WEBVTT 00:00:32.700 --> 00:00:34.500 Hi there, and welcome to Notes from the Stage, 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:36.600 a show from the musicians of the Calgary Philharmonic. 00:00:36.780 --> 00:00:38.320 We're the people playing our hearts out every 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:41.399 week of the orchestra season. I'm Adam Zinatelli. 00:00:41.460 --> 00:00:43.280 Usually I play first trumpet in the Calgary Phil, 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:45.380 but today I'm your host, and I'm here with Jen 00:00:45.380 --> 00:00:48.299 Micheletti, violinist in the CPO and co -artistic 00:00:48.299 --> 00:00:50.520 director of Calgary's own Kensington Sinfonia. 00:00:50.579 --> 00:00:53.340 Hi, Jen! Hi, Adam. I'm so happy to be here. I'm 00:00:53.340 --> 00:00:54.539 glad you're here with me. Thanks for sitting 00:00:54.539 --> 00:00:57.560 down with me. Boy, we're fresh off of the holiday 00:00:57.560 --> 00:01:00.649 season. We sure are. Enjoying our return to real 00:01:00.649 --> 00:01:04.250 life in January. How was your break? It was great. 00:01:04.250 --> 00:01:06.329 We went to go see some family in upstate New 00:01:06.329 --> 00:01:09.250 York and I played all of the Nutcrackers except 00:01:09.250 --> 00:01:12.769 one. And we did Salute to Vienna, which for me 00:01:12.769 --> 00:01:15.670 is always a very fun show, actually. The music 00:01:15.670 --> 00:01:17.890 is great. It's charming, delightful music. That's 00:01:17.890 --> 00:01:20.469 for sure. Oh, yeah. I like to pretend that I'm 00:01:20.469 --> 00:01:25.230 in one of the pickup orchestras in Vienna. You 00:01:25.230 --> 00:01:27.849 know, kind of time travel that way. Yeah, really. 00:01:28.250 --> 00:01:30.069 So when you say you played all the nutcrackers 00:01:30.069 --> 00:01:32.030 but one we've got this what it was twelve shows 00:01:32.030 --> 00:01:35.290 or something like that on the on the docket this 00:01:35.290 --> 00:01:37.909 year and ten of those this year were part of 00:01:37.909 --> 00:01:40.930 the cpo contract. But two of them were outside 00:01:40.930 --> 00:01:43.409 of the CPO contract, right? So yes, we get offered 00:01:43.409 --> 00:01:45.170 that as a freelance gig But sometimes we say 00:01:45.170 --> 00:01:47.290 yes, sometimes we say no we all have that choice 00:01:47.290 --> 00:01:49.569 So those ones are technically quote musicians 00:01:49.569 --> 00:01:51.629 of the Calgary Philharmonic unquote rather than 00:01:51.629 --> 00:01:54.430 the Calgary Philharmonic proper Yes, well, it's 00:01:54.430 --> 00:01:56.390 probably musicians of the Calgary Philharmonic 00:01:56.390 --> 00:01:59.549 who want bigger presents for their kids Yeah, 00:02:00.230 --> 00:02:02.849 I never hurts but that nutcracker run for me 00:02:02.849 --> 00:02:05.689 I usually don't play the optionals just for Rest 00:02:05.689 --> 00:02:08.150 for my chops because oh, absolutely. It's brutal 00:02:08.150 --> 00:02:10.090 that nutcracker run really stacks up in terms 00:02:10.090 --> 00:02:13.669 of fatigue I mean, it's an incredible piece and 00:02:13.669 --> 00:02:16.509 I think I've been playing a nutcracker every 00:02:16.509 --> 00:02:22.069 year since 2011 Oh, yeah, and every time there's 00:02:22.069 --> 00:02:24.810 still passages that are tricky. I feel like there's 00:02:24.810 --> 00:02:27.870 still new things that I hear I mean what an incredible 00:02:27.870 --> 00:02:30.189 piece if we have to repeat a piece every year 00:02:30.189 --> 00:02:33.389 that one, you know, it's worth it Yeah, for sure. 00:02:33.389 --> 00:02:36.710 I absolutely agree I'm close to 150 performances 00:02:36.710 --> 00:02:38.870 now. I think I did the math on that. Oh, my God. 00:02:39.189 --> 00:02:41.849 Yeah. You're not too far behind me, I'm sure. 00:02:42.550 --> 00:02:47.189 Oh, well, we'll see. We just had Jocelyn in our 00:02:47.189 --> 00:02:49.569 clarinet section play her last Nutcracker of 00:02:49.569 --> 00:02:52.629 ever. And I think she said she was over 300. 00:02:52.770 --> 00:02:54.789 Wow. Yeah. Oh, yeah, I believe that. Yeah, we'll 00:02:54.789 --> 00:02:56.969 have Jocelyn on later this season. I'm hoping 00:02:56.969 --> 00:02:58.990 to have all of the retiring members of the Calgary 00:02:58.990 --> 00:03:01.909 Philharmonic on this podcast before the end of 00:03:01.909 --> 00:03:04.789 this season. Great idea. So Jen, in addition 00:03:04.789 --> 00:03:08.129 to your duties at the CPO, you're also one of 00:03:08.129 --> 00:03:09.990 the people in charge of Kensington Symphonia. 00:03:10.469 --> 00:03:12.930 Yeah, it's an organization that is older than 00:03:12.930 --> 00:03:15.229 I am. So I feel really privileged to have been 00:03:15.229 --> 00:03:17.129 given the reins along with Andrea Case. Great. 00:03:17.229 --> 00:03:19.409 Who was that? Who started Kensington Symphonia? 00:03:19.610 --> 00:03:23.169 That was our assistant concertmaster, John Lowry, 00:03:23.349 --> 00:03:27.370 all the way back in 1988. I'm going to get in 00:03:27.370 --> 00:03:29.530 trouble. I think it's 88. Oh, I was alive in 00:03:29.530 --> 00:03:34.750 1950. Making me feel old, Jen. Oh, I don't mean 00:03:34.750 --> 00:03:38.289 to. It's a super cool organization. It's so impressive 00:03:38.289 --> 00:03:41.169 to have a organization that lasts that long. 00:03:41.310 --> 00:03:44.750 I mean, Calgary Phil is not that much older, 00:03:44.750 --> 00:03:48.710 I think. I think 1954. But when did it go professional, 00:03:48.849 --> 00:03:51.310 though? Wasn't that in the 70s? Because when 00:03:51.310 --> 00:03:54.009 I got here, yeah. There was the Alberta Philharmonic 00:03:54.009 --> 00:03:57.379 and the Calgary Symphony. And they merged in 00:03:57.379 --> 00:04:00.460 1955, I think, to become the Calgary Philharmonic 00:04:00.460 --> 00:04:02.379 Orchestra. But then it was not a professional 00:04:02.379 --> 00:04:05.180 ensemble for a while. Yeah, it became professional 00:04:05.180 --> 00:04:08.340 in the 70s because there was one violinist left 00:04:08.340 --> 00:04:11.759 when I joined in 2017. That was left from that 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:13.780 vintage of violence. Was that Richard Vengegier? 00:04:13.860 --> 00:04:17.540 Oh, it sure was. All right. Long time violinist 00:04:17.540 --> 00:04:20.439 in the CPO, a stalwart of the orchestra for decades. 00:04:20.860 --> 00:04:23.660 Yeah. So Kensington was interesting because it 00:04:23.660 --> 00:04:28.699 was started as a way for the principles in CPO 00:04:28.699 --> 00:04:33.860 to get a chamber concert outside of CPO's purview. 00:04:34.360 --> 00:04:37.420 It's evolved a lot since then. And with Andrea 00:04:37.420 --> 00:04:41.000 and I, what we really focus on is commissioning 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:44.519 works by specifically composers who are Canadian 00:04:44.519 --> 00:04:49.800 and from Alberta, but also female composers and 00:04:49.800 --> 00:04:51.980 composers of color and gender diverse composers 00:04:51.980 --> 00:04:55.750 in any way that we can. It's been so much fun 00:04:55.750 --> 00:04:59.069 working with almost exclusively living composers. 