencils. And I was like a kid in a candy store. And I said, oh, I'll take one of those. And one of those, and one of those, and I left with a couple of pads, drawing pads and a big handful of, uh, pastels in different colors. And I got home and it sat there in my closet for, I don't know, maybe two years. And I don't know why one day I got them out and I haven't stopped. And that was maybe a year and a half or two years before the pandemic. And so I started with pal pencils and then I started to use gush, which I didn't even know what it was. It it's a kind of a watercolor paint, but it's more opaque.
Speaker 5 00:59:44 And then I tried oil paint and then I did oil pastels. And then I, the last thing I tried was soft pastels. So I just have been sort of moving through the mediums and now I use all of them and my walls are covered and I spent the entire pandemic painting happily all day. And, um, so now I know what I'm gonna do when I'm, when I retire <laugh> and I just, I just really love it. It's very, it's very fulfilling to me. And, um, I think I've developed a certain style. I I've never had lesson. My boyfriend keeps telling me, you should go take a lesson. And I said, I, I told him, well, the reason I love it so much is because there are no rules. And for what I do in the orchestra, there are a lot of rules. You have to dress this way.
Speaker 5 01:00:39 You have to sit this way. You have to play a bow down. It has to be the way the conductor wants, the way the composer wants, you know, slurred, this, this kind of tone. There, there are lots of rules, you know, and that's, that's okay. Because if we didn't follow them, it would sound like a mess. Right. But it's very strictly, uh, organized. And so with my artwork, um, nobody is gonna tell me what color it should be or where I should put that flower or what medium I should use or how big the canvas should be. It's just whatever I feel like doing that day.
Speaker 1 01:01:14 Yeah.
Speaker 5 01:01:15 So
Speaker 1 01:01:15 It's, I understand that. Do you have a favorite subject matter or anything? Everything
Speaker 5 01:01:21 I like to try different things. Um, I think I'm at the moment, the best at landscapes, just because I'm, I'm such a color person. Um, I've done some portraits. It's some of them are more successful than others. I've, uh, painted my children a lot, especially when they're babies. I just really enjoy doing
Speaker 1 01:01:42 That painted on them or painted of them.
Speaker 5 01:01:43 Oh, pictures of them. Oh,
Speaker 1 01:01:45 Pictures of them. I see. Not body paints. No.
Speaker 5 01:01:47 Okay. No. So, um, that's, that's a lot of fun for me. Um, and I'm trying to get better. Uh, people are much more difficult to paint than trees and flowers, cuz it, you know, it has to look a certain way. So you recognize them.
Speaker 1 01:02:03 Right? I there's a, I'm amazed at the old masters, you know, I guess we didn't see the real person that's in the painting, but how, it seems like they captured an actual expression of these people specific looks, it looks so real. And to when you're painting someone, you know, it must be frustrating if you're like, I can't, it's a good painting. It doesn't look like them or
Speaker 5 01:02:31 Right. Well, I'm a little bit the opposite, uh, of the old master in that, uh, don't look as accurate as like an old photograph, but usually it's, especially if it's my kids or a friend, I know them very, very well, so I can get a certain expression. Like I, I feel that I get the essence of the person. It won't be perfect. Mm-hmm but
Speaker 1 01:03:00 It, well, you're not going for photorealism. Are you? Or is that
Speaker 5 01:03:03 Right? No, no, no, no, no. I would just like it to be recognizable. So anyway, that's something I'm working on that
Speaker 1 01:03:09 Wasn't Picasso's goal clearly.
Speaker 5 01:03:11 <laugh> my children look a little bit more like them than <laugh>
Speaker 1 01:03:15 Is they're very Cubist children. Right. That's fantastic. Okay. So here's the back to the musician world. Do you have favorite composers that you like to play?
Speaker 5 01:03:27 Yeah, but there are so many of them. I mean
Speaker 1 01:03:30 I okay. Muller or Bruckner
Speaker 5 01:03:33 Muller,
Speaker 1 01:03:34 Uh, Beethoven or Mozart.
