oboeinsight

… making a piece reach out and touch the audience requires more than just notes – it takes mature musicality, which is just what de Waart believes the two new principal players in the orchestra’s wind section bring to the table.

The two new faces belong to principal oboe Katherine Young Steele and principal flute Sonora Slocum.

Adding a new principal to any section in the orchestra produces both immediate changes in the orchestra’s sound as well as change in that section’s ensemble sensibilities that will develop over time.

Part of de Waart’s job is to build his vision for the orchestra through each player he hires during his tenure. Remembering that de Waart began his professional musical life as an oboist, it seemed only fair to ask if hearing oboe auditions is more difficult for him than hearing auditions on other instruments.

“No. It’s probably harder on the ones auditioning who probably feel I might have a strong feeling about sound or something,” he said.

De Waart heard Young Steele audition for the principal oboe in the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and remembers being impressed then.

“She was one of two or three we considered for that job,” he recalled.

RTWT

Gee, he conducted San Francisco Opera? That I didn’t know. And when would that audition have been? Or did they call him in for the audition a few years back? (Just wondering out loud here.)

Update: Looking him up online I have read that he did a Ring Cycle here in 1980, but that’s all I’ve found.

I looked over at my daughter and her hand was over her chest, her mouth was wide open wide and her brown eyes were the size of saucers. As the audience clapped loudly, she said, “Oh my, Mommy! Her voice sounds like a flute. It’s so pretty.”

At intermission, I told her that we could leave—and she looked at me as if I were telling her that we could just skip Christmas.

We returned to our velvet seats. “Oh mommy, they feel so soft,” she said. “Much fancier than going to the movies.”

RTWT

What a wonderful story! (And shame to those who commented in a horrible way; have you nothing better to do?!)

If we get more excited children, we will have a future. If we dismiss them, frown upon them, or tell them they don’t belong, we might as well kiss it goodbye.

Dan was just saying, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if each musician found a child to bring to the opera”. Or he said something like that, anyway. (I suppose I shouldn’t have put it in quotes. But really, it would be so great!

We have a lovely young girl who comes to Opera San José. She always comes to more than one performance of an opera, in fact. Our principal flutist, who is wonderful with children, has befriended her, so we frequently see her come to the pit. It makes my heart so darn happy!