oboeinsight

The 84 musicians who make up the Wichita Symphony Orchestra voted recently to accept a 20 percent wage cut for the coming season, a move necessary to keep the orchestra viable in tough economic times, those involved with the decision say.

Reading the whole thing it gets even drearier; they took a 10 percent pay reduction two years ago and a 4 percent one last year. This has really got to hurt.

I thought the three Symphony Silicon Valley concerts I was involved in went quite well. I hope the others were equally successful. I also hope we do them again next year. Thanks, Target for putting these on! Now I have no paying work until Opera San José‘s Idomeneo rehearsals begin. Between now and then I will play one freebie with operamission, but that’s it. I was talking to some other musicians, and everyone seems to agree that we are getting less work these days.

While Symphony Silicon Valley was voted in the top 100 for Chase Community Giving (Thank you voters! Thank you Chase!), we now enter into a tighter race, competing for the $500,000 grant for our arts education program.. Because of that I’m going to remind you daily until the voting stops. PLEASE, if you are on Facebook, vote for us. This is a worthy and worthwhile cause … taking the arts to all 4th through 6th grade students in our county! That’s the goal. I — and all involved with Symphony Silicon Valley — appreciate your votes! Let’s get the larger sum of money for this project!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

Wait, what are you doing reading this blog still? You really need to CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

Please bear with me: I will post this particular news every day until the voting period ends.

So, with opera over ‘n out I moved directly on to this Symphony Silicon Valley set. We had our first rehearsal last night. Sadly it was in the rehearsal hall rather than on stage, so I haven’t a clue how my reeds are, really, but happily we began with Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite.

I’ve never played it!

I do, however, know the work. I know it incredibly well, actually. Dan and I must have listened to this a tremendous number of times when we first bought a record of it, because I know exactly what is happening when and there are no issues about counting, really.

And what fun to play it. Finally.

If you don’t know it at all, take a listen (and look):

There are places in the work that just fill me with joy. I’m so glad to finally get to perform it!

We are also doing a world premiere by Paquito D’Rivera (Cape Cod Concerto for Clarinet, Piano & Orchestra) which has no second oboe, and Tchaikovsky’s first piano concerto. Here’s how that goes:

… okay, okay, maybe not quite like that with Jon Nakamatsu at the piano … and a slightly larger (and older) orchestra.

Peyton Place? Yep. Lots of times. And no, you won’t get stories from me! (But do younger readers even know what we’re talking about when we say “Peyton Place”?)

This article is about the married couples in the Virginia Symphony.

Orchestras, in general, can be kind of stressful places. Like Peyton Place, but accompanied by Bach. It’s hard to make a living. Full-time positions are highly coveted, then jealously guarded. If you are already married, and if both of you are lucky enough to land spots in the same orchestra, then it would be prudent to hang onto those jobs for as long as you both can. Especially if one of you plays a more obscure instrument. “For oboists, there are only a few jobs in an orchestra,” says Jorge Aguirre, who plays the violin. “I made the choice that if Sherie gets a job first, then I would follow.” Twenty-four years ago, oboist Sherie got the job in Virginia, and Jorge followed her from Spain. He got a position a few years later.

So here’s my Brahms post mortem:

I was worried for nothing. Variations on a Theme by Haydn was (were? — sort of depends upon how you think about it, eh? I could be talking about the work, or I could be talking about all the variations. Think about it. Or not. ) a joy to play! I didn’t have to fret over the opening. It is so much easier when you have the support of the other players.

The Requiem is a work I hadn’t played in eons. It’s always been one of my favorite choral works, though, and I was thrilled to get to play it again after all these years. I thought our soloists were excellent. Lisa Vroman has a beautiful voice, and Matthew Curran, who was new to me, was wonderful. The choir got stronger day by day, as the maestro worked with them.

Working with conductor Gregory Vajda was also a joy for me (I haven’t a clue what my colleagues think; I sit in my chair and rarely converse with anyone other than the few people sitting very close to me. I’m a bit of a hermit, even at work!). I love how Maestro Vajda works with the singers. I appreciate his ideas and clarity. I enjoy his energy. He makes great music. And I really wish we could get him to conduct Opera San José. (I’m not joking: I seriously do wonder if that could ever happen. We tend to hire local, younger, less experienced conductors when the company’s staff conductor isn’t there — he does two of the four operas. I’m guessing it’s all about finances. But surely they could, maybe once a year, bring in a professional conductor to see what he or she could do with the group. I’d sure love to see and hear the results!) He’ll be returning next year to Symphony Silicon Valley, and I’m glad for that.

And now I move on.

This coming week is a busy one with SSV, with our “Kiddie Concerts” at the California Theatre and Ballet San Jose at the San Jose Center for Performing Arts. I play oboe and English horn for these, so I have a lot of equipment to lug around. I like to think of it as my bit of weight lifting. Yep. That’s as close to exercise as I seem to get these days.

I know I whine a lot. I will never like making reeds. Practicing doesn’t come easily to me. I never made the “big time”, and most of my colleagues are on tons of lists that I’m not on. My lists? Opera San José, Symphony Silicon Valley, and near the very bottom of the Merola list. (One violinist I was talking to must not have realized how hurtful it could be to tell me that she has her choice of where she wants to play she’s on so many lists. I tried not to take it personally, as I know it wasn’t meant that way at all.) But with all my whining, and with my limited list possibilities …

I love my job. I love my job. I love my job.

The Symphony offer of free tickets has now made the Mercury News:

Thanks to an anonymous donor, Symphony Silicon Valley is offering several hundred free tickets to Thursday night’s performance of Brahms’ “German Requiem.”

Symphony President Andrew Bales said a private donor was moved to make the generous offer to raise awareness of the relief efforts in Japan, thank those who have already supported those efforts, and spur even more donations. The concert was an appropriate choice, Bales said, because “Brahms wrote this as his human requiem.”

RTWT

I do hope some of you take advantage of this fantastic deal!

I’ve really been enjoying watching and hearing Gregory Vajda work with the chorus. It makes me wonder … has Opera San José ever considering hiring him to conduct an opera? We hire a guest conductor for two of our four operas each year. I think he was be a welcome addition!