Speaker 5 01:03:36 That's not really a fair question.
Speaker 1 01:03:38 There you go.
Speaker 5 01:03:39 But Mozart would win if it was a contest.
Speaker 1 01:03:42 What about Bach or Palestrina? What a choice. Those are just the six composers that I know. Thank you. Welcome to Chicago musician. Um, is there repertoire that comes up though? The standard repertoire that you're like, uh, not this again, vacation week.
Speaker 5 01:04:00 Yeah, but I don't can't I don't really wanna reveal. Is there some that if I never play that again, it'll be too soon
Speaker 1 01:04:09 And then are, are there those of those good question, host Sean Ingle. Are there pieces that you don't really adore that come by and somehow they surprise you with either a new or where you are in your life or?
Speaker 5 01:04:25 Well, we just had one of those last week. In fact, um, we played the complete Firebird ballet of Stravinsky mm-hmm <affirmative> and usually, uh, we play the sweet, which is kind of like greatest hits. Yeah. And I, that, I remember playing that in high school at interlocking. So I've played that piece as you know, for many, many, many years and only have played the complete ballet. A couple of times. I remember we did it with pier Bules lots of years ago. Um, and we did it last week. Um, and we did it with a very young, uh, conductor that we hadn't heard of, uh, 26 years old. And I can't think, I, I don't think I can pronounce his name correctly. Um,
Speaker 1 01:05:16 And pronunciation doesn't count on this podcast. I've butchered everyone so far. Oh,
Speaker 5 01:05:20 Is he Mackel or something like that? Anyway, he is finish. Okay. He's 26 years old.
Speaker 1 01:05:26 That's not fair.
Speaker 5 01:05:28 Um, yeah, like he could be one of my kids and he was spectacular and he really put together of this piece that in a way that, uh, you know, I hadn't done before and it was very effective and really, really pretty thrilling. So that was fun.
Speaker 1 01:05:47 Yeah. And so kind of a nice unexpected, right? Yeah. You never know when that's gonna happen. Right. Um, I wondered, I've seen you guys play a number of cons concertos with like Hillary Han or kava coast or like these, the famous violin soloists of our day. <laugh> I have a weird question for you. I always wonder when it's like the Cadenza or you're sitting there and watching these people and you're like, I play the same instrument. Is it ever like, Ugh, what a hack? Why is she playing it like that or, no, it is. I, I mean, I can't imagine that in the Chicago symphony you get soloists of that level, but is there must be because of your own expertise, there must be places where you say, like, that's an interesting choice. I wonder why, or, I mean, I wonder if you, if you hear like, oh cool. I would've never thought of that. Or mm-hmm, <affirmative> what a trite way to play that.
Speaker 5 01:06:50 Sure. All of us are very opinionated <laugh> and have our own ideas about how either we would play it or how we've heard it 350 times before. Right. And so, yeah, we have, I have my opinions. Um, and that also happened last week. Somebody, uh, played the, uh, for coffee of G minor violin concerto. And I played that when I was in high school or college and, um, I never could quite figure out how to make it coherent for, for part of it. And, um, it was performed beautifully in ways that, you know, I, I hadn't thought of, and then sometimes you get a performance that's um, you think, oh gosh, um, I, you wouldn't have done it that way, but it's still really good. So I think the most important thing is that it would be really, really boring if you heard the same piece played the same way all the time. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, you know, so it's nice to hear different interpretations. And often after concert, there will be a discussion in the locker room about this or that, you know, there are a lot of violinists in my part of the locker room. And so, you know, you hear other people's ideas about it too.
Speaker 1 01:08:13 You, you get to en engage with the soloists or is that just,
Speaker 5 01:08:17 If you want to, if you can, I mean, if you, if you have the opportunity and feel like it,
Speaker 1 01:08:22 I'm just wondering as far as time, if there's downtime where you just end up sitting with them chatting.
