Hi there and welcome to Notes from the Stage,
a show from the musicians of the Calgary Philharmonic.
We're the people playing our hearts out every
week of the orchestra season. I'm Adam Zinatelli.
Usually I play first trumpet in the CPO, but
today I'm your host and I'm here with Heather
Wooten, fourth horn! of the Calgary Philharmonic.
Hi, Heather. Hey, Adam. How are you? I'm pretty
good. How are you? It's nice to sit down with
you. We don't get to do it often. Yeah, I know.
We're so... The geography on the stage never
really puts us that close together. I know. Which
is too bad. It's a bit sad. You know what? Actually,
one thing that did put us close together on stage
was when we were playing, like, classical -era
stuff with Minchuk. He would put the trumpets
and timpani over stage right, and the horns were
on the back. of the central risers yeah so forth
horn was pointing right at us and what that meant
no no no it was great because that meant that
every time we played Beethoven 9 with minchuk
which was a lot i had the best seat in the house
ah yeah we did do that a lot didn't we we did
i'm trying to think how many times i've played
that it's a lot it's funny i talked about Beethoven
9 a lot with Arthur yeah i heard that yeah yeah
but i had a feeling that it would come up with
you because like that's that's your moment to
shine it is Yeah, it's one that I sort of dread
and look forward to at the same time. I know
that feeling. Yeah. And we played it so often
for so long. It seemed like it was a yearly thing
and we'd all sort of whinge and complain. And
then you were in the middle of it and it was
glorious. Yeah. Every time. I mean, it's just
such an epic work, you know? Yeah. And you play
that solo so beautifully. Oh, well, thank you.
It's sad. It's sad to me to know that I won't
hear you play that again, Heather, because you're
retiring at the end of this season. I am. Isn't
that weird? Congratulations. Well, thanks, I
think. I'm still kind of conflicted about it,
to be honest, you know? Yeah, yeah. Well, it's
a hard thing to give up. Yeah. Boy, this time
of year I find is usually the trickiest time
of year in terms of fatigue and stress management.
You know, the chunk of the season between the
new year and the Easter break, we get a week
off at Easter every year. It seems to me to...
always feel like the most stressful, bedraggled
time of year. Yeah, February seems like the longest
month to me. Yeah, in which retirement always
sounds really great. Yes, at this moment, I'm
thinking, okay, just got to get through February.
So let's not beat around the bush. We can get
right to it. What are you going to miss? What
are some of your favorite things? Tell me about
the complicated stew of feelings about retirement.
That's a really good phrase, complicated stew.
Obviously, I mean, the thing I will I will miss
is my colleagues. I don't know how many people
get to work in an environment that closely with
people. And we're not necessarily close in that
we talk all the time, but we connect daily. We
connect all the time. And no matter whether I
talk to some people all the time and I'm socializing
with them or whether I'm just on stage with them
and sharing those moments, I still feel completely
connected to them. And it's been such an amazing
blessing. And I wonder how many people are privileged
to have that. You know, and I think it's that
I'm going to really, really miss that. I mean,
it's very much a community. It's very much a,
a support system. It's. It's incredible group
of people to work with. And no matter where I've
been, I just think I've always been surrounded
by these incredible souls that are so generous
and so kind and so vulnerable. And, uh, it humbles
me every day to be around these people. So I'm
going to miss that a lot. And then just those
moments, you know, of, of playing. amazing repertoire.
And again, the privilege of being able to do
that. I still, after 40 whatever years, I'm amazed
that I get to do this as my job. And sometimes
when we're sitting on the stage and we're middle
of Mahler, middle of Bruckner, middle of Brahms,
just being surrounded by that is pretty incredible.
It's very special. Yeah. And just being awed
by the capability of humans to create beauty,
that still floors me every time. we have that
ability you know those very special moments in
a concert that you know are someone in the audience
might go to a concert and have one of these moments
you know i had i had a moment at a concert this
past weekend i went to see luminous voices they
they played zach wasworth's piece the far west
which is deeply deeply moving piece i haven't
heard it and oh it's Yeah, they made a recording.
It's great. Plug for Luminous Voices recording
of The Far West by Zach Wadsworth. And, you know,
I was in the audience, which is something I don't
get to do that much. And, you know, it brought
me to tears. And that kind of very special moment
that can happen from experiencing music. You
know, you can't manufacture that. That has to
happen organically in the moment. Exactly. Right.