00:04:59.370 --> 00:05:00.810 Yeah. Yeah, that's something really interesting. 00:05:00.850 --> 00:05:03.750 So it sounds to me, it sounds like Kensington 00:05:03.750 --> 00:05:08.069 Symphony was started as a way for the CPO musicians 00:05:08.069 --> 00:05:10.750 who created it to pursue their passion projects. 00:05:10.829 --> 00:05:14.170 Yes. And while those passion projects might look 00:05:14.170 --> 00:05:15.790 a little bit different now than they did back 00:05:15.790 --> 00:05:18.069 then, it's basically the same thing. It's things 00:05:18.069 --> 00:05:20.050 that the people in charge, the people making 00:05:20.050 --> 00:05:21.889 these decisions, that's you and Andrea Case right 00:05:21.889 --> 00:05:24.759 now. feel passionate about and want to be spending 00:05:24.759 --> 00:05:27.839 your free time working on this instead, right? 00:05:28.120 --> 00:05:31.339 Oh, yeah, absolutely. So it feels like the mission, 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:33.959 the point of the whole thing hasn't really changed. 00:05:34.740 --> 00:05:37.139 No, that's a really good point. So for the lay 00:05:37.139 --> 00:05:40.379 person, Kensington Sinfonia is a string orchestra. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:44.259 Yes. So we call it a string nonet. So that means 00:05:44.259 --> 00:05:48.079 it's four violins, two violas, two cellos and 00:05:48.079 --> 00:05:50.699 a bass player. And what I love about that ensemble 00:05:50.699 --> 00:05:53.889 is we can scale up to like a chamber orchestra 00:05:53.889 --> 00:05:56.689 very easily, or we can scale down to a quartet 00:05:56.689 --> 00:05:59.029 or a quintet super easily, which means we have 00:05:59.029 --> 00:06:02.209 huge flexibility in our repertoire. Great. That's 00:06:02.209 --> 00:06:03.709 a real asset, especially when you're dealing 00:06:03.709 --> 00:06:07.189 with living composers who have who might have 00:06:07.189 --> 00:06:10.949 a smaller catalog of music. It lets you choose 00:06:10.949 --> 00:06:13.069 from a wider variety of works than, say, if you 00:06:13.069 --> 00:06:16.329 had a super fixed sort of instrumentation by 00:06:16.329 --> 00:06:19.110 having some flexibility. It opens up possibilities 00:06:19.110 --> 00:06:22.720 that a more rigid ensemble might not be able 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:26.000 to really adapt to. Oh, yeah. And for example, 00:06:26.120 --> 00:06:28.079 on our last concert, we featured Chris Size, 00:06:28.220 --> 00:06:30.800 our new principal percussionist at CPO. I had 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:34.319 heard him play this amazing piece by Daniel Strange, 00:06:34.980 --> 00:06:36.819 but it was just for percussion solo. And I said, 00:06:37.300 --> 00:06:40.639 hey, Daniel, what if you wrote it as a percussion 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:43.899 concerto, but with string nonet? And he was super 00:06:43.899 --> 00:06:46.600 excited and on a very tight time scale. I think 00:06:46.600 --> 00:06:49.139 it was like a month. He produced the parts with 00:06:49.139 --> 00:06:51.879 electronics, with click track, and it was it's 00:06:51.879 --> 00:06:53.800 an incredible piece. It's really fun. It's called 00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:56.740 Saturn Still Returning. Yeah. I think I heard 00:06:56.740 --> 00:06:59.579 the solo the same solo performance of that that 00:06:59.579 --> 00:07:01.459 you did at Sound Atlas last summer. Oh, yeah, 00:07:01.459 --> 00:07:03.639 it was awesome. So here's here's something I 00:07:03.639 --> 00:07:06.139 was thinking about as someone in charge of an 00:07:06.139 --> 00:07:08.660 arts organization and programming and the artistic 00:07:08.660 --> 00:07:11.829 side of things. In all your artistic activities 00:07:11.829 --> 00:07:14.149 in town, you've sort of got to have, you probably 00:07:14.149 --> 00:07:17.670 can't help but have that hat on of looking for 00:07:17.670 --> 00:07:19.709 opportunities, looking for collaborations, looking 00:07:19.709 --> 00:07:23.029 for threads to pull on to find great things to 00:07:23.029 --> 00:07:26.670 happen for Kensington. Oh, yeah. I mean, I like 00:07:26.670 --> 00:07:28.949 to think of ourselves as a workshop and a proving 00:07:28.949 --> 00:07:32.269 ground. So in 2021, which was my and Andrea's 00:07:32.269 --> 00:07:34.670 first season, we invited poet laureate Wakefield 00:07:34.670 --> 00:07:38.129 Brewster to come and do Spoken Word with String 00:07:38.129 --> 00:07:41.259 Orchestra. and it was super fun. We loved doing 00:07:41.259 --> 00:07:43.220 it. Turns out that Wakefield was actually trained 00:07:43.220 --> 00:07:45.339 as a percussionist at one point, so he has an 00:07:45.339 --> 00:07:47.800 incredible sense of rhythm. And then to see him 00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:52.319 on stage with Calgary Phil this past, was that 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:56.439 September that we did beat Beethoven? It sort 00:07:56.439 --> 00:07:59.519 of felt full circle, right? Like it's this idea 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:02.160 and because we're so small and so flexible, we 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:04.540 can jump on it and really keep our ears open 00:08:04.540 --> 00:08:08.019 for cool collaborations. And we've been doing 00:08:08.019 --> 00:08:12.399 it now three years and now the collaborations 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:14.540 are starting to come to us and that feels really 00:08:14.540 --> 00:08:17.480 special that people want to work with us. Yeah, 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:19.639 absolutely. Absolutely. Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, 00:08:19.720 --> 00:08:22.720 there's a whole world with electronics and with 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:26.899 dancers and spoken word artists and visual artists 00:08:26.899 --> 00:08:30.660 that we don't get to tap into as much at CPO. 00:08:30.779 --> 00:08:33.039 that I find really fulfilling. And for our next 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:35.320 concert, we're actually, we commissioned a piece 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:38.320 from Zhou Lai, who's a composer up in Edmonton. 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:41.779 And it's for Chinese flute and string nonet. 00:08:42.059 --> 00:08:44.200 And it's called Unsung Legacies. And it's sort 00:08:44.200 --> 00:08:47.100 of his love letter to Canada as his adopted homeland. 00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:51.740 We're also pairing that with Dvorak, his string 00:08:51.740 --> 00:08:54.299 serenade, which I think every string student 00:08:54.299 --> 00:08:56.200 plays at some point, right? It's just a beautiful, 00:08:56.340 --> 00:09:00.139 fun piece. And then we have a piece by Ina Boyle, 00:09:00.259 --> 00:09:03.200 who's an Irish composer who I think I feel a 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:06.820 particular affinity with right now because she 00:09:06.820 --> 00:09:10.039 was incredibly promising and she had all of these 00:09:10.039 --> 00:09:12.720 awards, including a Carnegie Award for her compositions. 