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 Calgary Phil,
but today I'm your host and I'm here with Craig
Hutchinruther, member of the CPO's second violin
section. Hi Craig. How are you doing, Adam? Very
well, thanks. Thanks for sitting down with me.
It's a pleasure. You know, I was reflecting as
I was getting ready for this interview that we've
known each other as long as I've been in the
orchestra and. We've chatted backstage about
many things, but we've never really sat down
to have a proper talk. Well, it's about time.
Yeah, really. Hey. And, you know, for me, that's
one of the great joys of hosting this show is
that I get to, you know, spend time talking with
people who I work with, who I know, but I also
get to know my colleagues better. And it's nice
to have an excuse to do that. Well. From my perspective,
one of the pleasures is watching the turnover
in the orchestra and getting to know all the
new people that come in. Well, you have a lot
of practice meeting new people coming into the
organization, Craig. Yes. And, uh, I also like
to expand that to some of the, the stage techs
and the other people, invisible people that make
us go that aren't even technically part of the
CPO organization. That is a great point. They
are very important. It is their stage and, uh,
it is their job to look after us and put us in
the best possible light. That's absolutely true.
None of this happens without the people working
the stage, the people who are employed by the
facility, by the hall. Yes. That we are renting
as an organization because we don't own the hall.
Some orchestras do own their hall. We don't.
So we rely on those folks to make every concert
happen. You'll see them wearing all black, moving
things around on stage. Their work day starts
before ours and it ends well after. Absolutely.
They take such good care of us. I, you know,
I really enjoy them as people. Yep. And they're,
they're responsible for all sorts of, well, comfort
for one, you know, making sure everyone has the
chair they need, that things are in the right
place. Yes. But they're also responsible for
a lot of safety things that are critically important.
Absolutely. But everything from making sure people
don't fall off the edge of the stage to being
prepared to respond to medical emergencies. Did
you know that the, the, the old trope about is
there a doctor in the house? No, no, no, no.
The person you go to is the stage tech because
they have it all worked out how to respond to
different crises and when to call the ambulance
and when not to. They're real pros. They are
pros. Getting to know the people at work is great,
no matter if they're members of the CPO or people
outside the organization who are working with
regularly or only very occasionally. It's one
of the joys of the job is getting to know the
people. it is. They come in all types, shapes,
sizes. There are the introverts, the extroverts,
the introverted extroverts, and vice versa. I
really enjoy getting comfortable with all the
different personalities and points of view. I
wish a lot more people had the experience of
playing in an orchestra, you know, and knowing
what it is for the whole to be greater than the
sum of the parts. That's one of the things I
love about an orchestra or playing in a section.
It's not about me, it's about how does the section
fit together and how does our section fit in
with the rest of the orchestra. I mean, obviously,
everyone comes to a concert to hear the second
violins, but, you know, supported by the trumpet,
of course. You know, it all has to fit together.
A recent concert we did, the Berlioz Symphony
Fantastique, I was so impressed with the winds
and brass. We were loaded with extra musicians
due to illness and other contingencies. And they
sounded like a section. They sounded great. And,
uh, we are so fortunate to have good people that
can step in like that. Yeah. We rely so much
on our extras. I was actually during that concert,
I was looking around me and seeing the people
who were playing with me. And I realized I counted
and in the woodwind section and the back row
riser of brass that the trumpets and low brass,
there were 21 players and nine of them are, were
orchestra members. We rely incredibly heavily
on our extras and we thank them for their wonderful
artistry and their dedication and everything
that they give to this organization. Yes. And
then I listened to some of the other interviews
that you've done of our colleagues and I'm so
impressed with what they've done, what they are
doing, what they've accomplished and how beautifully
they play. I'm really quite nervous about my
own recording. It'll be rather humble in comparison.
Oh, I'm sure it'll be great, Craig. But that's
okay. Humility is part of the gig. Yeah, I think
you're right. And never pays to get too caught
up with oneself. Yeah, yeah. Well, Craig, just
before we started here, you were telling me that
the only position that you have not seen filled
in your time in the organization is the position
of librarian. You said Rob Grucock, our librarian,
is the only longer serving person in this organization
than you right now. Actually, when I arrived
on the scene here, Rob Grucock was playing in
the first violin section and I'm trying to remember
who succeeded in the librarian role, but shortly
thereafter he moved over to the librarian job.
