The New York Flute Club N E W S L E T T E R March 2004 The Flute in Opera: Three Inside Views Interview by Katherine Fink his interview reflects the fascinating differences between our first chair opera flutists, not only in the way they think about their careers, but also in the way the interviews were conducted. Michael Parloff responded by email in a rich and elo- Tquent narrative, Trudy Kane invited me to her home and fed me a delicious brunch, and Bart Feller gave a phone inter- view. The hardest part for me was to condense three fantastic commentaries into one. I encourage you to seek out these artists at the Flute Fair to hear more of their highly entertaining anecdotes.

KF: Trudy and Michael, how old were you when you got the job at the Met? Did you encounter difficulties because of your youth? MP: I was 24 when I joined the Met Orchestra in 1977. At that time the flute BART FELLER TRUDY KANE MICHAEL PARLOFF section had recently been transformed from four men with an average age of In Concert about 60 to a group of still-wet-behind- Sunday, March 14, 2004, 5:45 pm the-ears twenty-somethings. Undoubt- edly, it was strange for some of the older LaGuardia Concert Hall members of the orchestra to have young LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts men and, particularly, young women 100 Amsterdam Avenue (at 65th Street) heading up their sections. Interestingly, some of the “youngsters” from the class Program of ’77 have already started to retire. It Rigoletto Fantasy for two flutes and piano...... Albert Franz Doppler may be a cliché, but it’s sobering to Michael Parloff and Bart Feller, flutes; Ken Noda, piano realize how quickly we progress from one side of the generational divide to Two Poems of Ronsard, Op. 26 ...... Albert Roussel the other. Bart Feller, flute; Theodora Hanslowe, mezzo soprano TK: Youth and gender posed fewer Sonata in A Major, Op. 13 ...... Gabriel Fauré problems because Karen Griffen, who was the piccoloist at that time, had Transcribed and edited for flute by Trudy Kane Trudy Kane, flute; Peter Wittenberg (Cont’d on page 5) Après Un Rêve ...... Gabriel Fauré I N T H I S I S S U E Trudy Kane, flute; Peter Wittenberg

Cantata No. 209 ...... J.S. Bach The Flute in Opera: Theodora Hanslowe, mezzo-soprano; Bart Feller, flute; Linda Mark, piano Three Inside Views ...... 1 Interview by Katherine Fink XXV Opera Snatches for solo flute ...... William Schuman From the President ...... 2 Bart Feller, flute A Day at the Opera Member Profile ...... 3 Lucia’s Mad Scene from Act III of Carol Weinstein Lucia di Lammermoor ...... Gaetano Donizetti Lyubov Petrova, soprano; Michael Parloff, flute; Ken Noda, piano Announcements Flute Happenings ...... 3 Classified ...... 4 Free to members and those with Flute Fair badges; $10 at the door for all others. Flute Fair Update ...... 4 Program subject to change. Call for Members’ New CDs ...... 7 2 — NYFC Newsletter A Day At the Opera by Jayn Rosenfeld

THE NEW YORK FLUTE CLUB INC. arcel Moyse was the “Father of Us All,” or of at least 2003–2004 many of us. Georges Barrère firmly established the M French school in America when he played in the Board of Directors New York Symphony. But Moyse taught us what it entailed, Jayn Rosenfeld, President how to do it. His particular slant on it arose, I believe, from Ardith Bondi, First Vice President two influences. One, he always said that he was not a Katherine Fink, Second Vice President “natural” flutist, and therefore he had to work consciously, Svjetlana Kabalin, Recording Secretary with clear goals in mind, to reach the level that he could George Kimmel, Membership Secretary From the President imagine. Two, he played first flute for many years before James Blair, Treasurer the war (WWII) in the Paris Opera Orchestra and had the Nadine Asin Rie Schmidt occasion to hear the great singers of his day. The material Rochelle Itzen Patricia Spencer remnant of this is his book Tone Development through Interpretation, which is Sue Ann Kahn Stefani Starin a collection of opera tunes, arias, intermezzi and selected short works by opera Robert Langevin Nancy Toff composers. We can imagine what he heard in the pit, many nights, good and bad, Barbara H. Williams and since he was very susceptible and loved opera and loved good singing, he absorbed and applied the lessons to be learned there. The chief focus of his book Advisory Board is expressivity, not just musicality, but communication the way the human voice Jeanne Baxtresser Gerardo Levy does it. He wanted the flute to sound like a voice, and this is why he used opera Harold Jones Laurence Libin Marya Martin melodies, because one could copy exactly what one heard on the stage. This is a step beyond what we all think we’re doing when we play expressively, which is Past Presidents “sing”; this is mimicking the human voice, especially one highly trained in the Georges Barrère ...... 1920–1944 deeply emotional and passionate music of French and Italian opera. John Wummer ...... 1944–1947 Which brings me to our Flute Fair on March 14, A Day at the Opera. We are Milton Wittgenstein ...... 