Speaker 5 01:08:29 No, no, they go on stage. They play the rehearsal, they go off to stage into their dressing room. Um, I've stopped, you know, a couple of people like, uh, Alisa Wilderstein is the daughter of my teacher.
Speaker 1 01:08:42 Oh, nice.
Speaker 5 01:08:43 And, um, when she was in a high chair that her family was over at my condo in Aspen for dinner when I was a student there. Um, so I, you know, made a special effort. I wanted to chat with her a little bit and ask her about her family and her parents and her, you know,
Speaker 1 01:09:01 Babies. She's also a violinist,
Speaker 5 01:09:03 She's a cellist, she's a spectacular child. Oh,
Speaker 1 01:09:05 I heard her about a a month ago. Right, right. And she played a lovely B um, solo piece for Ukraine right. In Quare. That was, yeah. Yeah. So, oh, she was she's lovely.
Speaker 5 01:09:18 She's great. Yeah. So, but I have to say, uh, most of the time, um, it's kind of businesslike and you know, we go on stage and we play, you know, and go home and take care of our kids or our dogs, or, you know, fight traffic.
Speaker 1 01:09:35 Do you ever have, um, soloists? I, I, I'm sure there's a degree of this. Probably not what I'm imagining, but where, where you're like, holy shit. The, the rehearsal, he set this tempo and now we're twice as fast. It's like, this is going crazy. No,
Speaker 5 01:09:55 That doesn't happen.
Speaker 1 01:09:56 Is it, is it ever, is it like on, are there performance who are unknown enough that you're, oh, that was different, but I get it. Or you rehearse that through.
Speaker 5 01:10:08 Well, we rehearse everything and I figure that if they are playing with us, they have some experience. Um, there haven't been a, too many real, you know, there aren't train wrecks ever. So I, no, I don't, I don't worry for them. You know, as like you would at a student recital of your kid or something,
Speaker 1 01:10:32 I have to say though, I I've heard you guys thank you very much several times over the last few years. And it's, I get nervous for you in a way, like I heard Muller five a few years ago and it's like, there's 120 soloists on that stage. It's so virtuosic for everyone. And I just know like, okay, a horn can crack. It's so easy to not play it. Right. And that high trumpet part, you know, I've blacked enough as a trumpet player to know how precarious that is. And so I have a certain degree of angst also while I'm blown away by you. Cuz I know it's you make it sound like it's easy and it's anything, but
Speaker 5 01:11:21 Right. Well sometimes, uh, you know, even as a string player, just as a member of the orchestra, I might get nervous for a big solo that somebody else is playing that I know is coming up. But after, you know, after years of playing with this group, you, um, you just come to expect a certain standard, which is very, very, very high. So that something outta the ordinary, like a note is, um, it's a very, it's a pretty unusual occurrence that the norm is that everything goes flawlessly.
Speaker 1 01:12:05 For me, I'm sure this isn't everybody's taste, but like I like an, an occasional clam in that it's reminds me that like, these are real people doing this now.
Speaker 5 01:12:16 Well, you might like that, but the person, no, they don't. It happened to doesn't like it.
Speaker 1 01:12:20 No, but there's a, a reality check that it's like, that could be happening way lot more. And it's spectacularly amazing that it's not, I mean the level of playing is it must be, I'm just thrilled to hear you guys play.
Speaker 5 01:12:34 Oh, well thank you. It's um, I, I mean we're as performers, you know, aware of course of the possibility that something could go wrong at any moment. Right. And that's why the concentration level is so high. I mean sometimes still, I wonder, why am I so tired? I only had one concert today. There wasn't another rehearsal. I wasn't out running around doing things in between, but I am exhausted. Well during that two hour performance, the concentration level is, is it's just exhausting. It's intense. And if you blink, you could come in wrong all by yourself and you know, ruin things. So that's just, it's just something you get used to. It's just kind of a given with the
Speaker 1 01:13:27 Job. One of my favorite things, when I hear the Chicago symphony and there's, you know, it's, I don't know, Shasta Ko or something where it's orchestra virtuoso and the some part goes, dun, dun, da, da. And then, and then the violas play it. And then to me it looks like, and then the cellos go like, oh yeah, we can go. And then the bass is like, oh really? We can do it only six times bigger. It has that feeling of like, you can't play this better than not listen to this. And I hope that's what it feels like sometimes.