But yeah, he's, uh, been with us probably got
to be about 50 years or so. Wow. I mean, talk
about invisible heroes of the orchestra. Oh yes.
Oh, the amount of work, like Rob is working now
on concerts that are months ahead. He's already
probably looking at things for next season. Yes.
As we record this, which is a bit earlier than,
uh, then you're hearing it like. The logistical
and scheduling prowess that has to go into that
job is huge. Yes, there's chasing down the music
beforehand, not always an easy thing, finding
the right edition, dealing with conductors who
don't like the edition that he got. Yeah. We've
been playing these Bruckner symphonies. Bruckner
editions are terribly confusing. So simply figuring
out what edition a conductor wants to perform.
can be a monumental task. Of course. Just think
of all the many different pieces we play in Pop's
concerts. If it's not a pre -packaged show, he
has to chase down all these things, some of which
are in our library, some of which are not. Is
it in the right key for the singer? And then,
of course, there's the never -ending task of
chasing down musicians to return the music to
the gods. I'm afraid I've been guilty of that
from time to time. My apologies, Rob. And then
there's the matter of bowings as well, right?
It's musicians who make the bowings, but it's
the librarian's job to get those bowings into
the parts. Yes. So he has to chase down the person
doing the bowings, get the bowings from them.
And then there it's. hours and hours of transcribing
these bowings into each individual part. And
it's a monumental job. So how long have you been
in the orchestra now, Craig? I think this is
year 48. Wow. Yes. That is a big number. Congratulations.
Yeah. Um, one of my ambitions has been to make
the CPO strike a 50 year pin. You know, we get
pins to commemorate certain anniversaries. I
think they start at 20 years and 25 and 30. Uh,
I don't think anyone's ever gotten a 50 year
pin. Okay. Well, we'll see. I mean, if you've
made it this far, Craig, I wouldn't bet against
you. Well, we'll see. Father time is undefeated.
Yes. We should all be so lucky as to have a career
as long as we want it to be. So Craig, one thing
that I know we do have in common, we both went
to CIM, the Cleveland Institute of Music. Oh
yes. Cleveland is a wonderful school, or it was
back in my day. I know they've been on hard times
lately and unfortunate decisions. But, uh, university
circle in Cleveland is like this Oasis. There's
the art museum there. There's case Western reserve
university. And, uh, the school itself was pretty
good when, uh, when I went and I'm sure when
you went to, and I studied, my major teacher
was David Sarone, but I also learned so much
from the, the faculty who were drawn. in large
part from the Cleveland Orchestra. And I have
fond memories of Bernard Goldschmidt, who was
the principal second violin of the Cleveland
Orchestra and someone who had served under George
Zell, taught a lot about how to play in an orchestra.
And those are lessons I've carried with me through
my entire career. there's a lot more to it than
just being a good violinist. Any words of advice
to pass along to a younger generation who might
be hearing this, who hasn't necessarily had the
chance to hear that particular sort of pedagogy?
Well, some of the basics, of course, rhythm and
intonation grow from the ground up. Listen to
the basses, the timpani, the tuba, and base a
lot of it on that. Blends, blends, blends. Yeah.
You're part of a section, hopefully not a collection.
Sure. You know, as, as an observer of the string
section, you know, of course in the brass section,
we're, we're playing solo parts all the times.
We don't operate in quite the same way, but as
someone who hears the string section of our orchestra
every day at work, one of the main indicators
to me of how a conductor is doing. is how the
string section is blending. Because when a conductor
is indicating what they want in such a way that
people can understand it across the board, only
then can that unification really start. You can
have as great principles at the front of the
orchestra as you want. But if the conductor isn't
giving the players what they need to know what
the goal is together, then there's not really
a chance of it sounding together and blended
and beautiful. This is very true. There have
been times when I suspect the principles will
take the bit in the teeth and lead in the absence
of leadership from the podium. It's unfortunate
when that happens, but we have a responsibility
to our audience to present a good show and a
moral responsibility to the composer. It doesn't
matter if they've been dead for 300 years, you
still want to present their intentions with integrity.