1947–1952 indebted to the flutists of the City Opera and the Metropolitan for showing up in Mildred Hunt Wummer ...... 1952–1955 a big way, and contributing their talents, skills and interests. Through the superb Frederick Wilkins ...... 1955–1957 Harry H. Moskovitz ...... 1957–1960 organization and imagination of our Program Chair, Kathy Fink, the flutists will Paige Brook ...... 1960–1963 highlight many aspects of the opera, the music and the flutist’s demanding Mildred Hunt Wummer ...... 1963–1964 excerpts, the techniques of playing in an orchestra with singers, audition tech- Maurice S. Rosen ...... 1964–1967 niques, and the special world of the piccoloist. I am particularly happy that we Harry H. Moskovitz ...... 1967–1970 will have some singers performing with our flutists. You may hear what inspired Paige Brook ...... 1970–1973 Eleanor Lawrence ...... 1973–1976 Marcel Moyse, and hear the power and huge appeal of the human voice. I hope Harold Jones ...... 1976–1979 you will be tempted to attend an opera in the near future to use your new Eleanor Lawrence ...... 1979–1982 perspectives. Paige Brook ...... 1982–1983 An anecdote to end: I was once playing La Bohème, a familiar and much John Solum ...... 1983–1986 beloved old chestnut, at the Garden State Arts Center, a matinee, and there were Eleanor Lawrence ...... 1986–1989 Sue Ann Kahn ...... 1989–1992 two older ladies sitting behind my husband in the audience. One read the synop- Nancy Toff ...... 1992–1995 sis of each act to the other, quite audibly, before it started. Before the third act, all Rie Schmidt ...... 1995–1998 of a sudden, my husband reported, the reader gasped in amazement and said in a Patricia Spencer ...... 1998–2001 startled, pained tone, “I can’t believe it. She dies!” Would that we all could be so Jan Vinci ...... 2001–2002 involved in the stage dramas of the human heart. ❑ Newsletter Have a wonderful time at our Opera Fair! Katherine Saenger, Editor 115 Underhill Road Ossining, NY 10562 (914) 762-8582 [email protected] Raffle! BE SURE TO ENTER the Alice Barmore, Layout/Production Flute Fair Raffle to win a flute lesson with one 125 Christopher St., #4H of New York’s premier flutists: New York, NY 10014 (212) 675-9706 (phone and fax) Trudy Kane, Michael Parloff or Bart Feller. [email protected] $5 for one ticket or 5 tickets for $20. All proceeds www.nyfluteclub.org help support the New York Flute Club. Copyright © 2004 by The New York Flute Club Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. March 2004 — 3

FLUTE Member Profile College of Agriculture and Life Sci- HAPPENINGS ences), MD (SUNY Buffalo). FREE to current NYFC members, this section lists upcoming performances by members; flute-related Carol Weinstein contests, auditions, and masterclasses organized/ NYFC member since 2000 Most notable and/or personally satisfying sponsored by members; and brief descriptions of members’ new recordings, sheet music, and accomplishment(s): Professional: Her books. Send submissions to the Newsletter Editor. psychiatry residency at NY Hospital- Employment: Physician Cornell Medical Center, Westchester O C TMARCH O B E R 2 0 0 2 practicing psychiatry privately and in a ’04 Division, and subsequent employment hospital in Westchester. Saturday 4:00 pm as associate director of a Psych ER in the March Bronx. Personal: starting to play the flute 6 “The Scandinavian Flute,” a A recent recital/performance: Two fall program of music by Roman, (2003) semester concerts at the Mannes again as an adult and getting over the stage Sveinsson, Kuhlau, Saariaho, and Grieg School of Music, as part of a chamber fright she had in high school; becoming featuring Svjetlana Kabalin of the Sylvan music class she took. The pieces per- certified in scuba diving. Winds. formed were two flute/violin/piano trios: • Victor Borge Hall, Scandinavia House, 58 Favorite practice routines: For technique Park Avenue, NYC • Admission: $20 • Info, Deux Interludes (Ibert) and Madrigal and tone: scales and harmonics; for tone: at 212-222-3569 or [email protected]. Sonata (Martinu). sometimes the 2nd movement of Bach’s Saturday 5:30 pm Career highlight(s): In high school, play- Sonata No. 1 in B minor, focusing on not March ing Chaminade’s Concertino with a summer forcing the air. For embouchure: rabbit 13 Flute Cocktail: A Flute Quartet with exercises from Jan Vinci and buzzing members Amy Ziegelbaum, community band on Long Island; in Lauren Ausubel, Jordan Vogel, and Helen college, playing with the Cornell Wind exercises from Keith Underwood. She Richman, will perform as winners of the Ensemble. More recently, her performances likes to sight-read something in each Artists International Chamber Music Competi- practice. For ongoing pieces, she practices tion. Program to include works by Debussy, in the 2002 and 2003 NYFC Ensemble Massenet, Boismortier, Dubois, and Rimsky- Program concerts at the Kaplan Space at slowly, often with a metronome. Daily Korsakov plus world premiere of Steven Carnegie Hall. Also, staying in the Juilliard practice is a goal, but she occasionally Rosenhaus’s In the Cave of Aeolus. dorms and attending Jeanne Baxtresser’s misses a day due to her work schedule • Weill Recital Hall, 154 West 57th Street (at masterclass in 2001 (her first masterclass and fear of waking the neighbors! 