Journey to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
A conversation with Principal Bassoonist, Fei Xie By Emily Skala ES: Tell me, when did you begin studying music, Fei? FX: At a very young age. I am from a musical family. My parents are Beijing Opera instrumentalists, and my uncle is a famous Beijing Opera composer. I first started…
So You Want to Audition for a Professional Orchestra?
by Kevin Smith Congratulations! You are ready to audition for a professional orchestra. You have already put in years of training - including hundreds of lessons, many more rehearsals, and thousands of hours of practice - all in an effort to reach your full potential. To succeed, your instrumental technique…
The Life of a BSO Musician
By Ellen Pendleton Troyer You settle in to your seat before a BSO concert at The Meyerhoff or Strathmore concert halls. If you’re a regular concertgoer, you look for familiar faces onstage. You think to yourself, “There’s my favorite percussionist,” “there’s that cellist I always love to watch perform,” “is…
Friday Flashback – My Scariest Moment
by Julie Gregorian Our recent performance of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto brought back memories of my scariest moment in the BSO. At my first performance of this piece (circa 1974) as principal bassoon, the conductor was the peppery Arthur Fiedler of Boston Pops fame. Near the middle of the first movement,…
BSO percussionist Brian Prechtl
By Greg Mulligan Brian Prechtl has been a member of the percussion section of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2003 as well as a leader, teacher and mentor with the BSO’s outreach program OrchKids since 2008. The OrchKids program serves over a thousand kids in six schools located in…
BSO Musicians Perform at the Pratt Library at Penn North
On Monday, March 14th, 13 BSO musicians performed Handel's Water Music at the Penn North branch of the Enoch Pratt Library. This is the first of three informal concerts. The epicenter of last year's unrest was at the location of this library. The CVS across the street that was vandalized is…
Four Fiddlers
Four Fiddlers Mark 25 Years with the BSO by Ellen Pendleton Troyer Over the course of four days in late 1990, the BSO violin audition committee, comprised of 10 players plus music director David Zinman, heard nearly 100 violinists. The goal was to fill four violin section openings. After three…
Christmas Stockings for the Homeless
By Brian Prechtl This past holiday season, BSO musicians participated in an initiative mounted by students at the University of Maryland School of Nursing to reach out to homeless people in the surrounding area. Naomi Prechtl, one of those students, is my daughter. When asked how this project came to fruition,…