00:09:13.399 --> 00:09:15.360 And then she suddenly fell off the map when she 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:18.899 got married. There's so much time and resource 00:09:18.899 --> 00:09:21.960 that goes into family obligations, raising children. 00:09:22.360 --> 00:09:25.019 I have two small children right now. And she 00:09:25.019 --> 00:09:26.720 studied a lot with von williams who was a big 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:29.039 proponent of hers and he in one letter he said 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:31.659 you know you're so very brave to keep composing 00:09:31.659 --> 00:09:35.320 when no one is listening and i hope that we get 00:09:35.320 --> 00:09:37.519 to prove him wrong and that we are listening 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:40.279 and we hear her echoes down the hallways of time. 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:42.960 Yeah yeah i think that'll be wonderful to hear 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:46.299 when is that concert february ninth three p .m 00:09:46.299 --> 00:09:49.590 st steven's in the beltline wonderful. Wonderful. 00:09:49.690 --> 00:09:51.149 Is that your regular venue where you play all 00:09:51.149 --> 00:09:53.490 the time? Yeah. So we usually have three main 00:09:53.490 --> 00:09:55.830 stage shows, we call them, and they're always 00:09:55.830 --> 00:09:58.549 3 p .m. on a Sunday at St. Stephen's. Great. 00:09:58.549 --> 00:10:00.830 But you do also other projects aside from those 00:10:00.830 --> 00:10:02.830 main stage concerts, right? Like at the end of 00:10:02.830 --> 00:10:05.370 last year, I did a recording project with Kensington 00:10:05.370 --> 00:10:09.429 with Dan Pelton. Oh, yeah. Daniel Pelton has 00:10:09.429 --> 00:10:13.029 been a huge collaborator. We did our residency 00:10:13.029 --> 00:10:15.629 at the National Music Center for Violins of Hope 00:10:15.629 --> 00:10:20.289 where we recorded some of his works. all on violins 00:10:20.289 --> 00:10:22.190 that had gone through the concentration camps 00:10:22.190 --> 00:10:24.490 and were really these lifelines for the prisoners. 00:10:25.090 --> 00:10:27.250 I think it's great that not only is Kensington 00:10:27.250 --> 00:10:29.750 a concert series, but it's also more than that, 00:10:29.870 --> 00:10:32.009 and is doing other things throughout the year 00:10:32.009 --> 00:10:34.129 and throughout the community. So that concert's 00:10:34.129 --> 00:10:36.009 coming up in February, and there's one more later 00:10:36.009 --> 00:10:38.590 this season as well? Yeah, and that's June 1st, 00:10:38.590 --> 00:10:41.820 and this one... um, is super exciting. We have 00:10:41.820 --> 00:10:45.480 Mark Lamaker, who often appears as a pianist 00:10:45.480 --> 00:10:48.220 with us at CPO. The great Mark Lamaker. The great, 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:51.240 the one, the only is writing a piano concerto 00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:54.700 for Nanette and, um, a pianist named Chloe Weston 00:10:54.700 --> 00:10:58.240 out of Toronto. His compositions are so specific. 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:00.379 He's never done anything that we could play. 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:03.700 So I cannot wait to do this. And we're also highlighting 00:11:03.700 --> 00:11:08.840 a new commission by Roydon Tse. He has an incredible 00:11:08.840 --> 00:11:11.720 resume. His music is so beautiful, but he's worked 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:15.100 with Atlanta Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra, and 00:11:15.100 --> 00:11:18.360 he agreed to write us a piece for Nanette and 00:11:18.360 --> 00:11:21.799 then solo Chinese flute again. Somehow this is 00:11:21.799 --> 00:11:23.960 the season of Chinese flute. And is that Jiajia 00:11:23.960 --> 00:11:26.200 Li playing? That's the incredible Jiajia Li, 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:31.379 and that'll be Andrea Ancello. So. Okay. Almost 00:11:31.379 --> 00:11:33.779 a Sinfonia concertante, I suppose. Wonderful. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:37.019 That's so wonderful. So. Let's just pause for 00:11:37.019 --> 00:11:39.659 a second and talk about Marc Lamaker. Because 00:11:39.659 --> 00:11:44.679 if you're listening to this podcast, you've almost 00:11:44.679 --> 00:11:46.919 certainly heard Marc Lamaker play in Calgary, 00:11:47.379 --> 00:11:51.879 but you may not have clocked exactly what a singular 00:11:51.879 --> 00:11:54.240 musician he is. In fact, in the episode that 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:57.240 aired just before this, Jeremy Bauman went a 00:11:57.240 --> 00:12:00.620 bit off book and highlighted Marc Lamaker as 00:12:00.620 --> 00:12:03.240 one of the people he loves to hear perform on 00:12:03.240 --> 00:12:05.899 stage at the Calgary Philharmonic. and I think 00:12:05.899 --> 00:12:08.720 we would almost all agree with that. Oh my god. 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:12.500 I love hearing him play anything. We play some 00:12:12.500 --> 00:12:14.960 of the Fever Candlelight shows in town and for 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:17.080 a while we had a Fleetwood Mac that was solo 00:12:17.080 --> 00:12:21.840 violin and piano and it was Mark and I and he 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:25.590 let me do the opening of Ravel's Zagon in the 00:12:25.590 --> 00:12:28.929 wrong key going into one of the Fleetwood Mac 00:12:28.929 --> 00:12:32.230 songs, and it was epic. It was so fun. Make it 00:12:32.230 --> 00:12:34.870 work for you, huh? Yeah. Boy, oh boy. But Mark 00:12:34.870 --> 00:12:38.570 is at home in every genre. Yes. He's done a lot 00:12:38.570 --> 00:12:42.009 of recording recently, and so he's done some 00:12:42.009 --> 00:12:46.730 musical theater stuff, some jazz stuff. I'm hoping 00:12:46.730 --> 00:12:49.009 we can record this classical piece. I think it 00:12:49.009 --> 00:12:52.279 would be really worthwhile. Yeah, I would love 00:12:52.279 --> 00:12:53.500 to hear. I'm looking forward to that concert 00:12:53.500 --> 00:12:57.620 very much. If you ever see anything, or most 00:12:57.620 --> 00:12:59.580 likely in Calgary, but could be anywhere, anything 00:12:59.580 --> 00:13:03.139 branded quiet, slow, boring, that's a Mark Lamaker 00:13:03.139 --> 00:13:05.919 initiative. Yeah, we put that up on our website 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:08.679 and someone actually reached out to Mark and 00:13:08.679 --> 00:13:10.960 said, they stole your branding. And he had to 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:12.720 be like, no, no, no, no, I'm on that concert. 