7th Avenue), NYC • Admission $22 • Info, 212-247-7800. ever), then performing in Julius Baker’s Interests/hobbies: Chamber music with masterclass later that summer. Saturday 8:00 pm friends and family (who include flutists, March Current flute: Haynes 14k gold flute with pianists, and violinists); spending time 20 Sue Ann Kahn, flute, in “Mozart with her two very attention-seeking Bengal and More,” a concert featuring the silver keys, A=442. Mozart quartets for flute and strings, kittens. Computer and other electronic Takemitsu’s Toward the Sea, and George Influential flute teachers: In high school, gadgets, reading, and getting away to Rochberg’s Serenata d’estate. With Eriko Sato, Les Scott and Eleanor Lawrence. As an warm places as often as possible. She’d violin, Ronald Carbone, viola, Alex Kouguell, adult: Harold Jones (who taught her great like to find a local serious amateur or cello, Oren Fader, guitar, and Jian Liu, harp. techniques for practicing difficult passages • Concert Hall, Mannes College of Music, 150 semiprofessional orchestra or chamber West 85th Street, NYC • Admission is free. and also made playing fun) and Baroque music group to play with. flutist Sandra Miller (who got her to prac- Saturday 8:30 am to 6 pm tice intonation by playing with a tuning Advice for NYFC members: For students March and adult amateurs: “Play in or audit a 27 Drew University Music Department note). Brief masterclasses with Brad Garner presents The Tenth Annual NJ Flute and Gary Schocker were exciting; week- summer masterclass; you can hear the Choir Day “Flûtes Extraordinaires.” Guest long masterclasses and follow-up lessons top flutists in the world teach and you artist Gary Schocker, directed by Dr. Virginia with Jan Vinci and Keith Underwood can really learn a lot about how to fix Schulze-Johnson, coached by members of UpTown Flutes and guests. Concert at 4 pm. helped her embouchure and tone a lot, your playing!” For everyone: “Take advantage of being here in NY near • Grace Episcopal Church, 4 Madison Ave, though she thinks her need for more Madison, NJ • Info, call Virginia Schulze- work will be a permanent condition! some of the best musicians in the world. Johnson at 973-408-3428. I love the NY Philharmonic’s chamber High school: Valley Stream South High music series at Merkin (especially the Monday 1:00 pm School, in Valley Stream, NY. ones with flute), and the NY Philhar- March 29 The “Concerts at One” series will monic and (espe- present Duo Essence with Helen Degrees: BS in biology with a concentra- cially for the flute solos!). And come to Richman, flute, and Jenny tion in genetics (Cornell University’s the NY Flute Fair—it’ll be great!” ❑ Mitchell, piano. Works by Beaser, Caplet, Mompou, Honegger, Piazzolla, Gryc, Glück, Bartok, and Vaughan Williams. • St. Paul’s Chapel, Fulton Street at Broadway, NYC • Admission is free. Info, visit www.trinitywallstreet.org/music. 4 — NYFC Newsletter

FLUTE HAPPENINGS It’s Here! COME ONE, COME ALL on Sunday, March 14 to the NY Flute Fair 2004, held this O C T OAPRIL B E R ’04 2 0 0 2 year at the LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts, 100 Amsterdam Avenue (at 65th). Please check Thursday 8:00 pm April our website, www.nyfluteclub.org, for more information. 8 The Sylvan Winds with Svjetlana Kabalin, flute, will appear as part CONCERTS EVENTS of the “Cutting Edge” concert series in a program including works and talks by composers Oteri, Shatin, Zannoni, and Deak. STUDENT FLUTE ENSEMBLE SHOW- WAKE–UP CALL! with Gerardo Levy • Greenwich Music House, 46 Barrow Street, CASE 9:00am, LaGuardia Concert Hall NYC • Admission: $15 general, $10 students/ 1:00–2:30pm, LaGuardia Concert Hall Warm up for the day with NY City Opera seniors • Info, call 212-242-4770. This is a wonderful showcase for our flutist Gerardo Levy. Learn his secrets of longe- younger performers. The concert features vity and beautiful tone in this warm-up session. Saturday 8:00 pm student flute ensembles from NY area April music schools. For more information FLUTE CHOIR READING 10 Palisades Virtuosi with Margaret contact Stefani Starin: 845-358-2759 or 9:30–11:00am, LaGuardia Concert Hall Swinchoski, flute, will perform [email protected] works by Fauré, Debussy, Dutilleux, Ravel, All warmed up and nowhere to go? Stay for along with the world premiere of the newly the Annual Flute Choir Reading Session commissioned Three Scenes from the ANNUAL COMPETITION FINALS hosted by Flute Force and directed by Mountains by Robert Manno. 3:30–4:30pm, LaGuardia Theater Rochelle Itzen. This year’s mini-concert by • Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, 113 Cottage The annual NYFC competition for flutists Flute Force features the world premiere of Place, Ridgewood, NJ • Admission: $15 ages 18-27 is open to the public and will Trudy Kane’s quartet arrangement of music general; $12 students/seniors • Info, call 201- be held in two parts. [The preliminary from Bizet’s Carmen. Bring all your flutes 836-1124 or 201-488-1149 or visit round is free and open to the public from and reading glasses for this exciting entr’acte. www.palisadesvirtuosi.org. 