Speaker 5 01:14:03 Yeah. Sometimes, you know, but yeah, we're just all really trying to do our parts as best we can.
Speaker 1 01:14:11 Do you have any, um, this long into a career in this ensemble, do you have any dreams of things you would like to still play or material that you've never gotten to do that might be, or is, you know, it not within your control? Right. Mostly
Speaker 5 01:14:30 That's a very good question. I've I think I've played pretty much probably all of the standard repertoire, you know, many, many times, there's always something that comes up and you think, oh, well I've never played that in 50 years, you know? Um, that's getting, you know, it's few and far between of course, not that not counting the new, the new compositions,
Speaker 1 01:14:56 Right. With your composers and resides.
Speaker 5 01:14:58 Right. Right. I, at this point I just, I would be very happy to play my favorite things over and over
Speaker 1 01:15:04 <laugh>. Yeah. Um, do you practice now? Yeah.
Speaker 5 01:15:08 I practice their fingers. Uh, your fingers don't move. So if you don't practice at all
Speaker 1 01:15:13 Yeah. Are there, are there, if you're going Beethoven four, do you say like, ah, I know that one Uhhuh <affirmative> or I know that on page three, there's always that thing I have to run through.
Speaker 5 01:15:23 Right. Both depending on the piece, some pieces you don't have to practice and some pieces, you know, that you do.
Speaker 1 01:15:31 I also know you're a gardener mm-hmm <affirmative> cuz I'm a gardener. Yeah. Do you, have you have like a rooftop?
Speaker 5 01:15:37 I do. I moved from the suburbs, uh, to the city four years ago, uh, to this apartment specifically, cuz there's a, a rooftop garden it's over the garage. Oh nice. Um, and I really, really enjoy that. I started to gardening when I moved, um, to Winka some years ago and it's just a passion. It also has to do with color, you know, along with my painting.
Speaker 1 01:16:02 I'm with you. I'm way into color. Do you have favorite flowers or types of plants? I
Speaker 5 01:16:07 Just like everything. Yeah.
Speaker 1 01:16:09 Yeah. Um, you also have a dog, right?
Speaker 5 01:16:11 I have two dogs.
Speaker 1 01:16:12 Two dogs. Okay. Names
Speaker 5 01:16:15 Bachi and Ruby.
Speaker 1 01:16:17 What types?
Speaker 5 01:16:18 Uh, Ruby is ASU and Bachi is ASU Bijon mix and Bachi was my very first dog.
Speaker 1 01:16:26 Oh
Speaker 5 01:16:27 Yep. And I don't know that I'll ever be without one now because I love them so much.
Speaker 1 01:16:32 It's pretty good for the soul. Isn't its it's
Speaker 5 01:16:35 Great. They're my therapy. They're my joy. They make me laugh every day. It's fantastic.
Speaker 1 01:16:41 Excellent. Well, I've really enjoyed getting to know you Florence and I'm so happy you were able to stop by and um, I hope your colleagues enjoy a, a laugh or two when they listen to you giving away all the stay secrets. I don't think we get away, not too many, too many state secrets, so, but um, it's been a real pleasure. And so
Speaker 5 01:17:01 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 01:17:05 Thanks again to my guest Florence Schwartz and of course today's guest barks, Libby and Dexter. Thanks for listening to Chicago musician. I'm your host Sean STLE.
Speaker 4 01:17:26 Right? Was I entertaining enough?
Speaker 1 01:17:29 I thought so. You're very charming.
Speaker 5 01:17:32 Thank you. I can be charming.
