The Gifted Youth

The return to Interlochen was just a reminder that winter was taking hold of this tiny town in northern Michigan. In the two months we had been here our view out the porch windows overlooking Green Lake had gone from one of vibrant colors to one of hibernating gray. When the rain falls, then the snow, the once obvious cottages and pine trees on the opposite shores become invisible. We only know they must be there. Life on the lake changes, too. The boats, the fisherman, the docks, etc. have all gone ashore. Oblivious to the oncoming “polar vortex” are a couple of beautiful white swans who swim gracefully in the shallow waters in front of our cabin. It’s hard not to shiver when they plunge their heads under the surface to grab something edible. We wonder where the swans go when the whole lake becomes a frozen mass.

On the campus at the Interlochen Center for the Arts the student body of 495 is busy studying, practicing and planning their futures. The cafeteria is much changed since my days as a student. Large salad bars, a gluten free section, a make-your-own omelet section, a sandwich station, sodas, etc. are all new (to me). Had I forgotten how loud it can get, and all the drama? It’s a school for the arts, so maybe it should seem normal that scenes are being played out in every corner of the dining hall. It’s here where we would join my high school teacher, Dan Stolper, to discuss the state of American orchestras, American oboe playing and all the changes we’ve seen over several decades. Mr. Stolper’s success in turning out talented oboe players is unparalleled and I’d soon get to hear the latest crop play etudes from one of my books.

The room for the master class was in a building that did not exist during my days as a student. A lot of buildings are new. Progress. I talked to the students about taking advantage of this Interlochen experience and looked for a volunteer to start us off. A quietness immediately filled the room. It was a sharp contrast to the noise level in the cafeteria. The students, all juniors, came from places like New Mexico, Florida, Washington and Japan. After a couple months of school, they already seemed to be friends. The young oboe players all seemed to possess attractive sounds and good fundamentals. It was fun to hear them wield their way through some difficult music. I left thinking that the oboe would be an important part of their futures.

We met up with Nancy Stagnitta, flute instructor at Interlochen, at the Hofbrau in Interlochen. Nancy and Lisa both studied with Tim Day in San Francisco and played with the Sarasota Opera Company, Nancy following Lisa. Nancy is also on sabbatical, so it was fun to hear about her projects which involve interviews with former teachers. The restaurant was warm and cozy with a lot of television screens showing different sporting events. The restaurant was there when I was a student, but I don’t remember all those TVs.

The concerto competition on Saturday would feature 14 talented young musicians. Judging with me were three high-profile musicians. From the Eastman School of Music was percussionist Michael Burritt, from Mannes College was pianist Pavlina Dokovska and from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music cellist Jean-Michel Fonteneau. There were many stand-outs, but the two top prizes would go to J. T. Hassell playing the Bartok Piano Concerto No. 3 and Seung Min Sara Han playing Rossini’s Introduction, Theme and Variations for clarinet. Another stand-out included Alyssa Katahara, playing a harp concerto by Ginastera. An arrangement with NPR’s “From the Top” would mean the prize winners would appear on that well-known radio program.

A reception at the Frohlich Lodge followed the concerto competition. The judges and Interlochen faculty members Thomas Riccobono (trombone), Renee Skerik (viola), (both of whom were at Eastman with Lisa), Michael Coonrod (piano), Carolyn Watson (conducting), T. J. Lymenstull (piano), Nancy Stagnitta (flute) and many others joined in celebrating the young musicians.
If the gifted youth at Interlochen are any indication, the future of classical music looks bright.

– Robert Stephenson and Lisa Byrnes

 

Boston & Niagara Falls

We had an early start from Hopewell Junction and a smooth ride into Boston. Well, sort of smooth. Big cities like Boston, Philadelphia, New York, etc. have some common traits when it comes to the roads, the drivers and the congestion. We must be lucky in Salt Lake City, where the roads are most often straight, wide and without excessive amounts of potholes. The narrow streets, circles or roundabouts and impatient drivers of a city like Boston make driving a real thrill ride. At any minute we felt on the verge of being side-swiped, rear-ended, tail-gated, cut off, honked at or flipped-off. That we escaped without a scratch is a minor miracle.