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday, March 13, at Kaplan Space in Carnegie Hall, entrance at 161 West 56th Street. Because of Carnegie MASTERCLASSES Flute Happenings Deadlines Hall security policy, names of all who Issue Deadline Mail date attend must be given to Patricia Zuber at OPERA OVERVIEW and AUDITION April 2004 03/11/04 04/01/04 May 2004 04/01/04 04/22/04 [email protected] prior to March 13.] STRATEGY with Bart Feller The finalists will perform at 3:30pm on 11:15am–12:45pm, LaGuardia Concert Hall the day of the fair. The winners will be Newly appointed principal flutist of the NYC announced at the Artists’ Concert at 5:45 Opera, Bart Feller offers a two-part discussion. and will present a joint recital at CAMI Flutists Karen Griffen of the Metropolitan C L A S S I F I E D Hall. For more information contact Patricia Opera and Gerardo Levy of NYC Opera will Zuber, [email protected] share highlights of their incredible opera NEW CD by Petina Cole. Works for careers as well as some of the colorful history Flute By People I Know, a diverse col- ARTISTS’ CONCERT with Bart Feller, of New York’s major opera companies. Then lection of classical and new age music Trudy Kane and Michael Parloff join Feller for his audition strategy session to by living composers, for flute with other 5:45pm, LaGuardia Concert Hall learn how to maximize your audition efforts. instruments. “…a CD unlike anyone This concert will feature NYC’s principal else’s, and one that is refreshing to lis- opera flutists, singers Theodora Hanslowe PICCOLO! with Stephanie Mortimore ten to.”—composer Katherine Hoover. 11:15am–12:15pm, LaGuardia Theater Info/sound clips and purchase, visit the and Lyubov Petrova, with pianists Linda Mark, Flute Fair exhibits or cdbaby.com/petina. Peter Wittenberg and Ken Noda in an unusual Metropolitan Opera piccoloist Stephanie concert of varied solo and ensemble Mortimore offers a master class on piccolo Members may advertise in this section for $10 for works. Each artist offers a unique musical technique and tone. up to 320 characters/spaces. Your ad should be submitted by hard copy or email. Name and phone viewpoint in literature of Bach, Donizetti, number are required. Deadline is the same as for Fauré, Roussel and Schumann. INTERPRETING THE ROMANTIC MAS- Flute Happenings submissions. Ads must be paid TERS with Trudy Kane for in advance. Make checks payable to the New 12:30–1:30pm, LaGuardia Theater York Flute Club and mail to the Newsletter Editor. All programs and schedules subject to Metropolitan Opera principal flutist Trudy Kane change. will coach the sonatas of Carl Reinecke and Cesar Franck with intriguing interpretive insights. EXHIBITS OPERATIC ORCHESTRAL REPERTOIRE 9:00am-5:30pm, Band Rooms— NYFC TABLE—NY Flute Club members in with Michael Parloff Flutemakers, publishers, and other members good standing may offer for sale a total of 1:45–2:45pm, LaGuardia Theater of the music industry will exhibit their 10 items per member (CDs or publications) Metropolitan Opera principal flutist Michael products. This is an ideal opportunity to at the NYFC table in the exhibit rooms. Parloff explores the major operatic shop for new and used instruments, music, Bring items to the table for price labels and solo flute repertoire with special recordings, and other flute-related items. Also inventory record, and pick up unsold items attention to contextual and visit the NYFC table for recordings and by 5 pm on March 14. The NYFC will take programmatic elements. ❑ publications by NY Flute Club members. a 20% commission to support its programs. March 2004 — 5

THREE VIEWS, (Cont’d fom page 1) TK: I did sit next to Jimmy Politis for ever survives this job. I now can attest to already been there for two years. In 1976, a little while. He was a very strong, the fact that one’s biorhythms make the Karen left and Jimmy Hosmer retired as wonderful leader, and I learned an necessary adjustments. second flute. One audition was set up for enormous amount from him. There are BF: It’s been an exhilarating first season both positions and you could apply for still things that I remember about his at the opera, although I feel like a house either position, or both. I had been playing. Stylistic tradition was all around fell on me with so much brand-new subbing with the orchestra and knew that me and I was really struck by the literature to learn. My first performance I had a terrific reputation as a piccolo stretching of the music, which was of Lucia was with soprano Jennifer player. I also knew that there would soon new to me. It was a whole new way of Welch-Babidge, who was seven months be a principal flute opening and that if I making music, which I thought was just pregnant. She is a truly gifted actress as got into that piccolo chair at the Met, wonderful. well as singer and during the Mad Scene I would never get out of it. I auditioned MP: Many of the “Old School” conduc- she was totally in the acting zone and for both