And people who go to concerts might... experience
that occasionally. But the great thing, the thing
that we're so lucky to be able to do is that
we're in that every day at work, right? And we're
trying to make those moments, and we're trying
to make them for the audience as well. But the
more you're in that music, the more those moments
are going to happen, and you're going to be present
and attentive for them. So that I think is one
of the real privileges of our job. Yeah, exactly.
And that's something that I will I will definitely
miss. It's a different experience sitting in
the audience because you you're not busy doing,
right? You're just experiencing. So it'll be
interesting to come to concerts and experience
them in a different way. I mean, I have a few
times, you know, when I wasn't playing and I've
come to come to concerts that I wasn't involved
in or I was off for some reason and again, and
just always floored by how good this orchestra
is. I mean, you're in the middle of it, you know,
you're sort of in the weeds and you don't always
realize and you sit out and just take a step
back and see the whole and it's a... It's pretty
astounding. Yeah, absolutely. And it gets better
all the time. You know, we've got so many people
coming in. They're so talented and so dedicated.
And it's really heartening to see that. Cause
you know, you get old and you think, oh, young
kids these days aren't as interested in classical
music, which is, and it's not true. I just listened
to a recording of NYO from, from this past summer
and it was jaw dropping, you know, and here they're
all in their teens and early twenties and they're
just slaying it. So that's very heartening. Yeah,
it's awesome. Yeah. I wanted to ask you about.
this actually, because you've gotten to play
with two great third horn players over the years.
I know, how many years did you and Laurie Matiation
play together? 27. 27. So a horn section is,
you know, they largely travel in pairs, right?
Travel in packs. They travel in packs, yeah.
So first and second horn are sort of a pair,
usually, and third and fourth. So the relationship
between you, the fourth horn player, and the
third horn player is a special one. It is. You
were partners. We're work, work. I guess, no,
not really, but I've been incredibly lucky. When
I was in Kitchener, my third horn player was
Joy Montgomery at the time. And we had met in
NYO and then ended up in the same section and
just immediately clicked. And it was so easy
to play with her. And I thought I would never
have that again. And then I came and sat beside
Laurie and that was an incredible partnership.
It was just, she refers to it as like a hand
and glove, you know, just fit, just fit. And
we didn't have to talk. We just kind of had this
kind of weird. horn mind meld thing going on
and I knew what she was gonna do before she did
it kind of thing. Yeah, I have that same kind
of thing going on with Miranda. It's a real treat.
It's really special. You don't find that very
often and you get spoiled by it too because when
you don't have that you think, oh, wait a minute.
So then Lori retired a few years ago and I was
devastated that I was gonna lose her and then
along came Max. Bless his little head. No, he's
extraordinary. I mean, he's an extraordinary
person. He makes me laugh every day, sometimes
too much. And. Yeah, sometimes I wonder what's
happening back there in the corner. Yeah. Yeah.
But we do, we do have a lot of fun. Yeah. So,
yeah. And it was kind of a rocky road for the
horn section for a while because we, we lost
Lori and then we lost Rob and we lost, or we
lost Bill. Yeah. Three retirements and quick
succession. And then COVID, so we couldn't have
auditions. And then, so we were three out of
five for a long time when Max came. So. But now
we have a complete section and it's such a joy.
Yeah, that's right. And we've just got some crackerjack
people and players in the section now and we're
having a blast. So that's one of my big regrets
too, is leaving the section in the form it is
now. We're finding our feet and starting to fly,
and I think it's gonna be great. Yeah, you guys
are sounding great. That's for sure. But, you
know, time for some new blood. I guess I'm not
sure I can keep up anymore. Well, have you talked
to Lori about retirement and what to expect?
Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And all that. Any
insights to share, or is it all... Because it's
interesting, because a lot of people, some people
continue to play a lot. Some people play a little
bit and then don't. Some people completely quit
and sell their instruments and they're done when
they retire. So I'm kind of, I'm still trying
to... See what that's gonna be. I can't see giving
it up, but I also I've been spoiled for the level
that I've been privileged to play with So I don't
know and it's you know, as much as I do that
It's hard to keep that level physically going
so you can't just dabble in it. You either have
to commit or not I'll just see I'm gonna see
how it goes. Yeah, they still have to fill my
position So maybe I'll come back next year. Maybe
if they haven't heard anybody if not And we'll
see. I mean, physically it's getting harder,
so maintain that level. So that's part of my
reason for bowing out before they take my horn
away from me. You never want to stay longer than
your sell by date, but. Sure. You know, Lori,
she's very wise. She's very philosophical. She
was a great mentor for me. She's just a couple
of years older than me, but. She seemed to have
infinitely more wisdom. Well, I just saw Lori
last night, actually did a little master class
at the Royal Academy. Yeah. Which she's in charge
of now. Yeah, she's artistic director of, uh,
of the advanced. Yes. If Lori's in charge, you
know, it's going to be good though. Yeah. And
she's just, I mean, I think, I think that's really
urgent since she's got there. I mean, there's
way more kids. There's a lot of more stuff going
on. There's a lot more people coming in, I think.
So I've had, I've talked to the conservatory.
We've got some ideas, but she just sort of said,
just, just see. Just be open and see. She says,
I think there's lots of things that are going
to come your way. You just have to kind of be
open to see what happens. I've been talking to
some people, there's a few things, maybe things
in the works, but it's terrifying and exciting
at the same time. Because you're giving up everything
you know in a way. I mean, an orchestra job is...
Nicely secure. And you have your whole year ahead
of you planned out. It's a convenient little
book. Yeah, you don't have to think about your
scheduling and how you're going to fill your
time. But then there's a lot that you give up
too, right? With our schedule, being able to
do, I call them normal people, things that normal
people do, but the normal schedule, you know,
nine to five, Monday to Friday, you know, there's
things that we can't really do. There's things
that I'd like to volunteer for that I haven't
been able to do because I can't. I can't commit
the time that they would require. So. I'm curious
about that. What things do you have in mind?
Anything to do with animals, basically. I know
you're a dog lover. I am. I'm a foster failure.
All my dogs are foster fails. There was one actually
that I returned because he destroyed my house,
but I still cried when he left. I'm sure I told
you that story. And I talked to the foster coordinator
about how do you do this? Cause it just like
breaks my heart to get to know them and then
to get them up, you know. And she says, well,
I saw that problem by only fostering breeds that
I didn't like. And my least favorite breed is
Chihuahua. She now has five Chihuahuas. Oh, wow.
Okay. All right. So I was like, oh, that was
good. So that I've always loved horses. I used
to ride a little bit. I'd love to get involved
in either some horse rescues or there's I've
been looking into some riding therapy programs.
Oh, cool. As a volunteer. So you go and you help
the kids and you help with the preparation and
you do leading and stuff. And that's great. So
I would love to do that. I'd love to do some
hospital volunteering, baby cuddling. Do you
know you can be a professional hugger? You know,
that's a thing. I didn't know that. I don't know
if I want to be a professional hugger though.
That would sort of take the spontaneity out of
it. Yeah. Yeah. It'd be an enthusiastic amateur
idea. And then, um, habitat, maybe I'd love to
get in and involved in a build. I've always wanted
to build a house. I'd like to do stuff with my
hands and. Yeah, just things that you just kind
of let go when you're so busy. I used to draw
a lot when I was a kid. I'm not a good artist
at all, but I used to enjoy making things and
drawing things and getting into ceramics. So
yeah, just kind of exploring parts of me that
I think maybe have leaned dormant or I haven't
paid attention to or, yeah. Oh, that's so exciting.
Well, it doesn't sound like you're going to be
short of ideas. No, I have ideas, just getting
them going and seeing where I can. do that and
then sort of you know the balance of how much
do i want to play how much do i want to work
i'll keep teaching i love teaching that's been
a really important part of my life i think yeah
well just last year you won a big award for your
teaching who did heather you won the 2024 betty
webster award and that year it was specifically
focusing on contributions to musical education
yeah go figure so you were quite an honor yeah
you were the lead teaching artist for The CPO's
fill kids program. Yeah. Yeah. So we started
that back in 2016 on a sort of very small basis.
There were four of us involved teaching and,
um, just about 30 kids once a week started that.
That was amazing. Yeah. It just, and the, and
the, and the focus of that was inspired by system.