Meeting us for lunch at Symphony Sushi in Boston was Richard Svoboda and his wife, Liz Foulser. It was a fun hour (or however long we had left on the parking meter). It was interesting to hear about life as a musician in Boston and brag about stealing Erin Svoboda away from New England. Liz and Richard were animated and entertaining. Their choice in restaurants was good too.

Lisa had found another Airbnb for our two days in Boston. This proved to be in a wonderful spot, not too far from Symphony Hall and the New England Conservatory. We by chance ran into my Curtis classmate, John Ferrillo, at Moby Dick’s of Boston. It probably wasn’t such a surprise as John and I had eaten there together a couple of years ago and Richard Svoboda called it “John’s Second Home”. Because John’s real home is almost two hours away, he spends a lot of time in the city. He was in his running clothes. We had a great time catching up and John seemed especially relaxed considering he was scheduled to play Bach’s “Wedding Cantata” in a few hours. The recital at NEC was very good. We heard Beethoven’s “Storm” Quintet and Cantata #202 by Bach. Playing second violin in the Beethoven was Kristopher Tong, former student of Leonard Braus. The quintet played with excellent ensemble and character. Hearing John play the “Wedding Cantata” was a real treat. His playing had personality and beauty. Lisa Saffer did a beautiful job singing the soprano arias.

The next morning we took off for Quincy and the home of John Adams, his son John Quincy and two more generations of Adams. We got a tour of the first Adams home and then the “Old House” where the Adams name appeared on the mailbox for more than 100 years. Like the other Presidential homes, a keyboard was amongst the pieces of colonial furniture. John Adams’ favorite instrument was the organ and the church where the Adams worshipped and heard an organ on a weekly basis was close by. The tour guides helped illuminate this dynamic father/son combination, their time in history and their love of country. John Adams, unlike other Founding Fathers, refused to own slaves and had a vision of the future. He was famous for saying, “I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.”

We had some great Indian food on Adams Street in Quincy. It’s a town that celebrates the Adams name. Joining us for dinner in Boston was Lynn and Theresa Larsen, both former members of the Utah Symphony, and John Ferrillo. We ate at John’s “Second Home”. The food tasted familiar. Lynn is of course the orchestra and personnel manager for the Boston Symphony and Theresa plays cello (mostly with the BSO). Theresa and I were also classmates in high school and at the Academy of the West, and our kids are of a similar age. There was plenty to talk about, but much of the discussion centered around conductors. Because John has played in San Francisco and the Met, he’s seen some pretty good conductors. Thierry Fischer had just conducted Nielsen in Boston and the reviews were favorable.

John gave us a great tour of Symphony Hall. There are walls, statues and displays devoted to the history of the orchestra. Gift shops, restaurants and bars are plentiful. We ran into associate principal oboist, Keisuke Wakao, before the concert. Lisa and Keisuke had been in New World together, so that was a fun reunion. The area under and around the hall is vast, and John explained that the Boston Symphony has same excellent investors. Much of the surrounding real estate belongs to the Boston Symphony.

 

The 8:00 concert featured the Sibelius Violin Concerto and the Schubert Symphony in C, “The Great”. The soloist was Frank Peter Zimmermann, who raced through the concerto and a Bach encore with mechanical precision. It was great to hear another fabulous orchestra. The clarinets, the strings, Richard Svoboda and Keisuke were at the top of their game. Our seats, which faced at right angles to the stage, were also quite uncomfortable. We made a switch that brought us from that first tier in the back to something closer. Acoustically both spots were good. The degree of twisting to see the orchestra had been mildly reduced. Stars make up most of the Boston Symphony, but the wind playing in the Schubert was especially outstanding. Besides John Ferrillo, we got to enjoy Elizabeth Rowe playing first flute. They make a winning combination and afterwards we would see them both along with Steve Ansell, another Curtis classmate.