positions, stating my preference tors expected the musicians to have a truly “mad,” so giving any cues to me for the second flute, which I won. working knowledge of traditional with body language would have been Fortunately, I did win the principal flute phrasing mannerisms and to automati- inappropriate. I had to add mind-reading audition later that season. cally insert the unwritten pauses, to my opera “skill set.” In my first season fermatas, and rubatos. Some of these this was a real trial by fire! Every season KF: Talk about audition preparation in traditions could be rather extreme, and at the opera has some big solo flute general and if the process is different for it took a while for me to absorb them. moments, but to have Lucia, Carmen, an opera orchestra audition. Today, many conductors feel duty bound and Magic Flute in my first season has MP: The preparation process is essentially to cleanse the performances of such been quite amazing. the same: you learn the excerpts and take phrasing eccentricities, so the younger the audition. However, since there are players aren’t exposed to these traditions KF: Has your close work with singers fewer opera companies in the United as frequently. Many of my students changed your playing and teaching? States, American instrumentalists tend to thought I was putting them on when I MP: My teacher at Juilliard in the early grow up with less exposure to the major demonstrated the extreme kinds of rubato ’70s was Arthur Lora, who had spent operatic solos. My motivation in compil- that are customarily lathered onto the several seasons as principal flutist in the ing my volume of opera excerpts was to Mad Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor. Met Orchestra in the 1930s. His favorite create an annotated resource for flutists BF: I didn’t really know John Wion’s admonition was to “sing through the who want to study these beautiful but playing, so I have had to rely on my medium of the flute.” Now, after listen- relatively unfamiliar solos in depth. own instincts and learn as I go. The ing to, accompanying, and imitating the TK: It’s definitely different for the opera, biggest challenge lies in how little the world’s greatest singers for 27 years, I’m partly because the music is provided. opera rehearses. They don’t need a lot beginning to understand what he had in When I was taking symphonic auditions, of rehearsal because of their vast shared mind. The art of the best singers comes you had to know all the tutti passages for repertoire, but we “newbies” have to do out of deeply felt expressive impulses. all the symphonies. Because of this, I our homework, which means listening They express themselves directly from used to hate preparing for section auditions, to the entire opera CD many times. their emotional core, and that is a wonder- and found it easier to prepare for a princi- ful example for all instrumentalists. pal audition where you knew which solo KF: Describe your first experience on TK: From the greatest instrumentalist, parts would be asked for. The operatic the job. you won’t learn what you can from a style is also very different. I would TK: When Jimmy Politis became ill really extraordinary singer. There’s a way recommend studying with someone who during my first season, I was asked to fill of phrasing and timing and delivering plays opera to prepare your audition. in as principal flute. My first perfor- the music that we don’t think of because mance on principal flute came at the end our instruments are so limited. I do my KF: And go to the opera as well! of the third week of my first season. The best to communicate that in my teaching BF: Preparation for the opera audition opera was Il Trittico with James Levine and I find myself saying, “Phrase this was wildly different, because the reper- conducting. The principal oboist came like an opera singer,” or “Think of toire was brand new to me. This was the in, looked at me, and said, “What’s going Pavarotti here.” opposite experience of a symphonic on here?” It was very nerve-wracking. I BF: Every one of my teachers spoke audition. Instead of having to figure out knew it was important to do well, or I about listening to singers, singing the how to make the standard rep sound and would not be allowed to continue. At line, singing between the notes and feel fresh, I had to figure out how to play that point I was the only woman playing playing through the intervals. The new repertoire with conviction and principal in the orchestra. When they singing style and influence was so authority. So, it wasn’t about making it saw that I could handle the job well, deeply embedded in my training that it fresh, it was about “how does this go?”! they relaxed. took this opera experience to crystallize MP: My first opera was Mussorgsky’s those concepts. It’s been fun to discover KF: Tell me about the challenges of four-hour Boris Godunov. I distinctly how much vocally-oriented training I assuming a principal position. Did you remember stumbling over the finish line have actually had! preserve the traditional style of your at midnight and wondering how anyone (Cont’d on page 6) predecessor? 6 — NYFC Newsletter