It wasn't a systemic program, but it's inspired
by the idea of music for social change. So the
idea that music isn't about just necessarily
learning a skill. It's all the things you can
learn while you learn an instrument. So we're
basically building kids and using music. And
the focus of the program was in lower socioeconomic
areas. So for kids that didn't have the opportunity,
parents that maybe couldn't afford to provide
extracurricular music lessons for them. And with
the state of music in the schools, especially
in elementary school, I think the junior highs
and high schools are doing okay with their music
programs, but there's very little, I think, to
my knowledge. Dedicated music specialists in
elementary school, so they're really not getting
that opportunity. So I Think it's a really important
hole that we have to figure out how to how to
fix Whether it be in in areas where families
are struggling or whether they're not because
I just think it should be part of education End
of story. Yeah, the arts and music and and you
know, just learning to be human. Yeah, you know
and I think so much of what music teaches us.
Just the idea of, it teaches you to recognize
beauty, it teaches you to connect, it teaches
you empathy, it teaches you understanding, it
teaches you resilience, it teaches you just collaboration,
partnership, appreciation for other people, you
know, and they're recognizing strengths in other
people. And I think that's what's so good, I
think, about our orchestra is I think we really
champion each other and we enjoy each other and
we build each other up. It's a very positive,
I think. In my experience anyway environment
that everybody's there very much in support of
everybody else And even if you have a bad day,
you know, sometimes you have a bad day. You may
don't don't sound the way you want to or As a
brass player you're cracking out. Sure. Nobody's
gonna Nobody's gonna come after you for it. They
just like you know how that feels. Yeah, it's
perfect You know, it's been my experience too,
especially in our brass section. I feel like
we've got such a collaborative positive vibe
going, where we're all rooting for each other
to do well. And how can we make this better together?
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I love listening to
you play, Adam. You've been such an inspiration
to me, honestly. Oh, thanks, Heather. When you
came, I just was like, how does he do that? But
yeah, you gave me a different view into how to
be a brass player, I think. Oh, thanks. That's
very kind. But yeah, you just have such a beautiful,
effortless way of... communicating through your
trumpet and it's not just trumpet playing it's
not just trumpet playing so thank you that's
very sweet well that's true and then you you
inspire me thank you for that oh well my my pleasure
you know it's yeah you know just doing my job
just doing my job but just i spit and blow for
a living that's what i tell people but you know
i've seen with uh with new folks coming into
the orchestra Even in my very early years here.
I saw new players coming in and revitalizing
the players around them Not even saying that
those players had you know had been in a funk
in any way and they're playing but just new ideas
coming in and I think anything like that Yeah,
any new energy. I think just yeah. Yeah. Yeah
just elevates you again I think you know, we
go through that in a long career that you you
can't you know stay at that super keen level
that you had when you were first starting and
everything every piece is new and everything
is you know yeah i mean life has its ups and
downs and twists and turns and we are just people
playing our instruments and all that stuff and
life is going on and you're having kids and you're
having struggles and you're you know having great
times and having hard times and it is it is really
neat to to hear and i and you've you've experienced
this too when When somebody just does something
really great, like just slays a solo or, or does
just something incredibly beautiful that just
the whole energy changes and everybody just kind
of hones in. And same thing, being on the stage
when, I mean, we've had conductors and we've
had other conductors and not so much lately,
but in my first years here, there were many times
when we, we collectively saved concerts that
were almost derailed by perhaps less than stellar
baton waivers. That in itself was actually astounding.
The way you kind of just all the focus changes
and the energy switches and it becomes cross
stage. It's very, very, very interesting. I think
everyone on stage has the ability to derail a
concert. This is sort of the other side of the
coin, right? We all sort of have the opportunity
to contribute a lot. But we also have the opportunity
to do the opposite. And I struggled with that
a lot with my early years, you know, before now
I feel like I have sort of an earned sense of
confidence. Like I know what I'm doing. I've
been on the job for 16 years now. But in my early
days, especially with repertoire that I was less
comfortable with, I really was sort of up against
this mental game of feeling like every note I
play, I can I can screw the whole thing up. And
that was a really bad place to be. mentally.
And over the years, I've sort of, aside from
building my confidence through, you know, just
doing it all the time, I also was able to kind
of turn that mental game around and think like,
no, no, with every note, every entrance, even
if I'm playing like a Mozart symphony or something,
with every note, I can contribute. I can make
this whole thing better. I can add something.
I can make it colorful. I can Help with any aspect
of the music right and by trying to think about
how I can contribute to what we're doing Rather
than oh, no, how am I gonna screw this whole
thing up? Like it's you know, it's that's been
a really sort of revolutionary change for me.
