By Kevin Gobetz John Degnan, second horn What makes music special to you? Music brings people together. It introduces us to new places, people, and stories! What is the most exciting/thrilling musical experience you’ve had and what made it so?
Meet Our New Musicians – Jason Karlyn, John Lee, Max Opferkuch, Evan Pasternak
By Kevin Gobetz Jason Karlyn How did your audition process change throughout your life and how would you advise an aspiring musician? Everyone responds differently to the demand of performing excerpts alone- an incontrovertibly awkward task for musicians used to
Come Guess Me This Riddle: What Beats Pipes and Fiddle?
A Tag Team Interview Between Principal Horn Ben Jaber and Violist Wanda Law Hi all, Wanda and Ben here! We sat down and had a conversation about our involvement in Traditional Irish Music, where we set out to answer a
Meet Our New Musicians: Aaron Blick, Kevin Gobetz, Lily Josefsberg
Aaron Blick What has been your most inspiring musical motivation over your career? There’s something about the feeling of producing a big, booming acoustic sound, especially in the low register of the bass, that has inspired me for a long
Meet Our New Musicians: Xiaoxuan Shi, Cherry Choi Tung Yeung
Xiaoxuan Shi What makes music special to you? To me I feel music is a media to connect myself with the outer world. What drew you to your instrument? Was it your first choice?When I was 5, my parents took
Meet our New Musicians, Rodion Belousov and Aaron McCalla
Rodion Belousov Upbringing/Roots/Family I grew up in a very musical family, music has been around me from a very young age. Even though my parents aren’t musicians, they both have backgrounds in music – my mom plays piano, my dad
A Cello Is Born, by Richard Levine
About five years ago, my daughter heard an instrument made by the Canadian luthier Mark Schnurr. (A luthier is someone who makes or repairs string instruments.) She was so impressed that she visited Mark and purchased one of his violins.
Christopher Smith and The Etude Project
SDSO principal trumpet Chris Smith explains how he has come to be a YouTube star posting nearly 500 etude videos. In 2013, while on tour with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, I was giving a masterclass in Bogotá, Colombia. It became
An Interview with Kaelan Decman, Double Bass
Kaelan Decman has become a beloved member of the San Diego Symphony while playing multiple one-year contracts with the Orchestra. He is kind and compassionate, a really fun guy, and brings incredible energy to the music. He has become part
A New Collaborative Album for Solo Violin: Chaconnes
My solo violin album was released in late September 2021. It includes Bach Chaconne from Partita No. 2, Vitali Chaconne, and Waters Moonlight Beach Chaconne. My husband Abe heard Joe Waters’ Moonlight Beach Chaconne while working late and suggested I
Retirement Tribute – Matthew Garbutt, A Lifetime with Tuba and Conducting
“I love it and I love what I was doing and that was why I did it,always because I loved it and I thought it was really neat.”-Matthew Garbutt In 1956 the parents of a joyful, eager little 5 year
Passion for cooking and baking – An interview with Jisun Yang
by Yumi Cho For how long have you been cooking and baking? As a kid, I grew up watching several cooking shows on PBS such as Yan Can Cook, Julia Child and Jacques Torres’ Dessert Circus. These shows inspired me