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:15.220 Yeah, that's my project. That's so funny. That's 00:13:15.220 --> 00:13:17.779 so funny. He won't listen to me, but I really 00:13:17.779 --> 00:13:20.059 desperately want him to put that on baby onesies. 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:24.600 Well, that's very aspirational, huh? Yeah. Very 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:27.299 calm children. Yes, as someone who had two colicky 00:13:27.299 --> 00:13:32.200 babies. Yeah. That's very aspirational. Jen, 00:13:32.220 --> 00:13:35.580 you mentioned Ina Boyle, that composer who was 00:13:35.580 --> 00:13:37.559 studying with Von Williams and sort of dropped 00:13:37.559 --> 00:13:40.519 off the map, quote unquote, heavy scare quotes, 00:13:40.919 --> 00:13:42.500 when she got married and you were talking about 00:13:42.500 --> 00:13:46.159 the realities of being a musician while also 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:49.940 having family responsibilities. Oh yeah, I think 00:13:49.940 --> 00:13:53.960 I really admire her because she's born in the 00:13:53.960 --> 00:13:56.360 1880s, but she was having premieres up through 00:13:56.360 --> 00:14:00.240 the 50s and 60s. She composed every day. She 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:02.840 never gave it up. She never looked the other 00:14:02.840 --> 00:14:06.779 way. And we're just now starting to appreciate 00:14:06.779 --> 00:14:09.799 all the work that she did and what a beautiful 00:14:09.799 --> 00:14:12.940 and original voice it was. And I think in the 00:14:12.940 --> 00:14:16.240 past three years, I've discovered that there's... 00:14:16.169 --> 00:14:19.409 Every working mother knows this. There's an incredible 00:14:19.409 --> 00:14:22.110 amount of pressure in work that goes into balancing 00:14:22.110 --> 00:14:24.169 your family and professional life. And for me, 00:14:24.269 --> 00:14:26.429 I think it was really eye -opening from a very 00:14:26.429 --> 00:14:29.110 basic level. You know, we go, like we're sitting 00:14:29.110 --> 00:14:30.850 here in your practice studio right now, you have 00:14:30.850 --> 00:14:34.429 a mirror on the wall, right? We use mirrors and 00:14:34.429 --> 00:14:38.929 video to see how our bodies are interacting with 00:14:38.929 --> 00:14:41.809 our instruments to play our best. When you're 00:14:41.809 --> 00:14:44.730 pregnant, there's nine months where your body 00:14:44.730 --> 00:14:49.210 is changing every day. And so making music, something 00:14:49.210 --> 00:14:51.529 that has felt so natural that you've spent, you 00:14:51.529 --> 00:14:55.090 know, 20 plus years developing a specific way 00:14:55.090 --> 00:14:58.509 of doing is thrown into chaos. And it's not like 00:14:58.509 --> 00:15:00.509 that stops at nine months. No, and it doesn't 00:15:00.509 --> 00:15:04.350 stop at nine months. And Canada is one of the 00:15:04.350 --> 00:15:06.490 best place to have kids, right? We have 12 to 00:15:06.490 --> 00:15:09.470 18 months of paid maternity leave. And when you're 00:15:09.470 --> 00:15:12.330 trying to play violin... and trying to breastfeed 00:15:12.330 --> 00:15:14.990 at the same time. You literally have a part of 00:15:14.990 --> 00:15:18.929 your body that is changing size every couple 00:15:18.929 --> 00:15:21.070 of hours that you're trying to adjust to. And 00:15:21.070 --> 00:15:24.230 I made, it's a constantly moving target. And 00:15:24.230 --> 00:15:26.909 it's, you even notice like with the sleepless 00:15:26.909 --> 00:15:29.690 nights, I noticed that my pitch center would 00:15:29.690 --> 00:15:33.029 drop if I had a particularly bad night. Oh, that's 00:15:33.029 --> 00:15:36.710 interesting. Right? So you're always, I mean, 00:15:36.710 --> 00:15:38.769 there's the obvious exhaustion. The notes on 00:15:38.769 --> 00:15:41.409 the page won't stay still. but there are all 00:15:41.409 --> 00:15:44.169 these things that you just take for granted that 00:15:44.169 --> 00:15:48.009 suddenly are shifting. And I know that's, you 00:15:48.009 --> 00:15:51.190 know, part of your role, part of your life. But 00:15:51.190 --> 00:15:53.389 no one at music school sits you down and says, 00:15:53.509 --> 00:15:57.009 you know, for example, if you want to take auditions, 00:15:57.509 --> 00:15:59.470 if you're breastfeeding when you're taking auditions, 00:15:59.549 --> 00:16:02.159 that means either the kid comes with you. or 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:03.860 you're pumping all the time. And if you're pumping 00:16:03.860 --> 00:16:06.000 all the time, then that means there's extra stress 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:08.879 on your wrists, on your hands, the things that, 00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:10.399 you know, most people, if they're going to take 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:13.120 an audition, they won't even move something that's 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:15.220 remotely heavy for like the two weeks before 00:16:15.220 --> 00:16:18.620 for fear of injury. But you don't have a choice, 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:20.879 right? You have to be carrying this 10 to 30 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:24.779 pound bundle. One of the unexpected things about 00:16:24.779 --> 00:16:28.480 being pregnant was that my babies had their own 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:30.460 reactions to some of the music we played. Oh, 00:16:30.460 --> 00:16:32.500 no, everyone's a critic. I know. Well, do you 00:16:32.500 --> 00:16:34.659 remember the Steve Jobs opera we did? I do, yes. 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:37.460 There was that huge drop at the very beginning 00:16:37.460 --> 00:16:42.039 where you just heard... And it scared the baby 00:16:42.039 --> 00:16:44.039 every time. So I would be playing. I have to 00:16:44.039 --> 00:16:45.940 play through this big drop and I just feel this 00:16:45.940 --> 00:16:49.539 huge kick in my stomach every time. But it's 00:16:49.539 --> 00:16:52.379 also sweet because if there was music that the 00:16:52.379 --> 00:16:55.029 older one really liked... I mean, I don't think 00:16:55.029 --> 00:16:57.110 it was dancing, but he would get really active. 00:16:57.490 --> 00:17:00.809 And it was almost like vindicate, not vindication, 00:17:01.049 --> 00:17:04.309 but confirmation that I was listening to really 00:17:04.309 --> 00:17:07.690 good music. It's very sweet. Yeah. Wow. Boy, 00:17:07.750 --> 00:17:09.670 everyone has everyone has their opinions, huh? 00:17:09.849 --> 00:17:13.369 Yeah. Everyone's a critic. There was something 00:17:13.369 --> 00:17:15.390 called resilience training when I was in school 00:17:15.390 --> 00:17:17.369 and they would say, set your alarm to three a 00:17:17.369 --> 00:17:21.309 .m. Wake up, pull out your violin, play an excerpt 00:17:21.309 --> 00:17:24.250 with no warm up and then go back to sleep. That 00:17:24.250 --> 00:17:26.950 was David Halen. He's the concertmaster of St. 00:17:27.029 --> 00:17:29.970 Louis Symphony. That was his advice. And I think 00:17:29.970 --> 00:17:33.170 that's essentially what you do when you have 00:17:33.170 --> 00:17:35.470 a very small baby if you're trying to do an audition. 