It's an interesting job. There are so many compromises
in different ways. You know, we're all highly
trained and we're all taught to play a certain
way. And this is how you do this. And this is
how you do that. Uh, by the time you get here,
a lot of that doesn't matter anymore. What matters
is how we do things here in Calgary. Sure. And
it doesn't matter what the concert masters of
Cleveland orchestra did. Our concert master is
Diana Cohen. We need, she's the concert master
we have. We need to do things the way she wants
them to be done. You know, the principal second
has a lot to say about how we play in our section.
And regardless of what we think, they're the
boss. You do it. In some ways, this is such a
contrast to how we live, you know, everyone likes
to be free, but we work in a dictatorship. Yeah,
I think - To a large degree. I think that that's
one way to think of it. The way I like to think
of it is that with a really effective leader,
be it a section principal, or a conductor or
a concertmaster, I think the ideal feeling at
work is not that there's a leader and everyone
else is following, but that we're flying in formation
together. If you ever go to an air show and see
the snowbirds, there's one person at the front
of that echelon, but everyone up there is the
most highly qualified person that you could imagine.
And everyone's on the same page. And I think
that's... how things can work in an orchestra
at the best of times. At the best of times, yes,
absolutely. And this is not exactly the same
for all the sections. Once again, with a good
conductor, the solo parts like the, for example,
a principal trumpet will be given considerable
leeway to do their thing. And rightly so. In
a section, you're more of professional sheep.
If each of us goes our own way then we have chaos.
So there's an art to learning how to do the group
think. Okay I'm sitting in with a section today
so I have to think a certain way and know that
this is how the section responds. It takes a
while for a section to gel. I can tell when we've
added let's say two or three new members to a
section, like a violin section, because there
is a bit of a disunity, uh, for a while until
people adjust. And, uh, that's one of the fascinating
things about having been here so long. Sure.
And, you know, I think another thing that can
make a really big difference, of course, is a
music director, right? Like the conductors who
we see all the time shape so much about the orchestra.
just like when there's a new player in the section
where they have to kind of recalibrate. You've
seen many music directors in this orchestra over
your years, and I'm sure that with each of them,
there's sort of a time when you're trying to
figure out, oh, how is this collaboration going
to work? How are we going to do this together?
Absolutely. The changeover from one music director
to the next can be huge. You have to start afresh
each time with an open mind. You know, this is
the music director we have, therefore we will
play a certain way. The best music directors
are the ones that delegate effectively, you know,
will give freedom to the principals and give
responsibility to the principals to help your
section play together. Well, you've spent your
time in the CPO blending in the section. On the
side, for a long time, you were doing something
quite different. You spent many years as concert
master of the Calgary Civic Symphony. Yes, I
did. Oddly enough, there were two reasons why
I did this. There was a period of my time when
I was suffering horrendously from stage fright.
And you might think, how is this? You're, you're
in the middle of a violin section on the second
violins. But it was true. I would be getting
on stage and shaking in my boots. And one of
the ways of getting over that is by repeated
exposure, especially repeated successful exposures,
so that you learn not to fear the situation.
So I put myself out there. I accepted the job
to be concertmaster of the Calgary Civic Symphony.
having to play solos and do concert master things,
uh, it was a real trip. Uh, it's a totally different
way of, of interacting with the orchestra than
being in the section. Just remembering who's
supposed to lead this. Oh my goodness. It's me.
Uh, and you know, what are all the concert master
things you have to do? Even the choreography
at the top of the concert. When do you stand?
When do you do this? When do you do that? I must
say the Calgary Civic is a wonderful bunch of
people and I greatly enjoyed my time with them
and nothing to say except good things about them.
They grew remarkably under the time that I was
there and especially since Ralph Birch has been
there. It grew from a situation where I had to
scrounge around for violinists around town to
fill out a section to having the luxury of being
able to audition prospective members. Now, just
for people out there, the Calgary Civic Symphony
is a community orchestra. It's non -professional
musicians, members of the community who love
doing it and they show up and they make time
in their schedules on their evenings and weekends
to play in an orchestra. So they're there because
they love it. Yes. And many of them are quite
accomplished. Some of them actually show up on
the CPO stage as extra musicians. So the level
of dedication is remarkable. It's one of our
colleagues said to me, they do the same things
that you and I do, except they can do something
else too. Yeah. Craig, well, I think that that's
really. Amazing that you identified that feeling
of not being comfortable on stage and you took
the bull by the horns and found a way to look
it in the eye and take charge of that situation.
