quote:

Originally posted by JMednick:
Greetings all,

Just got back from a week up in Tanglewood. My family has had a house there for 30 yrs (Becket, MA) and I grew up listening to the BSO. I even attended the program in 1979 and played with Bernstein and Ozawa in the Festival Orchestra. So, the festival and area have a
special meaning for me.

This past weekend, the BSO and Slatkin performed Mahler's 1st, Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Midori, and Copeland #3 as well as a few other pieces. Being a former trumpet player, I could only appreciate the fun the brass section had with these works. They were stupendous programs.

Prior to the start of Friday evening's performance, I came across a section of the program those musicians retiring at the end of the Summer season -- 2nd trumpet Peter Chapman; French Horn Daniel Katzen; cellist Jerome Patterson; 2nd trombone Norman Bolter; and principal trombone Ronald Barron. Those filling the brass section will have big shoes to fill.

Speaking of auditions, the program included bio's of each of these retirees, their experience, past gigs prior to joining the BSO, other interests, etc. One area of particular interest was Danial Katzen, who joined the BSO in 1979 after taking 48 auditions, supposedly a record.

48 auditions! Wow! So, for those of you working the circuit. Be patient, have faith and with a little hard work, hopefully you won't break Mr. Katzen's record.