00:17:35.809 --> 00:17:38.630 So I think there's a resilience and an understanding 00:17:38.630 --> 00:17:41.910 of musicians as a whole person that comes from 00:17:41.910 --> 00:17:44.329 that experience. I mean, you also have two not 00:17:44.329 --> 00:17:47.990 so small anymore children, but how did you experience 00:17:47.990 --> 00:17:50.529 that? No, I think, of course, the experience 00:17:50.529 --> 00:17:52.769 for a father is really different than for a mother. 00:17:53.079 --> 00:17:55.059 especially when they're really little. There's 00:17:55.059 --> 00:17:58.079 not really a lot that dad can do, but you play 00:17:58.079 --> 00:17:59.940 a support role, right? Oh, yeah. And you can 00:17:59.940 --> 00:18:01.460 run yourself ragged, making sure that everyone 00:18:01.460 --> 00:18:04.220 is fed and watered and bathed and everyone has 00:18:04.220 --> 00:18:06.319 everything they need and the groceries are done 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:10.019 and people get to their places. So I think it's 00:18:10.019 --> 00:18:13.440 a bit different. There's also that huge burden 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:15.720 that we put on our spouses. You know, we're gone 00:18:15.720 --> 00:18:18.380 so many evenings. Oh, yeah. So I just want to 00:18:18.380 --> 00:18:22.779 shout out my husband. He does such a lovely job, 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:26.460 weekends too. A lot of times we work on the weekends. 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:30.099 And so that's something that I think a lot of 00:18:30.099 --> 00:18:33.000 people take for granted. You know, you and I 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:35.119 are both in situations where we're on really 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:37.980 different work schedules from our spouses. Yes. 00:18:38.039 --> 00:18:39.279 But, you know, we have we have colleagues in 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:40.900 the orchestra who are married to someone in the 00:18:40.900 --> 00:18:43.099 orchestra and some of them have kids. And when 00:18:43.099 --> 00:18:45.220 you're working exactly the same work schedule, 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:47.380 like that puts a whole other flavor of stress 00:18:47.380 --> 00:18:49.779 into your life. Yeah. Especially if you don't 00:18:49.779 --> 00:18:51.920 have family around. Yep. It's interesting. These 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:55.519 are things that you have to navigate that I don't 00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:58.160 know that you can get any advice from instructors. 00:18:58.649 --> 00:19:00.490 In school but it's something that you never think 00:19:00.490 --> 00:19:02.089 about right you're just so focused on winning 00:19:02.089 --> 00:19:03.930 the job you don't think about what what is your 00:19:03.930 --> 00:19:06.549 life look like holistically yeah when when you're 00:19:06.549 --> 00:19:08.869 taking every audition that comes up because you 00:19:08.869 --> 00:19:12.509 want to be able to eat in four years. Like the 00:19:12.509 --> 00:19:14.589 time horizon for figuring out the nitty gritty 00:19:14.589 --> 00:19:18.089 of your life isn't really so far ahead that you 00:19:18.089 --> 00:19:19.890 can plan for things like this it's almost like 00:19:19.890 --> 00:19:22.509 your personal life is on pause yeah i can't tell 00:19:22.509 --> 00:19:24.470 you the number of musicians especially singers 00:19:24.470 --> 00:19:26.900 that you know they miss. their best friend's 00:19:26.900 --> 00:19:28.759 wedding, they miss their grandpa's funeral, they 00:19:28.759 --> 00:19:32.019 have to miss all these life events because if 00:19:32.019 --> 00:19:34.440 they don't get that opportunity to be the lead 00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:37.119 in an opera or whatever, you know, their career 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:40.579 could suffer very extremely. Yeah. If you say 00:19:40.579 --> 00:19:42.940 no to things, you know, without the luxury of 00:19:42.940 --> 00:19:45.700 a contract like, like we have in the CPO, you 00:19:45.700 --> 00:19:47.480 say no to things and that phone's going to stop 00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:50.319 ringing. Oh yeah. This is starting to sound a 00:19:50.319 --> 00:19:56.740 lot like my therapy sessions. I'm so sorry. I 00:19:56.740 --> 00:19:58.920 don't know. I love it. Leave it in. Oh, boy. 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:01.920 Well, we've been talking a lot about sort of 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:03.579 where things are with your projects now, but 00:20:03.579 --> 00:20:05.940 how did you get here, Jen? What's your story? 00:20:06.980 --> 00:20:10.359 My villain origin story begins in California. 00:20:10.920 --> 00:20:15.640 I was lucky enough to study with a very, very 00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:19.099 old and retired teaching aid of Galamians who 00:20:19.099 --> 00:20:22.680 had been with him like when Pearlman began. And 00:20:22.680 --> 00:20:24.740 Glamian being, just for the layperson, Glamian 00:20:24.740 --> 00:20:26.359 being a very famous... Oh, sorry, Glamian, a 00:20:26.359 --> 00:20:29.660 hugely famous violin pedagogue. His scales and 00:20:29.660 --> 00:20:33.460 his editions are everywhere. From there, I went 00:20:33.460 --> 00:20:35.599 to Rice University in Texas, where I studied 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:38.819 with Kathleen Winkler. And I loved, we got to 00:20:38.819 --> 00:20:42.240 play operas every semester. And I loved it. It 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:45.880 was so much fun. But it's a very orchestral -focused 00:20:45.880 --> 00:20:48.799 program. So if you do anything else... Even if 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:50.559 you were to establish like a very successful 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:54.940 teaching studio, it was, um, I'd say it was mocked, 00:20:55.059 --> 00:20:57.579 honestly. Or if you wanted to do new music or 00:20:57.579 --> 00:21:02.220 do things that were outside that groove, it just 00:21:02.220 --> 00:21:04.339 wasn't seen as a viable career. It's sort of 00:21:04.339 --> 00:21:06.500 an audition factory kind of program. Exactly. 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:08.599 And you know what? They're great at it. Their 00:21:08.599 --> 00:21:11.819 kids win, win, win, win, win. But I ended up 00:21:11.819 --> 00:21:14.759 going to Michigan with, uh, Yohannatan Barrick. 