Yeah Yeah, I've been it I've been in the headspace
to you and as a horn player I mean, you know,
we're known for missing notes. That's the that's
how people like to talk about us But I think
if you listen to this section, we don't miss
and we don't miss too many notes You know what?
I feel like when I always think about good misses
and bad misses, right? Like if I'm hedging my
bets, I'm going to miss. But if I go for it,
I'm less likely to miss. And it's also going
to be better. And if I miss, then whoops. Yeah.
Right. Like, you know, my teacher, Andrew McCandless,
always said that if you're doing it right, when
you miss a note, no one is going to be more surprised
than you. You know, and I love that because,
you know, you're going to miss notes. Of course,
you're going to miss notes. But if you're committed
and you're going for it and you're trying to
make a big statement one way or another yeah
if you miss a note fine yeah and i use that in
my teaching too it's funny that you talk about
that because uh again horn drives me nuts that
horn is always introduced to students as a really
hard instrument yeah yeah and that it just sets
them up with the with the wrong mindset from
the very beginning oh it's one of the most difficult
oh it's going to be really hard oh expectations
can really become reality yeah and it's like
it's like We do the same thing, you and I, essentially,
we have our different challenges because of where
we play in the harmonic series. So our notes
are closer together. So we're our, our percentages
are. Right. Um, but I was talking to my students
about, if you think about, okay, I did gymnastics
when I was in high school, whatever. Didn't do
the balance beam because I hated the balance
beam because I always fell off, but I learned
a lot. And if you, if you look at how they teach
kids on the balance beam, they start with the
tape on the floor and it's all about centering.
Right. So. they start them with the tape and
they and they're doing all their cartwheels and
whatever they put them on one little beam that's
on the floor it's not raised up yet with mats
all around so if you fall sideways you're not
gonna hurt yourself and then they gradually raise
that as you but it's all about learning to stay
centered stay centered stay centered and if you
if you watch them in the olympics i mean it's
ridiculous what they do in four inches right
and they're flipping around and how they can
possibly land but it's all about that idea of
centering and if you think about that as a brass
player right then then the sides don't matter
Right? If you stay in the center of the sound.
So I try to get them to kind of think about that.
It's like, think about what to do, not what not
to do. Sure. So it's just trying to simplify.
And again, is it easy? No, but you can learn
to play with more ease by concentrating on what
it is you need to do. Does that make sense? Yeah,
absolutely. I tell my students that playing a
brass instrument is not difficult. It's tricky.
Yeah. Because it has its challenges. Yeah, it
has its challenges. But the challenges are largely
about like, understanding what you're trying
to do. It's not that those things are physically
difficult. Exactly. Because the better you're
playing, the easier it is. Right? Yeah. So it's
about figuring out what you're actually trying
to do and how you're trying to do it. And what
you're trying to hear. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's
what's tricky about it. But it's like, the better
you are, the easier it gets. Yeah. So and you
know, when you have success with a student and
you get them to sort of follow your your suggestions
of how to center and create the sound and things
that they're struggling with, all of a sudden
they can do and it's wonderful. And you say,
was that hard? Well, no, that was easy. There
you go. Yeah. You know, if it's hard, then you're
working against yourself. You're working against
the instrument in a way. So I use the analogy
of like ball striking sports, baseball. tennis,
golf, anything like that. When like when you
hit the ball, when you strike the ball poorly,
you feel it in your hands. It feels bad. But
when you have a smooth, relaxed swing and you
hit it right in the sweet spot, it feels like
you've done no work and you get the best result.
Yeah. Yeah. We actually we actually studied the
intergame of tennis in my chamber music class
in university. That's the book by Timothy Galway,
Timothy Galway. And then it was sort of redone
later as the intergame of music buddies by Some
green, don't don't green, Dan green. Anyway,
it doesn't matter. We can't remember. And I read
both, but actually I think I got more out of
the inner game of tennis because it allows you
to draw your own analogies. Yes. Right. So you
make your own, your own connections. So I'm not
being told how to think about it. So, so I like
to use analogies a lot in my teaching actually,
cause I, I want kids to like all find out, are
they an artist or do they have a sport that they
like and try to sort of find something. that's
already familiar to them, that they do, that
they can relate and kind of make a connection
there because I think that's really, really valuable.