Leaving early again, we made a stop in Stockbridge to see the Norman Rockwell Museum. His long career as an illustrator was well documented. His actual studio was moved from an area by Main Street to the country where the museum is situated. One of the guides told us Rockwell liked to listen to Italian opera when he painted. All of his works tell a story. We took advantage of the gift shop and had lunch at the historic Red Lion Inn, a hotel that is more than 200 years old. It is one of the buildings featured in Rockwell’s painting, “Christmas on Main Street”. He liked to use locals for models, so as we strolled down Main Street we imagined seeing some familiar faces, or perhaps the descendants of people in his work.

We continued the drive northwest on Interstate 90 and found our hotel close by Niagara Falls. We went exploring and saw the falls for the first time. They were very dramatic and very loud. More than a hundred years ago Gustav Mahler said about the falls, “Finally, a fortissimo!” Catching the falls in November meant fewer crowds and access to the observatory which hung over the river connecting Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, was free of charge. We could still hear the falls from our hotel.

 

We had arranged for our passports to be sent to us while in Hopewell Junction, NY. This made it possible to see Niagara Falls from Canada. The view from Canada is the best. Towering hotels and casinos make the most of the view. A lot of foreign languages and snapping pictures were a part of an excited audience. Whether it was raining or misting heavily, most people had the sense to wear water-repellant jackets. Umbrellas were the norm. It was a nice introduction to our “Sister from the North”.

It was still a long trip back to Interlochen, but fifteen days after we left the cottage by the lake, we had finally returned.

The leaves had fallen off the trees by the lake and a full moon began to rise over the water. It felt like winter was on the way.

– Robert Stephenson and Lisa Byrnes

New York

We had experienced temperatures in the 80s during the week but left Washington D.C. in a windy, cold rain. The skyscrapers of Manhattan make a big impression, but our accommodations would be on the other side of the Hudson River in Jersey City. More than 25% of the musicians in the Metropolitan Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic live in the “Garden State” of New Jersey. It has some beautiful areas. By the time we left New Jersey a couple of days later, I felt like a million commuters had been on the subways at the same time with us.

My son Kendall, living in Brooklyn and going to school in Manhattan, was the perfect tour guide. He met us in Jersey City. Kendall knew all the right trains to catch, sights to see and restaurants to frequent. We took the subway to NYC and then went to the Chelsea Market for some amazing chicken and cactus tacos and the number one tourist attraction, the High Line. The High Line is fairly new and runs for almost a mile and a half on the elevated tracks of an abandoned railway. All of it offers the greatest views of the Hudson and block after block of giant buildings.

New York City is alive and growing. Most of the growing seems to be up and not for office space but for apartments and condos. People are moving into this slender slice of the Big Apple. Under construction was a huge modern apartment building advertising apartments with 2-5 bedrooms at a price tag of two to twenty million dollars. We decided we’d have to keep looking. The City seems cleaner and friendlier than my memories of 30-some years ago. There are very few abandoned buildings or unused space. We enjoyed Union Square and the various sights used by The New School, where Kendall is getting his masters degree. We would dine at “Republic”, and like all the restaurants we would try, it was really good.

“Aida” at the Met was on the agenda for 7:30. The opera house was opulent and grand. Winding stairways, beautiful statues, shining chandeliers, great art and expensive gowns were everywhere. The Egyptian-style sets (almost four stories tall!), a cast of 200 people, horses, carts, dancers, a terrific chorus and a stellar orchestra kept our attention until the final curtain at 11:15pm. Aida, was sung by Liudmyla Monastyrka and Aida’s father by Zeljko Lucic. They were the standouts, but individual members of the opera orchestra like flutist Denis Bouriakov, oboist Elaine Douvas and clarinetist Jessica Phillips Rieske had their moments in the spotlight. The orchestra sings with a fine-tuned expression.