00:21:15.309 --> 00:21:18.089 And that was so eye -opening for me. We had people 00:21:18.089 --> 00:21:20.410 who were learning how to record the sounds of 00:21:20.410 --> 00:21:22.509 ice gates on the pond outside and then turning 00:21:22.509 --> 00:21:25.369 that into music. And every year there was a John 00:21:25.369 --> 00:21:28.250 Cage performance with a piano that was on the 00:21:28.250 --> 00:21:30.569 ground and it was candlelit and it was at midnight 00:21:30.569 --> 00:21:33.930 and just all these super interesting unusual 00:21:33.930 --> 00:21:37.259 ways of creating. music and experiences that 00:21:37.259 --> 00:21:39.140 were so beautiful and people didn't care, they 00:21:39.140 --> 00:21:42.599 would just do it. It wasn't about, what is your 00:21:42.599 --> 00:21:44.440 orchestral career going to look like? Where are 00:21:44.440 --> 00:21:47.660 you going to be? And I found that so freeing. 00:21:47.819 --> 00:21:49.519 After that, I went to San Francisco. I studied 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:52.079 a bit with the principal second there, Dan Carlson, 00:21:52.460 --> 00:21:55.420 who has the best ears I've ever encountered. 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:59.940 He can hear everything. And I just feel so grateful 00:21:59.940 --> 00:22:02.609 I had that time to study with him. And after 00:22:02.609 --> 00:22:04.890 that, New World Symphony, where a lot of our 00:22:04.890 --> 00:22:08.349 players come from, which is Michael Tilson Thomas's 00:22:08.349 --> 00:22:12.710 orchestral development program in Miami. They 00:22:12.710 --> 00:22:14.769 do a lot of the things that we talk about wanting 00:22:14.769 --> 00:22:17.630 to do. So they have classes where they teach 00:22:17.630 --> 00:22:19.890 the musicians, how do you speak from the stage? 00:22:19.970 --> 00:22:22.390 What are people interested in? You know, develop 00:22:22.390 --> 00:22:26.470 a small chamber program for donors. They bring 00:22:26.470 --> 00:22:32.339 in an incredible sports therapist. that works 00:22:32.339 --> 00:22:36.619 with you on nerves. They bring in young musicians 00:22:36.619 --> 00:22:41.180 from Colombia to come and work with you on an 00:22:41.180 --> 00:22:44.420 exchange basis. It's a really incredible program. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:51.000 And after being there, I ended up here. And I 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:53.640 think it takes a while to get out of that audition 00:22:53.640 --> 00:22:56.759 mindset, right? It's almost like you just want 00:22:56.759 --> 00:23:00.000 to do whatever the next audition is. whatever 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:02.259 the next level is, that's what you want. And 00:23:02.259 --> 00:23:04.819 then I took a step back and I said, you know 00:23:04.819 --> 00:23:08.420 what, Calgary is one of the first cities I genuinely 00:23:08.420 --> 00:23:11.440 love living in outside of the musical sphere. 00:23:12.099 --> 00:23:16.519 There's a lot of opportunity and I really love 00:23:16.519 --> 00:23:18.819 a lot of my colleagues. Like, why am I trying 00:23:18.819 --> 00:23:21.819 to leave? Obviously the pandemic hit and that 00:23:21.819 --> 00:23:25.000 changed so many things. And I think one of the 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:26.920 big things we saw was it pushed a lot of people 00:23:26.920 --> 00:23:30.579 out of music. a lot of really talented people 00:23:30.579 --> 00:23:35.039 just weren't as lucky as we were to be paid through 00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:37.119 the pandemic, and they had to find other avenues 00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:41.299 to survive, really. And now I think we're sort 00:23:41.299 --> 00:23:43.880 of in a flowering period post -pandemic, where 00:23:43.880 --> 00:23:46.119 all of these pent -up hopes and dreams are coming 00:23:46.119 --> 00:23:48.220 to fruition, and it's a really beautiful time 00:23:48.220 --> 00:23:51.519 to be making music. Yeah, I agree. I just want 00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:53.609 to highlight... sort of in the earlier part of 00:23:53.609 --> 00:23:54.950 your story, you were talking about Rice being 00:23:54.950 --> 00:23:57.750 this audition factory and then Michigan being 00:23:57.750 --> 00:24:02.210 this sort of haven for all sorts of, you know, 00:24:02.349 --> 00:24:04.450 hopes and dreams musically, to use your phrase, 00:24:04.549 --> 00:24:07.910 right? Like, I think neither is more correct 00:24:07.910 --> 00:24:10.150 or more valid than the other. Oh, and to point 00:24:10.150 --> 00:24:13.450 out, I mean, Timothy Steeves, who's the associate 00:24:13.450 --> 00:24:16.329 concertmaster in Vancouver. Chris Size, our new 00:24:16.329 --> 00:24:18.569 principal percussionist and I, we all came from 00:24:18.569 --> 00:24:21.670 that same year at Michigan. Like there are incredible 00:24:21.670 --> 00:24:24.829 players who obviously managed to get orchestra 00:24:24.829 --> 00:24:27.910 jobs. Like that, it wasn't a problem to go that 00:24:27.910 --> 00:24:30.410 route. Yeah. Yeah. I think that there's such 00:24:30.410 --> 00:24:34.250 value in having contrasting pedagogical experiences, 00:24:34.430 --> 00:24:36.509 you know, having teachers who talk about things 00:24:36.509 --> 00:24:38.569 differently, who have radically different ideas 00:24:38.569 --> 00:24:40.779 about what you should be doing and how you should 00:24:40.779 --> 00:24:44.220 be doing it. I think that that is such an important 00:24:44.220 --> 00:24:47.700 diversity of ideas in music and probably in everything 00:24:47.700 --> 00:24:50.940 else. I mean, music is my experience. But I just 00:24:50.940 --> 00:24:53.319 think that the perspective of being able to see 00:24:53.319 --> 00:24:56.259 different approaches is so great and so healthy. 00:24:57.000 --> 00:24:58.880 Oh, yeah. Well, it develops you as a player, 00:24:58.880 --> 00:25:02.359 right? Because it's so easy. Classical music 00:25:02.359 --> 00:25:05.460 can be very traditional. And up until the age 00:25:05.460 --> 00:25:08.619 of, let's say, all the way through undergrad, 00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:13.559 I knew that what I would wear on stage had to 00:25:13.559 --> 00:25:15.319 fall within certain parameters, and this was 00:25:15.319 --> 00:25:18.440 not, you know, this wasn't just societal pressure 00:25:18.440 --> 00:25:20.180 or whatever. Your teacher would say, you know, 00:25:20.259 --> 00:25:22.019 make sure you have to wear makeup, you have to 00:25:22.019 --> 00:25:25.740 wear heels, you have to wear either black bottom 00:25:25.740 --> 00:25:29.039 and a colorful top or a colorful gown or all 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:32.579 black, right? Like it's very prescripted. What 00:25:32.579 --> 00:25:36.559 you play on your recital has to be One sonata 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:40.720 by a classical composer one romantic work and 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:43.539 the third work you know is a show piece and I 00:25:43.539 --> 00:25:45.319 always felt like I was a rebel because I would 00:25:45.319 --> 00:25:48.680 do a piece by a living composer and somehow those 00:25:48.680 --> 00:25:51.220 composers always ended up being Canadian and 00:25:51.220 --> 00:25:54.829 so I think I had this early affinity with. What 00:25:54.829 --> 00:25:57.109 I saw is a place that was really open to new 00:25:57.109 --> 00:25:59.009 music and supportive of it. Oh interesting Can 00:25:59.009 --> 00:26:00.609 you just give us a quick rundown or a handful 00:26:00.609 --> 00:26:03.009 of those pieces? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely So Francois 00:26:03.009 --> 00:26:06.490 Dompierre has a piece called um, oh my god I'm 00:26:06.490 --> 00:26:07.849 married to a French teacher and I can't speak 00:26:07.849 --> 00:26:10.829 French Les Diableries and it's a little short 00:26:10.829 --> 00:26:13.069 suite for piano and violin and it's really fun 00:26:13.069 --> 00:26:15.569 and beautiful and then the other one was the 00:26:15.569 --> 00:26:20.230 Varley suite, so the Is it the school of six? 00:26:20.970 --> 00:26:24.079 The group of seven? The group of seven! I'm sorry, 00:26:24.079 --> 00:26:25.920 I moved here seven years ago. Be nice to me. 00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:29.000 The group of seven, and Varley was one of those 00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:31.259 painters, and Stephen Chapman, who I think was 00:26:31.259 --> 00:26:35.039 a teacher at UBC, wrote a piece, a solo suite 00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:39.539 for violin, and each of the pieces reflects what 00:26:39.539 --> 00:26:41.700 he took away from a painting. Oh, wonderful. 00:26:41.980 --> 00:26:44.680 Yeah, it's beautiful. And there's so much new 00:26:44.680 --> 00:26:47.880 Canadian music out there. And I think, I don't 00:26:47.880 --> 00:26:49.640 know, I don't think that Canadians take it for 00:26:49.640 --> 00:26:52.279 granted. I just think that it's so the norm that 00:26:52.279 --> 00:26:56.130 they don't. realize how good it is. Yeah. Yeah. 00:26:56.970 --> 00:26:59.589 So aside from all your Kensington Sinfonia concerts 00:26:59.589 --> 00:27:01.329 coming up, is there anything coming up at the 00:27:01.329 --> 00:27:03.690 CPO that you're particularly excited about playing? 00:27:03.829 --> 00:27:06.630 Oh, I'm thrilled for controlled burn. Oh, yeah. 00:27:06.769 --> 00:27:09.869 Yeah. So that's we're working with composer Chris 00:27:09.869 --> 00:27:13.730 Dirksen. Kensington Sinfonia has played her piece 00:27:13.730 --> 00:27:16.269 White Man's Cattle a couple of times, and it's 00:27:16.269 --> 00:27:20.029 always so fun. I mean, I know that sounds terrible 00:27:20.029 --> 00:27:22.170 for a piece, which is about. Whiteman's cattle 00:27:22.170 --> 00:27:25.789 coming and inhabiting quote unquote virgin lands. 00:27:26.349 --> 00:27:30.630 But it's really moving and also really fun to 00:27:30.630 --> 00:27:33.210 play. I think we did it on the Indigidivas concert 00:27:33.210 --> 00:27:35.329 a couple of years back, but we're playing a new 00:27:35.329 --> 00:27:38.730 piece by Chris. I love everything Chris Dirksen 00:27:38.730 --> 00:27:42.609 does. Awesome. This particular piece is about 00:27:42.609 --> 00:27:46.410 fire as a cleansing ritual through the forests 00:27:46.410 --> 00:27:49.569 of Canada and how pre -contact civilizations. 00:27:49.950 --> 00:27:52.690 would do these controlled burns through the forest 00:27:52.690 --> 00:27:57.470 to keep the big trees healthy and to weed out 00:27:57.470 --> 00:28:01.009 some of the undergrowth. And if you've ever read 00:28:01.009 --> 00:28:08.009 Charles Mann's 1491, 1491, I got the year. There's 00:28:08.009 --> 00:28:11.349 a 1491, a 1492, and a 1493. Right. So which one 00:28:11.349 --> 00:28:13.539 is it where he talks about the... temperature 00:28:13.539 --> 00:28:15.779 of the earth and the european little ice age 00:28:15.779 --> 00:28:18.099 may have resulted from the lack of controlled 00:28:18.099 --> 00:28:21.619 burns i think that that's 1491 we're way off 00:28:21.619 --> 00:28:24.500 piste yeah no no this is great i think because 00:28:24.500 --> 00:28:27.740 he's talking about pre -contact yeah pre -contact 00:28:27.740 --> 00:28:30.619 how there was fire season every year in the americas 00:28:30.619 --> 00:28:35.180 and how how important that was as a ritual for 00:28:35.180 --> 00:28:38.579 the health of this entire continent so i can't 00:28:38.579 --> 00:28:41.460 wait to hear an orchestral interpretation of 00:28:41.460 --> 00:28:45.019 that Yeah. Forest fires, wildfires, of course, 00:28:45.079 --> 00:28:47.779 something that's on all of our minds a lot these 00:28:47.779 --> 00:28:49.839 days and every year. Oh, yeah. Well, in my home 00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:52.539 state, right, the Palisades just burnt to the 00:28:52.539 --> 00:28:56.400 ground. And in California, fire has always been 00:28:56.400 --> 00:29:00.279 a problem. I can remember driving by the big 00:29:00.279 --> 00:29:03.980 San Diego fire when I was in high school. They 00:29:03.980 --> 00:29:07.099 would do controlled burns. right outside my school, 00:29:07.480 --> 00:29:09.180 actually. And those, they were kind of beautiful 00:29:09.180 --> 00:29:11.240 days because everything turned so bright orange. 00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:15.420 But I think everyone has experienced so many 00:29:15.420 --> 00:29:19.019 summers like that now that we don't want to see 00:29:19.019 --> 00:29:20.900 any more of it. Do you want to hear about the 00:29:20.900 --> 00:29:23.740 goats they use instead? Yes. Oh, yes. Tell me 00:29:23.740 --> 00:29:27.099 about the goats. So my high school was next to 00:29:27.099 --> 00:29:29.339 a bunch of land that had been used for ordinance 00:29:29.339 --> 00:29:32.720 training by the U .S. military. And so every 00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:34.839 couple of years they would do controlled burns 00:29:34.839 --> 00:29:37.859 to try to rid of any ordinance that might be 00:29:37.859 --> 00:29:41.019 left behind. Sounds very safe. Right. So they 00:29:41.019 --> 00:29:43.240 eventually found a safer way, which was to hire 00:29:43.240 --> 00:29:46.799 a pack of goats to eat grass, to keep the grass 00:29:46.799 --> 00:29:48.900 short so that there would be no wildfires, but 00:29:48.900 --> 00:29:52.200 also to possibly trip any ordinance that required 00:29:52.200 --> 00:29:53.720 weight. I was going to say, what does danger 00:29:53.720 --> 00:29:56.019 pay look like for a goat? You know what? I don't 00:29:56.019 --> 00:30:00.160 know. I don't have any stories of firsthand watching 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:03.440 goat explosions, but, um, you know, ingenuity 00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:07.740 at its finest. Yeah, really. Oh, boy. Well, Jen, 00:30:07.759 --> 00:30:10.880 you've been at the CPO for how long now? Lucky 00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:13.259 number seven. Lucky numbers. Is it only seven 00:30:13.259 --> 00:30:16.519 years? 