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When not rehearsing or performing on stage with the BSO, I spend my time…caring for two kids, house upkeep, reading, strength training, running, occasional mountain biking, and—of course—practicing trombone.
What career would you have chosen if you had not decided to become a professional musician? It’s a bit late now, but the theoretical sciences have a lot of appeal.
To unwind, I listen to…jazz, Celtic music, vintage rock, Joni Mitchell, sometimes classical composers such as Mahler, Sibelius, Nielsen, etc…
In the car, I mostly listen to…NPR, it helps stave off ignorance.
My cell phone is usually set on…vibrate only.
The last books I read were…Quantico by Greg Bear and simultaneously State of Denial by Bob Woodward.
Most people would be surprised to learn that…I started my career playing in an orchestra in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico for four and a half years.
To prepare for a performance, I…play through the tricky spots, envision playing through any solos or exposed sections while trying to hear it in the context of the whole orchestra.
If I could choose to play another instrument, it would be the…cello or horn.
I also play the…Euphonium (like a small tuba) and Bass trombone.
A profound experience that has shaped or deeply influenced my approach to music was…performing Schubert’s Great C Symphony in a small cathedral in a small Mexican town: Seeing the local campesinos become overwhelmed and overcome with the sounds they were hearing for the first time, men and women shedding tears of delight and joy through their innocent experience of the orchestra, shed me of any jadedness I might have entertained otherwise. I felt such a privilege to be part of the orchestral experience form that moment on.
If you could spend a day with any composer, living or dead, who would it be? If I could watch Mahler in the active process of composing, that would be a trip. Although I think seeing him deal with his life issues, both tragic and mundane, would be a pain in the you- know-what.
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