From our Facebook page:

​Jeffrey Curnow, associate principal trumpet
Hometown: Easton, PA
Orchestra member since: 2001
...
What's the best thing about being a trumpet player?
Chicks dig it. Or so I’m told.

How many instruments do you own?
4 C trumpets, 2 B flat trumpets, 2 E flat trumpets, 1 D trumpet, 2 piccolo trumpets and a flugelhorn.

What are some of your hobbies?
Drawing cartoons and jogging. I’m not sure jogging can actually be a hobby but I thought I’d list it here so I don’t look so boring.

You've become quite a successful cartoonist. How did it all start?
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t drawing or doodling. As soon as I could hold a pencil, I guess. I got interested in cartooning after watching The Beatles animated cartoon series on TV when I was a kid. I was fascinated by how the animators could make the cartoon characters look so much like the Beatles with just a few simple lines. That fascination with the art of the caricature got me hooked on Abe Hirschfeld’s work and it kind of took off from there.

Do you have a funny tour or runout story to share?
Usually tour stories are funny after a week, or a year, or perhaps therapy, but almost never are they funny when they’re happening. Like the time I had to play an offstage trumpet part from the roof of the Ford Theater in Vail while a serious thunderstorm was moving in. Up until that moment, it never occurred to me that the trumpet would make a really great lightning rod.

Your wife, Miyo, is a member of our violin section. What is it like to go to work with her?
It’s actually a lot of fun. After a concert, we can compare notes and, most importantly, juicy gossip about our colleagues!

What upcoming programs are you particularly excited to play?
The next program I’m excited to play is the first program on our upcoming Florida tour. Anything we play in 70 degree weather in February is an exciting show. Especially if I have the second half off!

Author Tom Di Nardo's recent books about the Philadelphia Orchestra and the local arts scene have been reviewed in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Philadelphia Orchestra cellist Bob Cafaro appeared on the Ted-x stage in Charlottesville telling his moving story, "The Power of One, The Psychology of Beating an Incurable Illness." Check out this YouTube video!

January 22, 3:00 PM  Violinist David Kim with the Philadelphia Sinfonia. Bruch Violin Concerto in G minor.
Temple Performing Arts Center

January 27th, 5:30PM   Celebrate Mozart's Birthday with the Liebesfreud Quartet with Phil Kates, violin; and Jason DePue, Viola. At the Philadelphia Art Alliance.

February 4, 3:00 PM PRYSM, the string orchestra of Philadelphia Youth Orchestra.
Conducted by Gloria dePasquale. Music of Puccini, Greig, Mozart, and Joplin Centennial Hall at The Haverford School, Haverford PA

Cellist Udi Bar-David continues his long involvement with music as a vehicle for bridging the divides between peoples. For his concert on Jan. 22 (see below), he will be joined by Hanna Khoury violin and  Hafez Javier Kotain percussion. For more information on his latest activities, please visit Intercultural Journeys.

​Udi has been one of the driving forces behind this group since 1998 as co-founder and former music director. 

Jim Cotter from WHYY Philadelphia did a story on Udi and his colleagues. You can watch it here.

Udi's latest project is Artolerance.  Their facebook page is here.  You can also view a promotional video here.

Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Tuba Carol.Jantsch, shown here in a poster from a November performance in Norway, in an interview from our Facebook page:

Hometown: Lorain, OH/Michigan #goblue

Orchestra member since: 2006

What made you choose to play the tuba? --I knew I didn't want to play what all the normal kids were playing, and I was strangely drawn to all the large and cumbersome instruments, so I guess you could say it was fate.

What are some of your hobbies? --Ultimate Frisbee, rock climbing, reading, puzzles

Tell us about Tubular. --Tubular is my totally rad tuba cover band! The five of us (2 euphoniums, 2 tubas, and drums) play better versions of all your favorite tunes (because more tuba = more better)--from Lady Gaga to Led Zeppelin and everything in between. Check us out on facebook!

What are your favorite pieces to play in the orchestra? --Prokofiev writes AWESOME tuba parts. Love me some Prokofiev 5.

What do you like to do when the orchestra is on the road? --I love hiking when we're in Vail every summer. One of my hikes last summer got cut short due to an ill-tempered moose, so I'll have to try that one again this year!

Do you teach? --Yes! I commute up to New Haven a couple times a month to teach at Yale School of Music.

Do you have any upcoming performances of your own? --I'm playing on the POM chamber music series at the Mutter Museum on February 27th.

Earlier this month, for the first time in the Philadelphia Orchestra's 117-year history, a cello section of all women performed with a woman conductor, Jane Glover, in a Mozart program. From left to right: Priscilla Lee, Yumi Kendall, Jane Glover, Gloria dePasquale, Kathryn Picht Read, and Hai-ye Ni. (photo by Makiko Freeman.) You can read more about the remarkable musician, Jane Glover, here, in Linda Holt's excellent article in the Broad Street Review.  ​