"You could've bought a sports car!"

Harmony between the BSO and NSO trumpet sections

Why we do what we do

A BSO musician's training begins

"You could've bought a sports car!"

That's what I frequently hear when I tell people how much my cello cost. It is an old English cello, made by the great maker, William Forster, Sr., and it is affectionately known as "The RS6." Why? Well, as you can see in the photograph , there's my cello, and next to it is a very nice Audi Quattro- the RS6 model, which happens to carry the exact same price tag.

Fine professional quality stringed instruments are works of art, each one of which is unique. They are painstakingly made by hand to exacting measurements, with care taken to select the best pieces of wood. These elements greatly affect how it will sound and feel to both the player and the audience. They also affect the price of the instrument. The luthier who made it, how old it is, and what condition it is in are all factors.

These days, a brand new cello, fresh from the shop of a maker who knows what he/she is doing, can run $40,000- 50,000. As soon as the instrument starts to age, the value goes up. Old instruments are considered to be antiques, and (particularly Italian ones) can sell for several million dollars. One of Yo-yo Ma's cellos is actually owned by several different investors.

One of the reasons that many players prefer the older instruments is that, like fine wines, they get better with age. The wood settles, and more importantly, the more the instrument been played on, the more it resonates. It is like the break-in period of a car- it runs better after a few thousand miles. The downside is of course, that such instruments cost more money.

So where did that leave me - a symphony musician from Kentucky with no oil tycoons in the family? I had to get a loan. While the BSO does have an instrument loan fund, it unfortunately cannot keep up with the rising prices in the instrument market. Most conventional banks will not loan money for this purpose, but I found one that did - the wonderful Peg Adams at Maryland Bank and Trust in St. Mary's County offered me a business loan, and I had my cello. And a monthly payment equivalent to having bought an Audi!

One question I am often asked (and it is a good one) is this: If you are good enough to play in the BSO, can't you make anything sound good? Did you really need to jump through those hoops? This is how I respond: If you were a professional race driver, would you rather compete in a GM sedan, or a finely tuned, well-handling BMW? If you were the driver's sponsor, what would you prefer him/her to be in? A good driver can do a lot with a Pontiac Grand Prix, but.....you get the point.

In a nutshell, we care enough to give the best quality concerts, and that means that we need to have the best equipment possible. We wouldn't want it any other way!


-Kristin Ostling, cello

Harmony between the BSO and NSO trumpet sections

This winter, members of the BSO met with guys from the National Symphony Orchestra for a night of bowling, cigar smoking and complaining about conductors. Pictured L to R: Steve Hendrickson, (Principal trumpet NSO), Keith Jones (3rd trumpet NSO), Ed Hoffman, Adam Luftman , Tom Cupples (2nd trumpet NSO) and honorary trumpet jock, percussionist Brian Prechtl. Holding the camera is Andrew Balio. Rene Hernandez was off getting more beer (non-alchoholic, of course).

-Andrew Balio, trumpet

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Why we do what we do

Some musicians fall in love with their instruments early in life, knowing that they have found their musical soul mates. My situation was more like an arranged marriage, but one where the affection blossomed over time. Like millions of baby boomers I took piano lessons throughout elementary school, though I was more interested in making up songs to entertain the kids at school than practicing Mozart sonatas. Eventually my musical bent came to the attention of the principal. In my sixth grade year, he suggested I take home the school's little-used string bass, learn to play it and join the band. With no formal instruction to speak of, I developed a ham-fisted technique that got me through a couple years of school bands and music camps. Kid-sized though it was, the bass towered over me as I struggled to produce music on it.

By the age of 14, I had begun taking lessons from a National Symphony bassist, was attending N.S.O. concerts with my dad, and had joined the Montgomery County Youth Orchestra. At this stage the bass began to replace the piano as my primary instrument. If I wasn't quite "in love" with it yet, I was definitely becoming increasingly captivated by the sound of the symphony orchestra. I was often told how much in demand bass players were, and when I briefly dabbled with the clarinet and flute I learned that the job market for those instruments was much more competitive than for a bassist. (With 160 applicants for our most recent BSO bass opening, I'm not sure this is still true!) I was also drawn to the possibilities of the bass in jazz and popular music.

There was no "eureka" moment when I knew I would become a professional bassist, but with the encouragement of my parents and teachers I found myself increasingly headed in that direction. Getting accepted into Interlochen Arts Academy in high school was the clincher.

Today, after thirty years as a symphonic bassist, I look back with gratitude on that elementary school principal who wanted a bass player for the band. Providing the deep sonic foundation that supports the orchestra feels natural and satisfying to me. I still play piano and still enjoy making up songs and entertaining, but have never learned to play a Mozart sonata. Mozart symphonies are hard enough!

-Jonathan Jensen, double bass

A BSO musician's training begins

I remember the first time I saw a violin - I was 5 years old. I was playing around in my home in Moscow, Russia, when my father came from work. He called me over, and showed me a tiny little wooden violin. I had no idea what to do with it, so we sat down together, and my father, being a violist, showed me how to hold it and how to make at least some sort of sounds on it.

I soon was enrolled for private lessons, and my father would practice with me every day between my lessons. A few years later, I enrolled in a music school, and practicing the violin has been the focus of my day ever since.

I had played in various orchestras ever since I was 12 years old, and I soon realized that I enjoyed the final product... There is something very special about having a number of musicians coming together and connecting to one another through the music that they are playing.

-Igor Yusefovich, violin