The second week of the season features a unique program in which seven SLSO musicians will be given center stage for Martin’s Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments. The magnificent seven are: scuba-diving specialist Barbara Orland (who also happens to be assistant principal oboe), the new assistant principal flute Andrea Kaplan, assistant principal clarinet Diana Haskell, assistant principal bassoon Andy Gott, horn player Tod Bowermaster, assistant principal trumpet Tom Drake, and assistant principal trombone Stephen Lange (who got his one and only speeding ticket in Texas because he was so caught up listening to a recording of Prokofiev Symphony No. 5).
It’s an interesting combination of players, some who’ve been with the orchestra for many years (Barbara, Tod, Tom), some who still have the sheen of the new upon them (Diana, Stephen – although he’s been here seven years and so probably deserves wily veteran status), and some who just landed (Andy started last season, Andrea is brand new from Florida). The ways in which these players come together (the program is titled “Sounding Together”) in this piece with David Robertson, who conducts, and the orchestra, is going to be an intriguing process, which I’ll ask them about when rehearsals start.
For now, I’m trying to update all their bios for the Playbill. And in the process I’ve learned that Tod is just back from Sun Valley (or SLSO West, as the music festival has become there) and Tom is back from Michigan, where he teaches at the Interlochen Summer Music Camp.
Here is how Tom spent part of his summer vacation: “Back in town for the duration and thankfully so. The summer's been really busy. Interlochen was great. The kids pulled off a Mahler Second that most college orchestras would have given their eyeteeth for... with only a week of rehearsal! It was simply amazing! And a Bernstein 'Symphonic Dances' from West Side Story that rocked! No doubt the best two concerts I've heard up there since I started going 10 years ago.”
Perhaps needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, I've always found it admirable how totally psyched the orchestra members get when they work with young musicians.