The subway ride back to our Doubletree hotel in Jersey City made us feel like a couple of sardines in a very big can of fish. Many travelers were in costume from Halloween parties (a day early!) and despite the wall to wall humanity, the mood was jovial. With the late concert and train delays, it was 1:00am when we finally got back to the hotel.
The next morning we met at “Juliette” in Brooklyn for breakfast. Kendall gave us a tour of his apartment on Jefferson, and then Lisa and I went to the September 11 Memorial in NYC. Hundreds of other people were there to see the dramatic memorial and look up 105 floors to the top of the new World Trade Center 1. Heavy security is all around the construction sights and new buildings. We also took time to visit Trinity Church, one of the oldest in NY, where young children were parading around the cemetery in their Halloween costumes and young students in period dress were recreating scenes from America’s past.

We met the Sirineks of Ridgewood, NJ for dinner at the “Atlantic Grill”, close to Lincoln Center. Bob Sirinek is a former trumpet player for the the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the present orchestra manager for the same orchestra. His wife is Elaine Douvas, the orchestra’s principal oboist for more than 35 years and one of my oldest musical friends. Our friendship goes back to our high school days at Interlochen, Michigan. The Sirineks also brought their beautiful daughter, Portia, who is in med school at Columbia and was just joining us from a recording session. Portia plays the horn and like her mother, spent many summers at the National Music Camp at Interlochen. Dinner was great, and of course it was fun to catch up. Elaine taught James Hall and Titus Underwood at Juilliard and sang the praises of Lori Wike from their time at Aspen together and Jennifer Rhodes from Jen’s time as a student at Juilliard. Though Elaine is the most petite woman, her influence has cast a wide shadow.

Lisa and I went to hear the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fischer. Kendall and his friends Ian and Davis would join us. This concert was the centerpiece for all of our “hear-the-orchestras” tour because of the Christopher Rouse Flute Concerto. Appearing as soloist was Robert Langevin, the orchestra’s principal flutist. There’s nothing like hearing a great player live. I felt it with Emmanuel Pahud, Josh Smith and Lorna McGhee and would feel it again with Robert Langevin. Before the flute concerto, the orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin played Copland’s “El Salon Mexico”. The orchestra played with a strong degree of bravado. In the flute concerto, Mr. Langevin was in complete control. His tone was rich, focused and controlled. Many of the technical passages were over-balanced in favor of the orchestra, but Langevin kept my interest throughout. After the intermission the orchestra played an arrangement of Ravel’s “Gaspard de la Nuit”. There was some beautiful playing by oboist Liang Wang and bassoonist Judith Le Clair. “Bolero” was last on the program. It started out surprisingly loud and the players went through the piece in the usual fashion. Being Halloween, it was another crowded and colorful trip back to New Jersey.

We had breakfast with Kendall again and said our goodbyes for who knows how long. He plans a trip to Korea to see his girlfriend around Christmas and will look for a job, who knows where, when he graduates in May. Gerri and Gayle Rhodes of Hopewell Junction met us for the Met production, “Carmen” by Bizet. The glowing red lighting, the passionate pas de deux in the beginning and then again later, the giant sets, a fabulous cast and orchestra, a terrific chorus, and the live simulcast made for an exhilarating experience. The music is so heart-wrenching and the artists above and below the stage so great, it can make the most seasoned instrumentalist teary-eyed.

Our time with the Rhodes was really wonderful. Their beautiful home reflected years of exciting travel, raising two precious girls and creating many happy memories. We drove to Hyde Park to see the homes of the Vanderbilts (from the outside) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (inside and out). We were all fans of FDR before the tour and more so after the tour. We dined at a diner Gayle knew from long ago. The chili he ordered was still as good as it was 30 years ago. We talked until late about Gayle’s career with IBM, the challenges of a career in music and their grandson, Anderson. Sometimes it’s a two year old that can put it all in perspective.