That takes a lot of courage. That's really admirable.
Well, it was either that or find something else
to do. And I can't imagine anything else I want
to do, to be honest. Uh, at least nothing that
I could get into at this stage of life. So I'm
glad I did it. And, uh. I hope they're glad I
did it. So when you're not working, when you're
not playing the violin, I only really know one
thing about what you do outside of work, which
is that you are a dog lover. Oh, yes. I remember
our first dog, Shirley, brought home this older
border collie, and it was a surprise to me. Her
hairdresser was fostering this dog who needed
a home. And Shirley was immediately smitten with
Trixie, who came pre -named. I didn't know that
Shirley was going to bring her home. Actually,
Shirley didn't know either. She said to me, well,
this doc needs a home. And, uh, and I was wondering
if how would you would feel about this. And Trixie
looked up at me with her big brown eyes and I
could hear the theme from Romeo and Juliet happening.
And I said to her, yeah, she's not going anywhere.
That's so lovely. Yeah. And what we found. Okay.
Our current dog, Colin is the youngest one we
ever took in. He was three years old at the time,
but we've taken in, uh, mainly border Collies
who were eight years plus. And the advantages
are they're already trained. Uh, you don't have
to, to house train them. There are silly years
are past them, but they're still energetic. Uh,
remember Harley used to have the best time, uh,
kicking the ball around out in the backyard.
What's interesting. People are always afraid
that, uh, you'll, they'll come in with bad habits.
I haven't found that to be true. If you bring
them into a calm space, they will be calm themselves.
Yeah, they really mirror your energy like children
do as well. Yes. So, um, yes, there are the times
when Colin will, will bark out the window and,
and we get a daily announcement about the letter
carrier. As do we. Yes. Uh, well, you know, you
think about it, it works. They bark every day
and every day this evil letter carrier is driven
off and the family is safe once again. Exactly.
Positive reinforcement. Yes. Sometimes I'll give
into temptation and I'll just go look out the
window with them and bark at stuff with them.
I mean, it certainly seems cathartic. Yes. It's,
it's good for a laugh sometimes. Absolutely.
So aside from personnel change at the CPO, you've
seen a lot of institutional change over your
time here, like. When you started, the CPO was
playing at the Jubilee. That was our main hall
because the Jack Singer didn't exist. That's
correct. I remember when I first came to Calgary,
driving out here looking in the AMA guidebook
to read up on Calgary. And it talked about the
Jubilee as being one of the most acoustically
perfect concert halls in the world. Then I got
here and discovered the reality. Playing in the
Jubilee is a very dry acoustic. It's really much
better suited to amplified music. And it's compromised
to try and do many different things. It has a
big overhead loft which is designed to deal with
stage, scenery, ballet, opera. All sorts of things
and a lot of sound gets lost up there. Also,
the fan shape of the auditorium is not the best
for acoustical music. Really, the experience
of playing on that stage is like having the sound
roll off the edge of the stage and disappear
into a black hole. What this leads to as an orchestral
musician is trying to force to make sound. very
bad idea. The rehearsal hall is up a level, and
at that time there was no freight elevator. So
everyone with large instruments, the tuba, the
basses, had to carry their instruments up these
stairs. And to make matters worse, the percussion
instruments. For a while I had a side job moving
percussion instruments around. Up and down the
stairs. Up and down the stairs. Uh, the chimes,
the, the timpani, the, the worst is actually
the Celesta. Oh yeah. It was so heavy. Yes. And
so at one point we had the music director convinced
that no, the Celesta has to stay down on the
stage because it'll go out of tune if you move
it up and down. Now I didn't know that the conductor
actually bought that, but at the very least he
understood what was behind it because that was
awful. And so when we moved into the Jack Singer
concert hall. Oh my goodness. Just the, first
of all, you could play with ease. So gone is
this, this sense of having to force, you can
just play and even the softest. notes that you
play will be heard in the back of the house.