THREE VIEWS, (Cont’d fom previous page) six hours. There have been many days more as a person. If things are not KF: How does flute playing relate to when I’ve played a three-and-a-half or working, they have the option of putting singing in areas such as vibrato, breath- four-hour rehearsal in the afternoon and down the baton and opening up the ing and phrasing? a four-hour opera in the evening. (We mouth. At the symphony, you play, and often joke that playing at the Met can bear then you talk. At the opera, you play MP: The flute is a naturally “vocal” a surprising resemblance to working for and then you play some more. instrument. The ways in which we a living.) You gradually learn how to pace breathe and support our air are very yourself. Frankly, the most important KF: Trudy and Michael, do you think similar to the ways in which singers asset for an opera orchestra musician that the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra support and phrase. I believe that (aside from a comfortable seat cushion) approaches symphonic literature in a hearing, accompanying, and imitating is a patient and understanding family. different way than a regular symphony great singers on a daily basis can have a orchestra? very positive influence on one’s playing. KF: Discuss the pros and cons of perform- MP: Playing opera develops rhythmic ing in a pit. TK: There was an article in Opera News flexibility, good listening and ensemble a few years ago with photos taken in a TK: The Met pit is a very rewarding skills, and an orientation towards master class of Joan Sutherland. I kept place to play because the acoustics are phrasing in a vocal manner. These skills the pictures of her breathing demonstra- fabulous. You can hear everything and transfer particularly well to symphonic tions to show to my students. You can the sound is wonderful. The down side repertoire by composers such as Strauss just look at the pictures and understand is that there is often not enough room, and Mahler, and, of course, to music how she breathes. The way of support- sometimes you can’t see, and you find involving solo singers and instrumental- ing is so special and as flutists we yourself sitting in very uncomfortable ists. It’s great fun, for instance, to play a sometimes forget. positions over the course of long operas. Mozart piano concerto with the MET The long hours add to the stress. There Orchestra and a great pianist. Our KF: There’s nothing like the posture of a are periods where we do very long collaborative orientation and our deep brilliant singer. operas three or four times a week, plus familiarity with Mozart’s operas inform TK: That’s right. You don’t see them rehearsals. That takes a toll. our interpretations in ways that I believe slouching over, which we tend to do are discernible to the audience. KF: Bart, could you characterize the when we hold up our heavy instrument TK: Some of the symphonic literature difference between the opera orchestra and have our arms in a very awkward comes from opera and certainly there’s and the symphony? position. It’s good to be reminded of that sense of freedom and style that one these things. The vibrato raises interest- BF: Every orchestra has its own style, can’t have without having played the ing questions. When you hear great culture, and way of doing business that opera. Take for instance the Song of the singers you don’t think about their evolves through the years. Having been Nightingale. When we do the opera vibrato. You just hear wonderful music a member of the New Jersey Symphony Nightingale, the big “flute solo” is sung. with the vibrato as part of the sound. for 15 years, I am very excited to work This was the original. Once I had heard I always work toward that in my own in a new place and discover how another it sung I could never play it the way I playing and with my students. orchestra deals with these elements. One had thought of it before. It’s completely particular difference is the way people different! KF: Speak about the physical and mental perform in each job. The opera musi- . demands of the opera schedule. How do cians perform five different operas each KF: Do you feel appreciated for your the long hours affect your life? week and are masters at pacing them- contribution to the whole opera produc- TK: This year I hired a physical trainer. selves and maintaining the same excel- tion or do you think that the audience is I asked her specifically to help me work lent standard from the beginning to the predominantly interested in the singers? end of the season. One has to be more on core strength, which is the area that TK: Twice in my first year I went to the flexible in the opera because there are we need most for breathing and which bank with my check and two different more variables. Playing in the pit is more suffers most from sitting all the time. In tellers looked at the check and looked collaborative and differs greatly from the midst of a very tiring schedule it is at me and said, “I really enjoyed your being on stage as the center of attention. difficult to get myself to the gym, but