Naw.
Jonathan Wisenthal began taking regular cello lessons at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music two years ago. Wisenthal is 73.
“When they announced that they were opening, their original publicity said that the VSO School of Music was for all ages and abilities,” he said. “So I read that and I thought, ‘Aha that’s me.”
Wisenthal isn’t alone in his late-in-life focus on musicianship.
Curtis Pendleton, executive director of the VSOSoM, says administrators noticed last year that almost half of the school’s 1,000 students were adults, and 30 per cent of those were aged 55 and older. Some enrol as absolute beginners and others return to lessons to dust off faded skills.