The applause, that's another difference. You
know, with the jubilee, the applause is like
a distant rumor. With the Jacksinger, it's like
standing outside in a warm rainstorm in the summer.
It's really amazing. Of course, that means we
can hear everything from the audience too. Yeah,
the superior acoustic goes both ways. Yes, all
the cell phones, all the candy wrappers, et cetera.
But I love playing in Singer Hall. I do too.
It's a real treat. I've played a lot of concert
halls. Yes. And they don't get much better than
this. No. That's been one of the treats. And
while we do still play at the Jubilee sometimes,
it's now a There's an elevator. It's a fully
accessible modern workplace, which is a big improvement.
And those concerts also tend to be amplified,
which is appropriate. Amplification is less good
in the jack because it's designed to be an acoustical
workspace. It was designed for us. The Jubilee
has good functions. The jack has good functions
and I think serves us very well. Absolutely.
That was a really good day for the the CPO when
we moved into Singer Hall. Craig, there's one
other story that you had mentioned on your way
in today that you wanted to make sure you had
a chance to tell. So tell me about the time that
the CPO played at the Spyhill Jail. Oh yes, the
great Spyhill Penitentiary Breakout. Now at the
time it was kind of a minimum security jail.
We sat up and played in the gym. and the residents
was all seated in folding chairs. The conductor,
I remember, at some point during the concert,
one of the guards came up to him and whispered
in his ear, tugged on his sleeve, whispered in
his ear, and there was a cut off from the conductor.
And the concert stopped. It turns out that...
at least eight of the inmates had taken the opportunity
to duck out the bathroom window. I hadn't thought
we were playing that badly. We had to wait there
for a little bit while they did a head count.
So for a while, we too were imprisoned in the
Spy Hill Penitentiary. But what I found really
fascinating about this is that of the people
that escaped, one would have been out in two
days anyway. None of them would have been there
longer than two weeks. And the police recaptured
them mainly by going and setting them up outside
their homes and just picking them up as they
came back. So. a real head scratcher as to how
all that came to be and why. But one of the more
remarkable things that's happened in our history.
Yeah, they must have really disliked Rossini.
I think so. Boy, oh boy. That's great to hear
these stories, Craig. I think that... I think
with all the busyness of playing in an orchestra
and running an orchestra, I think it's easy to
forget about all this history, all these stories
that make up the institutional memory of the
CPO. I'm so glad to hear these firsthand accounts
and I hope that our listeners and maybe future
members of the orchestra will be able to hear
these stories too. Yes. Well, it's one that deserves
to be remembered. It's been fascinating watching
the evolution of this orchestra. Well, Craig,
you've had a lot of years here to hear a lot
of great playing on stage from your colleagues.
Who's someone who's really inspired you with
their playing on stage at the CPO over all these
years? You know, there are too many to name.
Too many great principal musicians, too many
great soloists. If I name one, I'm gonna... leave
out some others that deserve equal recognition.
Well, Craig, this is, unfortunately, this is
the assignment that I must give you. I enjoy
the work that our flute section does. I enjoy
Sarah, Han, Sunoko, her playing very much. And
I enjoy Gwen, both flute and piccolo. The two
of them work well together. Also, it doesn't
hurt that sometimes after particularly painful
piccolo parts, Gwen will distribute chocolates
to the second violins. That's very fair. Yes,
because often the second violins are right next
to the piccolo. Yes. Well, you get it one way
or the other. On one side of the stage, you've
got the the the rowdies and the brass section.
Yeah. And on the other side, you've got the piccolo
and the percussion. Well, Craig, thank you so
much for sitting down with me. I've really enjoyed
this chat. It's nice to finally have an excuse.
Yes. To have a real chat with you. Thanks for
being on the show. Well, thank you for having
me and thank you for doing this. I think this
is an important project, partly in terms of keeping
alive the institutional knowledge of the CPO.
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 the gig from Bach's Partita
in E major and A Shoken Farewell by J. Unger,
performed by Craig Hutchinruther. On our next
episode in two weeks, I'll be talking with principal
timpanist Alex Cohen. Talk to you soon.