it playing.” I do get the occasional letter The Symphony performances are in the is an enormous help. I also make it a at the Met and people do come down span of a single week, and are more point to take a nap. If I don’t, 11 o’clock to say thanks. Conductors as a rule are intensely focused. To have four rehears- comes around, I’m too tired to think and wonderful and really appreciative, as are als for a Mozart program now seems the opera goes until midnight. It can be my colleagues, and I think that these are positively luxurious. difficult. As for my personal life, the the most valuable things. The critics hours are extraordinary and take an don’t mention us, but that’s the way it is. enormous amount of mental and KF: Is the relationship different with the physical strength. You don’t have much conductor in the opera and the symphony? MP: Obviously, an opera orchestra is a not a great place for a musician who time for socializing. BF: The conductors at the opera don’t needs to be the center of attention all talk as much. With few rehearsals comes MP: It’s not at all unusual for operas to the time. No matter how beautifully and little talk. In the NJ Symphony, after four last four, five, and, in the case of some sensitively you may believe you’re of Wagner’s long-winded offerings, even rehearsals I know the conductor much March 2004 — 7 playing the final scene of Carmen, for to visit the downtown jazz clubs on a stopped while the stagehands came out example, the audience is bound to be regular basis. I tried to stay involved in to extinguish the fire. The audience somewhat distracted from your contribu- both the jazz and classical worlds, but clapped and off we went. An even more tions by the fact that Placido Domingo is there finally came a point where I interesting evening took place quite a standing above you in the middle of a realized that I couldn’t play both kinds few years ago. On the second night of multi-tiered Zeffirelli production involving of music at levels that would be satisfy- the season and the opening night of 250 chorus members and supernumerar- ing to my listeners or to me. As a Tales of Hoffmann, Neil Shicoff ies, a troupe of leaping Flamenco danc- performer I made a decision to focus had to cancel, but his cover had laryngi- ers, and an assortment of horses and on the classical route, but as a listener I tis. The stage was set but we had no various barnyard animals. That said, remain a serious jazz fan. One advantage tenor. After a long wait the poor tenor playing opera offers many kinds of that improvisation affords classical with laryngitis began the opera, and musical satisfaction, and a solo flutist musicians is in fostering a kinesthetic about 20 minutes later, I heard his part gets plenty of moments in the sun. relationship to the instrument that is being sung from behind me in the pit. analogous to the relationship that singers Kenneth Riegel had sung the role with KF: Who are your favorite singers and have to their own voices. Playing “by us before and had been in the house how have they influenced your flute ear” makes an instrumentalist focus less that evening, rehearsing something else. playing? on the mechanics of technique and tone He was standing in the back of the pit, production; the instrument becomes a in his street clothes, singing the part MP: Over the years I’ve learned an more natural extension of what one feels from the score. There was no break in enormous amount from listening to the and hears inside one’s head. Improvising the performance and the tenor on stage world’s best singers. The sound of a great can be a way for an instrumentalist to mimed the part through the end of the human voice affects an audience on a regain some of that “singer’s connection” opera. visceral, emotional level that can be to the natural underlying musical and completely overwhelming. I’ve never expressive gestures. KF: Kind of like Milli-Vanilli, upscale. heard an audience roar for an instrumen- tal soloist in quite the same way that they TK: I still love classical music. I don’t MP: Backstage life in an opera house is did for , Placido Domingo, or listen to a lot of flute music. I’d rather much more colorful and amusing than Joan Sutherland. It has been tremen- listen to a great singer or pianist, or a backstage life in a symphony orchestra. dously gratifying to hear and work with great orchestra. I sometimes listen to You constantly rub shoulders not only such great artists as Domingo, Pavarotti, jazz, and I love Barbara Streisand—talk with other musicians, but also with Kurt Moll, Birgitt Nilsson, Leontyne Price, about knowing how to phrase a song! singers, supernumeraries, dancers, and Mirella Freni. stagehands, costume designers, prompt- BF: I played piano before I played flute. ers, coaches, directors, patrons, and TK: My favorite opera singers are I’ve always had a love of jazz and find administrators. I remember a lunch Leontyne Price, Placido Domingo, and great relaxation in playing Cole Porter break during a rehearsal of , Ruth Ann Swenson. or Gershwin. I listen to great jazz standing next to a supernumerary singers, such as Ella, Sarah, Frank, dressed as a slave, his face slathered in KF: What do you like about them? Why Tony…but I also love pop singers Joni fake blood. I remarked “Boy, Richard, are they your favorites when there are so Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor. you really look terrible today.” As he many to choose from? I once backed up Tony Bennett on paid for his salad, he replied, “Yeah, the morning TV in Philadelphia. The station TK: All of them have a wonderful sense audition process around here gets worse called Curtis and asked which of their of line and the overall concept of the and worse.” piano students could read jazz charts. music. They support the sound, which is They said, “None!