2017. Wow. It feels like I've known you 00:30:16.519 --> 00:30:19.000 for much longer than that, but I guess not. It's 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:20.839 the greatest compliment you can pay me or I'm 00:30:20.839 --> 00:30:26.039 very boring. Well, in your time here, I want 00:30:26.039 --> 00:30:28.390 to know. Who are the people on stage who you 00:30:28.390 --> 00:30:30.390 love listening to? Who inspires you at work? 00:30:30.930 --> 00:30:34.690 Ooh, that's hard. I mean, OK, the sounds. This 00:30:34.690 --> 00:30:38.230 sounds like a gimme. But you know, there are 00:30:38.230 --> 00:30:40.349 certain people in the orchestra that when a solo 00:30:40.349 --> 00:30:43.289 comes up, you just I don't want to say you physically 00:30:43.289 --> 00:30:45.829 relax, but you're like, oh, yeah, whatever is 00:30:45.829 --> 00:30:47.930 going to happen is about to be special. Oh, thanks, 00:30:48.029 --> 00:30:51.750 Jen. The people I love hearing anything Chris 00:30:51.750 --> 00:30:54.130 size plays, obviously. I've said that a bunch. 00:30:54.329 --> 00:30:58.269 Sorry, Chris. I'm fangirling. I love Antoine. 00:30:58.289 --> 00:31:00.309 I love our new principal bassoon. He's awesome. 00:31:00.769 --> 00:31:03.069 And when he played that concerto with us last 00:31:03.069 --> 00:31:05.509 year. And the vapor. Oh, my God. I've never heard 00:31:05.509 --> 00:31:09.910 so much personality and charm come out of a bassoon. 00:31:10.130 --> 00:31:11.690 Charm's the word. I remember that performance. 00:31:11.769 --> 00:31:15.150 It was so refined, so classy. It was. Yeah, yeah, 00:31:15.150 --> 00:31:17.910 yeah. It was beautiful. And the bassoonist that 00:31:17.910 --> 00:31:21.349 we had before Antoine, Chris Sayles. Yeah, he's 00:31:21.349 --> 00:31:23.329 now principal bassoon in Cincinnati. Oh, yeah. 00:31:23.410 --> 00:31:25.710 And every time he would play, it was the same 00:31:25.710 --> 00:31:27.170 feeling. Like you didn't know what was going 00:31:27.170 --> 00:31:29.130 to happen, but whatever happened, you were going 00:31:29.130 --> 00:31:32.309 to enjoy. Yeah. Yeah. It's so wonderful. It's 00:31:32.309 --> 00:31:34.309 so wonderful to have that spontaneity on stage. 00:31:34.390 --> 00:31:36.549 I think I just have to say, like almost all of 00:31:36.549 --> 00:31:38.549 my colleagues, you know, I love section players. 00:31:38.630 --> 00:31:40.309 We don't really get to hear each other that much, 00:31:40.329 --> 00:31:42.329 but I always feel like when I spend a week sitting 00:31:42.329 --> 00:31:44.609 next to like Hojin Yu, I feel like my playing 00:31:44.609 --> 00:31:47.869 becomes more refined. When I spend a week next 00:31:47.869 --> 00:31:51.349 to Eric Auerbach, I feel like I'm hearing new 00:31:51.349 --> 00:31:54.210 things across the orchestra. He's like this consummate 00:31:54.210 --> 00:31:57.930 chamber player. It's just such a blessing. Sounds 00:31:57.930 --> 00:32:01.430 so dumb. But like truly I feel like I have a 00:32:01.430 --> 00:32:03.430 wealth of colleagues who have these incredible 00:32:03.430 --> 00:32:06.910 skills and I get to go to work with 65 of my 00:32:06.910 --> 00:32:09.849 best friends, as I say. Yeah. Awesome. Well, 00:32:09.910 --> 00:32:11.930 Jen, thank you so much. I always love chatting 00:32:11.930 --> 00:32:13.890 with you. It's fun to do it in front of microphones 00:32:13.890 --> 00:32:18.940 for once. Was it? No, thank you so much, Adam. 00:32:19.640 --> 00:32:22.759 I love this podcast and I'm so honored to be 00:32:22.759 --> 00:32:24.559 on it. Thank you. Oh, a pleasure. Thanks, Jen. 00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:28.220 Notes from the Stage is an independent production 00:32:28.220 --> 00:32:30.339 of the Calgary Philharmonic Players Association. 00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:33.119 The opinions expressed here are our own and do 00:32:33.119 --> 00:32:34.920 not reflect those of the Calgary Philharmonic 00:32:34.920 --> 00:32:37.579 Orchestra. Our thanks to Nathan Chandler for 00:32:37.579 --> 00:32:40.559 his technical expertise. The music you heard 00:32:40.559 --> 00:32:43.200 on this episode was Saturn, Still Returning, 00:32:43.400 --> 00:32:46.099 by Brockson, performed by Kensington Sinfonia, 00:32:46.160 --> 00:32:48.799 led by Jen Micheletti, and soloist Chris Sighs, 00:32:48.980 --> 00:32:50.579 who's also the principal percussionist of the 00:32:50.579 --> 00:32:53.220 Calgary Philharmonic. On our next episode in 00:32:53.220 --> 00:32:55.660 two weeks, I'll be talking with violist and composer 00:32:55.660 --> 00:34:04.059 Arthur Bachman. Talk to you soon! Jen I almost 00:34:04.059 --> 00:34:06.779 forgot tell us about candy club. I love candy 00:34:06.779 --> 00:34:09.519 club So we decided at some point that if we had 00:34:09.519 --> 00:34:13.000 nothing to talk about but work We would die as 00:34:13.000 --> 00:34:15.980 a section So we started each kind of taking turns 00:34:15.980 --> 00:34:18.400 bringing in weird candies from our travels and 00:34:18.400 --> 00:34:20.280 trying them and then rating them in a spreadsheet 00:34:20.280 --> 00:34:22.539 and Then management heard about that. So they 00:34:22.539 --> 00:34:24.760 asked me to do it with James Ennis, which was 00:34:25.469 --> 00:34:27.510 Um, you know, an incredible way to interact with 00:34:27.510 --> 00:34:29.510 a childhood hero in a way that has nothing to 00:34:29.510 --> 00:34:31.869 do with anything. It was cool to see the little 00:34:31.869 --> 00:34:33.849 snippets on social media, but then the whole 00:34:33.849 --> 00:34:36.769 long form video dropped. Holy moly. He was great. 00:34:36.809 --> 00:34:38.769 He stayed after and tried even more of the candies 00:34:38.769 --> 00:34:40.809 because I had, you know, my candy lineup that 00:34:40.809 --> 00:34:42.869 was matched with questions. But then I had some 00:34:42.869 --> 00:34:44.869 like wild cards in case he was like, well, you 00:34:44.869 --> 00:34:47.030 know, actually I don't want to put that in my 00:34:47.030 --> 00:34:50.230 mouth at all. You know, just what a genuinely 00:34:50.230 --> 00:34:53.989 nice guy, but, um. One lesson I think I keep 00:34:53.989 --> 00:34:56.090 learning over and over in my career is that if 00:34:56.090 --> 00:35:00.289 you try to separate you as a professional from 00:35:00.289 --> 00:35:03.849 you as a person and keep that a hard divide, 00:35:04.289 --> 00:35:06.289 you're actually taking away from both of those 00:35:06.289 --> 00:35:09.750 spheres in your life. And I thought that was 00:35:09.750 --> 00:35:11.710 the candy club was a great reminder that, you 00:35:11.710 --> 00:35:14.630 know, we're all people and yes, there are some 00:35:14.630 --> 00:35:17.809 things professionally that we wouldn't necessarily 00:35:17.809 --> 00:35:22.010 do personally and vice versa. but at that intersection 00:35:22.010 --> 00:35:24.150 is a really beautiful place that we should feel 00:35:24.150 --> 00:35:24.730 free to explore.