Where are you from originally?
I was born in Rochester, NY, but my family moved to Birmingham when I was seven years old.
How many years in the symphony?
This will be my fourteenth year. Time flies.
Hobbies?
I spend a lot of free time reading, and I enjoy listening to music and discovering new-to-me music. This past year I have put more time into garden projects and DIY home projects. I would say I like to dabble in new things and enjoy if I can accomplish something moderately proficiently. I especially like projects that involve rehabbing or renewing something. I also love visiting the parks around Birmingham and around the state.
Scariest orchestra moment?
During my first year in a professional orchestra in Hong Kong, I first experienced being on the front of the stage in a performance and feeling frozen. It didn’t help that I was jet-lagged and had just had coffee that was supposed to be decaf and wasn’t. The piece was Mozart’s Requiem, which remains one of my favorites, and it was so emotionally powerful. That experience set me on a years-long path of self-discovery, learning about fear, adrenaline, psychology, passion, and opening myself to it rather than trying to block it. I like to think it has made me a better teacher. I definitely wish I could go back and tell my younger self some things, but my younger self was not good at listening and wanted to learn through experience.
How has being a member of the ASO connected you to our community?
My first violin teacher in Rochester was the sister of the former principal cellist of the ASO, and my mother was his accompanist at Eastman. When we moved here, the ASO musicians felt like family. Now, it is wonderful to feel like our concert-goers are family too. As a state orchestra, we also travel to medium-sized and small cities and towns around Alabama, and I really enjoy seeing different parts of the state and meeting new people.
Why did you become a professional musician?
My mother advised me not to become a professional musician, so I did the opposite. The deeper truth though is that I had a supportive family and a positive musical environment that surrounded me every step of the way including school band directors, private teachers, and professional musicians who invited me to perform with them from the time I was a teenager and gifted me an outlet and encouragement. Music has given me independence, connection to people around the world, and connection to my inner thoughts and feelings. I read the quote somewhere, “Music is the sound of feelings.” Music is the sound of being human.