…but our flute player something we all need to think about as KF: A cheerful note on which to con- does.” I was very nervous, but Mr. flutists. All of them are aware of every- clude! I look forward to seeing you at the Bennett was relaxed and appreciative. thing going on around them; they are not Flute Fair. just singing by themselves. Playing Lucia KF: The theater is such a wild place to with Ruth Ann is what one would dream  work. Do you have a favorite anecdote? about doing. She is listening, echoing and Katherine Fink is a member of the Borealis paying complete attention. When I TK: Once, during La Bohème, a novel Wind Quintet, freelances in NYC, and teaches at perform it with her I know she’s looking used as a prop was thrown into the fire the New Jersey City University. She has subbed at at me as I’m looking at her. We are really and the fire took off. The performance the Metropolitan Opera since 1982. making music together, which is wonder- ful. One doesn’t experience that with every singer. New CDs KF: What kind of music do you listen to A LISTING OF RECENT CDs by NYFC members is being away from the job, and does that influ- planned for the April or May issue of this newsletter. ence you as a performer? Members wishing to list their CDs should send a brief MP: I’ve been a big jazz fan since high description (including title and purchase information) school. When I first came to NYC, I used to the editor at [email protected]. ❑ The New York Flute Club Park West Finance Station P.O. Box 20613 New York, NY 10025-1515

March 14, 2004 Concert

Sunday 5:30 pm • LaGuardia High School of Music and Art; 100 Amsterdam FLUTE FAIR 2004 — A DAY AT THE OPERA

84th Season 2003–2004 Concerts From the Greetings! March is New York Flute Fair month! Guest artists Bart Feller, Trudy Kane, and Michael Parloff will October 19, 2003 • Sunday 5:30 pm Editor: FLUTISTS OF THE NY PHILHARMONIC be joined by flutist colleagues, singers, and pianists to present an exciting day of workshops, masterclasses, and performances November 23, 2003 • Sunday 5:30 pm planned around the “Flute in Opera” theme. Also on the FULA FLUTE ENSEMBLE from West Africa schedule are our yearly staples: the annual Young Artists December 21, 2003 • Sunday 5:30 pm Competition, the flute choir events, the exhibits…. Check the CHRISTOPHER KRUEGER, Baroque Flute Saint Peter’s Church, 346 W. 20th at 8th Ave. NYFC website (www.nyfluteclub.org) for the latest details. From the Flute Fair Chair Kathy Fink interviewed the three guest January 18, 2004 • Sunday 5:30 pm Editor artists. I loved their stories! What’s it like to be new on the ARIFE GÜLSEN TATU, Turkish National Artist job? (This is recent history for Bart Feller of the NYC Opera, February 29, 2004 • Sunday 5:30 pm but the memories are still fresh and vivid for quarter-century Metropolitan Opera HARVEY SOLLBERGER 65TH BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE with Harvey Sollberger and assisting artists veterans Trudy Kane and Michael Parloff.) Do opera musicians get enough recog- nition? (During her first year at the Met, two different bank tellers told Trudy Kane March 14, 2004 • Sunday, All Day FLUTE FAIR 2004 — A DAY AT THE OPERA how much they enjoyed her playing when she brought her paycheck in.) What do LaGuardia High School of Music and Art; they learn from the singers? The most amazing anecdotes? The hardest part of the 100 Amsterdam Avenue (at 65th Street) daily routine? Read the interview for yourself, and hear it in their own words. April 18, 2004 • Sunday 5:30 pm Dr. Carol Weinstein, a serious amateur who regularly performs in the NYFC’s 2004 NYFC COMPETITION WINNERS May ensemble concerts, is this month’s Member Profile subject. Her interest May 9, 2004 • Sunday, TBA locating the “right masterclass” inspired last April’s Masterclass Guide, and I 2004 NYFC ANNUAL ENSEMBLE PROGRAM suspect that her recent foray into extension school chamber music classes will Kaplan Space at Carnegie Hall soon bring a request for a survey of reader recommendations/experiences in this Concerts are at CAMI Hall, 165 West 57th Street area as well. (across from Carnegie Hall), unless otherwise noted. All for now. Hope to see you at the fair. All programs are subject to change. Tickets $10, only at the door; free to members. For more information, visit the NYFC website at www.nyfluteclub.org or call Best regards, (212)799-0448. Katherine Saenger ([email protected])