– Robert Stephenson and Lisa Byrnes

Washington, D.C.

We spent a couple days driving to the homes of Presidents Washington, Monroe, Madison and Jefferson. Their properties were vast. Slaves serviced the homes, the families and the land. The tour guides all mentioned the contradiction between the idea of ‘We, the people’ and the Founding Fathers all owning hundreds of slaves. The Blue Ridge Mountains were a backdrop for the home of James Madison and the Potomac River for George Washington. Jefferson’s home at Monticello sat atop a hilltop looking over much of Virginia. His estate bordered the estate of his close friend, James Monroe. The homes have been well maintained with period furniture and original colors and flooring. The land surrounding these homes have been protected and remain undeveloped. The changing colors of the trees made for some beautiful views. Though none of the Presidents played the piano, all homes had keyboard instruments. The tour guides all knew what First Lady, sister or daughter played the piano. When I asked about Jefferson’s violin, I was told that the whereabouts of any violin were unknown.

The arts were important to Jefferson. He was quoted as saying during one of his long stints in Europe, ‘If there is a gratification which I envy any people in this world it is to your country it’s music. This is the favorite passion of my soul, and fortune has cast my lot in a country where it is in a state of deplorable barbarism.’ The Presidents all had gathering rooms for games and relaxation, but they all spent most of their solitude with books. Their collections were some of the largest in all of the new United States. A person like Madison, widely regarded as the genius among great thinkers, knew seven or eight languages and had studied the history of failed democracies covering the time of Ancient Greece to his own time. We also saw the original manuscript of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ by Francis Scott Key at Mount Vernon. We always left the subject of an early U.S. President with the realization that they were the right people at the right time.
The monuments and memorials in Washington D.C. all left strong impressions.It’s a city with more domes, statues, pillars and marble than any other city in the United States. It was reminiscent of my times in Rome. It’s a city with a lot of bicyclists, joggers, helicopters, squirrels, restaurants and fast cabs with drivers who are not afraid to use their horns. Sirens and large crowds were normal.

Lisa had arranged for a special tour of the White House and the flute collection at the Library of Congress. The White House tour was early and the security heavy. We went through the East room where later in the day President Obama would be making a national address, the Lincoln room, the red room, the green room, etc. The windows had very thick glass. The window treatments, rugs, furniture, floors, light fixtures, etc. were in prime condition. The secret service agents were experts in the rooms they guarded and ‘held court’ before the large crowds detailing the history of the rooms, specific events that have taken place in various rooms and identifying the significance of Presidents past and present. We could see the outside lawn where the Presidents are often filmed boarding a helicopter. Everywhere there was art work and paintings of Presidents. The agents knew the details about all the unmarked art. Like the earlier Presidential homes, an old keyboard instrument was featured in one of the rooms.

 

Seeing the Dayton C. Miller Flute Collection at the Library of Congress was very interesting. There are approximately 1,700 flutes all gathered in this secure and private room. Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford showed us the collection and answered our questions for more than an hour. We saw flutes made from hiking sticks, bones, bamboo, different woods, different metals, glass, etc. Specific flutes like the ‘Quantz’ flute played by Frederick the Great, a Louis Lot flute, the first piccolo ever used to play ‘The Stars and Stripes’, a glass flute owned by President Madison, flutes in different keys, a flute made from one solid piece of metal, and many more were there to see. Lisa left wishing the instruments could be played in public more often. I left wishing there was such a collection for oboes.

 

We sat through part of an early music concert at the Library of Congress. The excellent vocal ensemble first sang Monteverdi. I fell asleep through no fault of the musicians. Sometimes a sabbatical can be exhausting.

– Lisa Byrnes and Robert Stephenson