But even just getting people to listen. Sometimes
I just get them to play something again and just
listen to what you're doing or listen for something
and all of a sudden it changes and say, well,
what did you do differently? I don't know. You
listened, right? It doesn't really matter what
you did. the fact that your ears work and they're
so powerful. And if you connect that to your
musical thought, and if you connect that to your,
well, in our case, our wind, I guess I use that.
It does magical things like fairy dust. It really
is. It really is. And yeah, I mean, the more
I think about music and the more I teach, the
more I realize that the big picture is the most
important thing. I mean, it sounds obvious, right?
But we get so stuck in the weeds of playing our
instrument and learning specific music and all
these things that it becomes easy to lose sight
of sort of like the grand art of it all. Right.
The larger shapes and meanings that we're trying
to sort of build and convey. It's so backwards
to think that way, because when we have a clear
understanding of that, we have a clearer picture
in our head of what the end goal is, what we're
actually trying to do. All those other things
fall into place much more easily. Yeah. Yeah.
Our brains. Think are more able to connect the
dots. Yeah, we have a clearer sense of what the
whole picture is times when you're practicing
something for for a concert and it's just a slog
and you just can't quite and then you put it
in context and you played in rehearsals like
oh Now I now I understand how I need to do this
to make this work or some maybe it's something
collective energy that kind of carries you or
It's it's a really interesting concept, but it's
you know, and it's the same thing when we listen
to auditions Right? You know, you can really
tell if the person playing is playing with the
music in their head, like they know what their
role is in the certain excerpt that they're playing.
Yeah. And the color and the style and all those
kinds of, and you know that, and conversely,
you can tell when somebody is just playing notes.
Right. You know, they can play beautiful notes,
they can play right notes, but they're not playing
the music. They're not playing the music in context
that are with an understanding of. what it needs
to be. Yeah. And this is such a hard thing to
convey to students. It's so hard. Well, I remember
I did a summer program, the Kent Blossom Festival,
working with members of the Cleveland Orchestra,
talking about context and understanding how excerpts
need to have context and we need to understand
how we fit. And we were doing, it was wonderful.
It was chamber music. There was only a few strains,
35 people in the program. And it was all chamber
music. There was just two horns. two of every
wind and then strings. And going to everybody
else's masterclass was really cool. Like learning
how other instruments conceive and execute. And
again, less like using the inner game of tennis,
but the inner game of violin playing, the inner
game of cello playing. Oh, okay. And I remember
doing a masterclass with John Mack, the oboist,
who was principal in Cleveland. fascinating guy
and just an amazing musician. And I was doing
Brahms' second, second movement. And I played
it and he's like, yeah, yeah, well, yeah, but
you got, you got to change color here. You got
to, well, and I was like, kind of liked him like
blankly because I was still a very young musician
at that point. And he said, well, do it again,
do it again, play it again. So I started playing,
and he started playing over my shoulder when
the oboe comes in. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And
I, I can, every, every time I think about that,
the hair on the back of my neck still goes up
because it was just like, he lifted me from,
from where I was playing notes to, to, to collaborating
in this amazing music. Brahms is one of my heart
composers, but I still remember that. It's so
funny. There's these little seminal moments that
you remember sometimes that just changed how
you viewed things. Yeah. He was, he was really
quite inspiring. Cool. Yeah. Well, speaking of
seminal moments, Heather, I wanted to ask you
about some highlights from your time here at
the CPO. What are the things that you will never
forget? What are the moments like that that stick
with you? My very first year I had to play with
Mario Bernardi. It was his last year. My first
year was his last year. First time I played Beethoven
9 here. And Kurt Kellum, our sadly recently departed
principal horn at the time. said, he's going
to, you're new, he doesn't trust you, so he's
going to ride you. And he certainly, he yelled
at me in rehearsal and took me to task and whatever.
And then I played it in the concert as he turned
purple in the face, Mario, not Kurt. And he actually
came up and came through the orchestra and gave
me a bow and kissed my hand. Oh, lovely. So that
was, that was pretty validating. Yeah. Just I
think any concert I played with Hans Graf still
is is one of the great joys of my life. I think
he's just the conductor I felt the most connected
to like viscerally connected to as far as musically
and emotionally and somebody always asked me
or people always asked me rather why we loved
him so much because he he wasn't visually from
the from the back he wasn't a very demonstrative
conductor in that way he wasn't into gyrations
and histrionics. But if you saw him from the
front, if you watched his face, I mean, I just
said, you know, he gives you his heart and asks
for yours in return. And you know that you can
trust him with it. Yep. You know, and he will
ask things that you, he always made me feel like
I could play better than I thought I could. And
somehow he knew that what he asked was possible.
