You, Too, Can Perform with the Mighty BSO
Adult enthusiasts dust off their fiddles as 'Rusty Musicians' performance series attracts 400 players
An e-mail with a subject line that read “Interested in Playing with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra?” popped up in Amy Sexauer’s inbox last fall.
It seemed like a scam.
Sexauer, a Johns Hopkins University medical student, had played violin throughout her childhood, but stopped serious musical studies when her college workload became too heavy. And she hadn’t played much at all since the passing of her mother several years ago. She was skeptical about the e-mail, but nevertheless completed and submitted the attached questionnaire.
“I had no idea what to expect,” she says.
Just a few months later, at the sparkling Strathmore Music Center in Bethesda, Maryland, Sexauer sat next to one of the BSO’s first violinists under the direction of maestro Marin Alsop, blazing through the frenetic finale of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony.
Sexauer is one of 400 skilled amateurs who performed in February in the BSO’s Rusty Musician series, which invited fans onto the stage to play with the world-class ensemble and conductor.
The BSO has concert halls in Baltimore and Bethesda, near Washington, DC—and a pool of musically inclined fans in between. Many of them are classical players who moved onto careers in medicine, research, politics, or started families, but never quite left music behind. The symphony envisioned the series as a way to thank that loyal audience for its support and to give a sort of one-of-a-kind gift at the same time.
It worked, but almost too well.
In just one day, hundreds of people had signed up. So for two nights the BSO’s musicians worked in rotating shifts to accommodate all of the amateurs: one group would play a two-hour rehearsal and concert of the Tchaikovsky piece and “Nimrod” from Elgar’s Enigma Variations, followed by another group until all 400 “Rustys” had taken their turns with the pros.
Far from feeling burdened, Alsop welcomed the experience. In fact, it was her idea. “Classical music is often viewed these days as an elitist, ivory-tower, upper-class, inaccessible, and irrelevant experience,” says Alsop, discussing the chasm between the listening audience and the act of personally creating the music. “What has happened to this passion? I believe it still exists and I want to personally connect these people and also introduce my wonderful BSO musicians to people who share their passion for music.”
Further Resources
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra musicians, under conductor Marin Alsop, offer workshops at the BSO Academy. For details, visit bsoacademy.org
So the word went out to the BSO audience: anyone who had some chops was invited to play. “It was kind of a risk for them—I mean, they don’t want to sound bad,” says violinist and Rusty Musician alum Danielle Gallina, a pharmacist and mother of three.
Gallina regularly plays in a quartet (three of whose members played in the Rusty series), but even so she was a bit concerned about playing on a grand stage in a grand hall. She credits BSO stand mates for the group’s stellar sound, which was achieved after only a brief run-through. “They were such good leaders,” Gallina says. “I don’t feel like anyone was getting left behind. And I told myself, ‘I am not going to fake this—I am going to play every single note!’”
So how’d it go? “I feel like I held my own,” she says. “But I practiced hard in the weeks leading up to the show.”
Good leaders, and generous, too. Amateur violinist John Stanhope was greeted warmly by his BSO stand mate, who asked him questions about his instrument. Before Stanhope knew it, he was playing on the professional’s Stradivari for the performance. That was one of the few adjustments the BSO had to make to accommodate the guests. Although Alsop admits she had to work harder than she’s accustomed.
“I did have to actually beat more than I normally do, and after eight hours of that, I was sore, indeed! But there was something very powerful about being up there,” Sexauer adds. “Everyone was united by the music, all trying to create the best sound we could. As we practiced and performed, it really brought back so many memories of all of the good times growing up with my violin and of all the positive things that playing the violin has brought into my life.
“This was the first time since my mother died five and a half years ago that playing the violin was once again truly 100 percent fun for me.”
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