I spent four formative and wonderful years (’87-’91) at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and it is such an amazing feeling to walk these halls once again. Really nothing has changed since I left this place, same frantic energy and even the same smells. I must admit when I first entered the “Con” I felt like I was 18 years old and expected to see my olf friends Keri, Adam, Betsy, Naomi or Matthew in the student lounge. But again that was 19 years ago and now I have the humbling opportunity to conduct the Oberlin Opera Theatre’s up-coming production of Candide.
All the students are hungry for information and so talented. Every rehearsal, whether it is a staging with the singers or an orchestra rehearsal, reveals amazing progress and always contains an electric excitement about making music. Professor of Opera and stage director Jonathon Field and I met at the Lake George Opera Festival about 15 years ago. Candide, as a piece, has some “issues”. If you have done the piece I will just say the words “Act II”. But Jonathon’s concept has embraced the quirky, frenetic, and zaniness that is Candide. It will prove to be a fun production.
Last week President Obama presented the Oberlin Conservatory with the National Medal of Arts and Humanities. Receiving the medal is Dean David Stull who was a senior when I was a freshman. There is definitely a renewed sense of pride that comes along with an honor like this. Everybody walks a little taller.
My free time is pleasantly consumed with spending time in the amazing music library. So many recordings, scores, biographies, analytical pieces. It is paradise for a nerd like me. I have also snagged some instrumentalists to play Poulenc Sextet as well as both the Mozart B flat Piano Quintet and the Sibelius Piano Quintet (which I do not know), Loving my time here!