So he always made us feel like we were better
than we were. And he's had a way of drawing that
out of us. So any, anytime we played with him,
I think is. is extraordinary, honestly. Oh, it's
wonderful. I still remember being on tour and
that when we played the music for Rhyme. I remember
my first note just coming out on the stage for
rehearsal for soundcheck, just going, wow, that
was pretty cool. And then I remember two other
things. I remember dumping my spit on the stage
and thinking, man, think of all the other horn
players. that I'm mingling spit with. Who else
has dumped their spit on this stage? It was a
really strange thought, but it was actually,
it actually was a thought. And then just these
beaten up old music, wooden music stands that
they had, it looks like a beaver had gotten after
them because they were all chipped and hacked
at. And I thought that was very strange for such
an illustrious concert hall to have these ready
old music stands. But anyway, that has nothing
to do with music, but it was just a, I just remembered
that. Well, in your 32 years here at the CPO,
usually I limit people to one. I try and limit
people to one, but since you're retiring, I want
to give you a chance to talk about the people
on stage who inspired you. I know you talked
a lot about Lori and she's, you know, like you
said, hand in glove for you, but who are some
of the other people? Jean Landa, our previous
principal, Oboe, who was principal here for a
long time, just one of the most glorious musicians
I've ever heard play. Some of the O's in the
repertoire I will always think of. of his performances,
the pinnacle. And it was, again, it wasn't a
technical thing. It was just a way he had of
being so expressive and so pure in what he did.
Kurt, the sound that Kurt could get out of a
horn was just check five. I think for me, for
him, was one of the pinnacle things that he did
that just was sort of like a, it's pretty hard
to surpass the way he played that. As far as
soloists go, the ones that I remember are those
ones that I feel like we played with, not for.
Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? So I think
of people like John Kamara Parker, who's very
much a collaborative soloist. He looks at us
and he reacts to what we're doing and he listens
to what we're doing. It's very much chamber music
-y when we play with him. We haven't played with
him for a while, but he's a wonderfully generous
musician, I think. And then just previously,
uh, last week or so, was it last week? Two weeks
ago. Two weeks ago, the Tchaikovsky concert with
Julian Rhee was, I thought, one of the most memorable
concerto performances we've done in a while.
And again, it was very collaborative. He was,
he, it was funny. I went out with, I had a friend
come out from Ontario because she wanted to see
a concert before I retired. And she brought a
friend with her. We went out after and talked
about it and, and they were just blown away.
And they said, it was like, he just like, he
was. there was no separation between him and
his instrument. And it was just so organic and
so much flow. And again, so much connection to
what the orchestra was doing. And it was really
extraordinary, I thought, in that way. Great.
Well, I have enjoyed listening to you perform
over all the years, Heather, and we're really
going to miss you. I know that you're deeply
respected by so many of your colleagues. Every
day at work, your attitude always reflects a
joy for what we're doing and such a care and
for the stewardship of what we're doing as performers
and educators in a way that I think keeps us
all on track. Well, that's very kind, Adam. Oh,
I think it's true. Well, I appreciate that. That's
that's very humbling. Well, we'll miss you, Heather.
Well, I will very much miss you guys. You're
such a huge part of my life and... Well, you
know where to find us, huh? Oh, I do. At the
bar. I know where you go after concerts. Oh,
boy. Well, thanks so much for chatting with me,
Heather. I really appreciate it. I know. It just
feels like we have way more to talk about, but
there you go. I'll see you at work tomorrow,
so we can continue this. We can. Thanks, Adam.
It's great to talk to you. Notes from the stage
is an independent production of the Calgary Philharmonic
Players Association. The opinions expressed here
are our own and do not reflect those of the Calgary
Philharmonic Orchestra. Our thanks to Nathan
Chandler for his technical expertise. The music
you heard on this episode was from the Beethoven
Sextet performed by Rosa Silvatica featuring
Laurie Matiation and Heather Wooten. We've got
something a little bit different planned for
the next show in two weeks. Talk to you soon!
you