{"id":204,"date":"2007-02-12T23:50:04","date_gmt":"2007-02-13T07:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/02\/12\/fallen-colleagues\/"},"modified":"2013-02-07T18:01:28","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T02:01:28","slug":"fallen-colleagues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/02\/12\/fallen-colleagues\/","title":{"rendered":"fallen colleagues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being a freelance musician anywhere in the country involves one universal common denominator: driving.\u00c2\u00a0 When I lived in the D.C.\/Baltimore area my “gig range” was from Roanoake, Virginia in the south to Lehigh, Pennsylvania in the north.\u00c2\u00a0 I once even did a gig in Kingsport, Tennessee.\u00c2\u00a0 Every current or former freelancer I know has a close-call story that involves driving long distances late at night.\u00c2\u00a0 I was a passenger in a sports car that almost hit a herd of migrating deer as they crossed I-81 up the Shenandoah Valley sometime between 11:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m.\u00c2\u00a0 It was only luck that we hadn’t come along a few seconds later: there would have been no time to react – we might have been killed.<\/p>\n

This morning brought a sobering reminder of the hazards of the late-night travels of the freelance musician.\u00c2\u00a0 A car with three members of the Eugene Symphony were returning to Portland from an evening rehearsal late Sunday night when they were hit by a car (driven by a 26 year old female drunk driver with a previous DUII conviction) travelling on the wrong side of the freeway.\u00c2\u00a0 Two of the three musicians were killed nearly instantaneously:\u00c2\u00a0 Kjersten Oquist, aged 36, Principal violist, and Angela Svendsen, aged 31, Principal second violinist.\u00c2\u00a0 The third, Principal oboist Kelly Gronli, was injured, most likely saved only by being in the back seat.\u00c2\u00a0 All were wearing their seatbelts.\u00c2\u00a0 Here is a link<\/a> to the story in the Oregonian<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The news came to the hall as we were in the midst of rehearsing for our upcoming classical subscription concerts.\u00c2\u00a0 It was devastating, as these musicians are and were well-known to almost all of us, both as frequent substitutes with the OSO, and as valued members in the other major ensembles around the Portland area.<\/p>\n

Kjersten played a lot with the symphony, less after she won her position in Eugene.\u00c2\u00a0 She was very intelligent, thoughtful, witty, and was a highly-regarded violist. She also served as librarian of the OBT orchestra and of the Young Artists at the Schnitz concerts – everything was ready well in advance and with impeccable skill, and always with a charming smile, too.<\/p>\n

Angela was a shining light in any violin section she played with.\u00c2\u00a0 A fashionista and wonderful violinist, she made a major impression on tour to Baker City last year as being perfectly coiffed and raring to go for those 8:30 a.m. bus rides for the local school concerts – I don’t ever remember seeing her in a bad mood and without a ready smile, even during those grueling Nutcracker runs at holiday time with the Oregon Ballet Theater Orchestra.<\/p>\n

Kelly has always been the go-to oboist if we have a last-minute sickness in the section, and her brilliant playing (including sight-reading Daphnis last season!) and wry wit are always appreciated – I’m glad that she’s doing ok.<\/p>\n

Never does the community of musicians feel so much like a family as in times like this.\u00c2\u00a0 We all know each other – for good or for ill, and as in a family the old grudges fade away when crisis mode sets in.\u00c2\u00a0 My heart goes out to the families and friends of those who were killed, and to the extended family of their fellow musicians.\u00c2\u00a0 The Eugene Symphony musicians and staff must be absolutely devastated, and I’m sure that I speak for all of my colleagues in the Oregon Symphony when I say that our thoughts and prayers are with every one of them this week.\u00c2\u00a0 They, too, have concerts this coming weekend, and these upcoming rehearsals will surely be some of the most difficult they will ever play.<\/p>\n

Next time you attend a performance by one of the other ensembles in town, say a special thank you in your heart for those hard working musicians.\u00c2\u00a0 They travel long distances after most of us are safe in our beds, and they do it both for the love of their craft and the enjoyment of the audiences, and often for less than adequate pay.\u00c2\u00a0 No one in music works harder than the freelance musicians.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t forget them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Being a freelance musician anywhere in the country involves one universal common denominator: driving.\u00c2\u00a0 When I lived in the D.C.\/Baltimore area my “gig range” was from Roanoake, Virginia in the south to Lehigh, Pennsylvania in the north.\u00c2\u00a0 I once even did a gig in Kingsport, Tennessee.\u00c2\u00a0 Every current or former freelancer I know has a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[67,55,3666,3662,62,3656,3659],"class_list":["post-204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-classical","tag-orchestra","tag-oregon","tag-portland","tag-symphony","tag-the-orchestra-world","tag-violin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-3i","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":724,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/31\/oso-cellist-wins-big-gig\/","url_meta":{"origin":204,"position":0},"title":"oso cellist wins big gig","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo credit: Charles Noble Oregon Symphony cellist Adam Esbensen, a native of Corvallis, and a member of the Oregon Symphony since 2004 (he's also the cellist with local new music ensemble fEARnoMUSIC), has won what is considered the Holy Grail of orchestral jobs, a position in a Big Five orchestra,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "cello"","block_context":{"text":"cello","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/instruments\/cello\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"fnm08_CRW_9776","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/2191092936_face7c2344_m.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1445,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/11\/18\/a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-the-gig\/","url_meta":{"origin":204,"position":1},"title":"a funny thing happened on the way to the gig","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is something that one doesn't often run into in the course of being an active freelance musician - raging wildfires on the way to a concert! The music is Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10 - which was what they were going to rehearse\/perform at their gig that day, and it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "freelancing"","block_context":{"text":"freelancing","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/freelancing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5688,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/01\/03\/chamber-mahler\/","url_meta":{"origin":204,"position":2},"title":"chamber mahler","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Even though the orchestra doesn't start up again until Friday (rehearsing for the Joan Rivers special on Saturday), I've got another orchestra (quasi) gig going on this week.\u00a0 It's a recording project with Ken Selden, conductor of the Portland State University Orchestra, and it's pretty unusual.\u00a0 We're working on Mahler's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":873,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/23\/gigs-gone-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":204,"position":3},"title":"gigs gone wrong","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Bass blogger and Major Midwest Orchestra member Michael Hovnanian writes about a Good Friday gig gone wrong - horribly wrong.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, no one was physically hurt during this gig, but I'm sure the mental scars will last quite some time.","rel":"","context":"In "freelancing"","block_context":{"text":"freelancing","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/freelancing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":255,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/03\/26\/why-orchestras-have-an-image-problem\/","url_meta":{"origin":204,"position":4},"title":"why orchestras have an image problem","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I just happened upon this short article about the departure of the executive director of the Tacoma Symphony (which was my first professional gig when I was in undergrad at the University of Puget Sound) - here, you read it in its entirety, and tell me what jumps out at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1660,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/12\/30\/a-pink-new-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":204,"position":5},"title":"a pink new year","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"photo: \u00c2\u00a9 Charles Noble This year Heather and I will be ringing in the new year with Pink Martini at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, presented by the LA Philharmonic.\u00c2\u00a0 We'll be part of the Harvey Rosencranz Orchestra, the extra complement of strings that Pink sometimes hauls out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "freelancing"","block_context":{"text":"freelancing","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/freelancing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"walt disney hall - \u00c2\u00a9 2005 Charles Noble","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/img_0681-400x266.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}