{"id":471,"date":"2007-10-07T06:17:35","date_gmt":"2007-10-07T14:17:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/10\/07\/responses-to-tragedy\/"},"modified":"2007-10-07T06:19:10","modified_gmt":"2007-10-07T14:19:10","slug":"responses-to-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/10\/07\/responses-to-tragedy\/","title":{"rendered":"responses to tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was reading this article<\/a> in today’s Sunday New York Times, about the New York Philharmonic’s music director designate Alan Gilbert, when I was struck by the first paragraph, which describes how an orchestra he was guest conducting responded to the death of a colleague:<\/p>\n

ALAN GILBERT stood before the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic last month in one of the most difficult moments he has faced as the orchestra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chief conductor. An hour before, the players learned that a well-liked former member had committed suicide.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It feels strange to rehearse,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mr. Gilbert quietly told them as they sat on the stage without instruments, looking stricken. Some held each other. Several sobbed. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153On the other hand, not to rehearse, not to do what we do as musicians, is even stranger,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mr. Gilbert added. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a shame that it takes sometimes a terrible thing like this to remind us that we are a family.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That could just as well describe the scene Friday morning, as the rehearsal period began for this weekend’s pops series. Beloved OSO flutist Martha Herby had died that morning, around 5 a.m. Much of the orchestra had gotten the news via phone (news travels quickly in the orchestra), but some had not heard the news. A colleague of mine said that she was glad that there was a rehearsal, even under those difficult circumstances, because “being here with friends is better than sitting home alone”.<\/p>\n

There’s something about having to work just after having heard horrible news. I almost always find it to be therapeutic. Giving the mind something to do while the subconscious starts processing the shock and grief. Being with many other people who share similar connections to the deceased as you do. And just “being professional” and doing your job even when you think you can’t possibly keep it together.<\/p>\n

It helps when those you work for are sympathetic and sincere. OSO president Elaine Calder came out at the start of the rehearsal and announced the news, with great emotion and sincerity. A ten-minute hold on the start time was given to allow people to react and compose themselves, and only the musicians remained on stage, silently reflecting, weeping, hugging one another, connecting across the orchestra with their eyes, or simply sitting eyes cast downward, trying to absorb it all.<\/p>\n

Joy and sorrow really do define the direction and tenor of our lives, and I’ve shared both within this orchestra, and so it becomes my extended family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was reading this article in today’s Sunday New York Times, about the New York Philharmonic’s music director designate Alan Gilbert, when I was struck by the first paragraph, which describes how an orchestra he was guest conducting responded to the death of a colleague: ALAN GILBERT stood before the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic last month […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[86,55,3656],"class_list":["post-471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-conductor","tag-orchestra","tag-the-orchestra-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-7B","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":391,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/07\/17\/the-new-york-philharmonic-rolls-the-dice\/","url_meta":{"origin":471,"position":0},"title":"the new york philharmonic rolls the dice","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"In a pretty stunning announcement today, the New York Philharmonic has hired 40-year old conductor Alan Gilbert as its next music director. In a unique twist, he's also the son of two members (one current, one former) of the august ensemble! In Mr. Gilbert the Philharmonic has a true son\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":"18philspan.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/07\/18philspan.thumbnail.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":394,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/07\/19\/reactions-to-alan-gilbert-appointment\/","url_meta":{"origin":471,"position":1},"title":"reactions to alan gilbert appointment","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 19, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"NYTimes critic Anthony Tommassini wets himself. The NYPhil musicians are pleased, too. A Philly critic is left wondering what Philly will get. Alex Ross shows how un-young Mr. Gilbert really is, in historical context.","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":977,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/05\/18\/ny-times-muti-wrong-for-new-york\/","url_meta":{"origin":471,"position":2},"title":"NY Times: Muti wrong for New York","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Anthony Tommasini, writing in today's New York Times, is as bemused as I am by the hand-wringing from the players of the New York Philharmonic on not getting Riccardo Muti as their new music director: ... after the recent news from Chicago, miffed Philharmonic players wrung their hands and stumbled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1563,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/12\/18\/kaplan-strikes-100-nerves-in-ny\/","url_meta":{"origin":471,"position":3},"title":"kaplan strikes 100 nerves in NY","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"UPDATE: Sam Bergman weighs in with his take on the situation, along with some helpful facts to clear up some misconceptions about the hiring of conductors.\u00c2\u00a0 He also notes that the NY Phil did not attempt (it seems) to muzzle one of its musicians breaking silence on his blog -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "bloggers"","block_context":{"text":"bloggers","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/bloggers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1606,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/12\/19\/more-kaplan-responses\/","url_meta":{"origin":471,"position":4},"title":"more kaplan responses","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"More responses are coming in to the original blog post that started the online bickering over whether or not Gilbert Kaplan is a charlatan or a conductor - sometimes I ask myself, what's the difference? ;-) - here's a sampling: At A Musical Rampage we get the opinion that Kaplan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3354,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/11\/15\/mozart-dutilleux-and-more\/","url_meta":{"origin":471,"position":5},"title":"mozart, dutilleux, and more","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Monday marks the beginning of the rehearsal period for our next Classical concert, November 21-23. \u00a0Conducted by Resident conductor Gregory Vajda, this program will feature a pretty diverse group of compositions. Though not the major work on the program, Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for winds will feature four of our outstanding\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "contemporary"","block_context":{"text":"contemporary","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/contemporary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471","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=471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}