 New Musician Feature: Nathaniel West, Bass
Hometown: Columbus, OH Orchestra member since: September 2017 What made you start playing the bass? --I started playing bass mostly to be different from my sister, who played violin. Who are your favorite composers to play in orchestra? --Bach is my favorite composer, but there sadly isn't a ton of orchestral repertoire of his. I would probably say Beethoven, Mozart, and Stravinsky. What are some of your hobbies? --I'm a huge sports fan. I'll follow just about whatever's going on any given time of year. I'm a huge Ohio State fan, but for pro sports I like the Chicago teams, especially Bears and Cubs. Do you have any favorite restaurants in Philly? --I have many favorite restaurants in Philly; there are really too many to choose from. Zahav, Han Dynasty, and Vedge are still probably at the top right now. Any programs you're particularly excited to play during your first season as a member of the orchestra? --I'm excited to play the entire West Side Story in concert. I'm also particularly looking forward to doing Tosca in May.
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December 3 3:00 PM Principal Bass Hal Robinson and friends at the Philosophical Society. With Erica Peel, flute/piccolo; Richard Woodhams, oboe; Ricardo Morales, clarinet; Juliette Kang, violin; Che-Hung Chen, viola; & Edgar Meyer, double bass
December 7, 7:30 PM Cellist Yumi Kendall with the Jasper Quartet, Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting. Concertmaster David Kim appears with Keith & Kristyn Getty: An Irish Christmas Dec 13 Kennedy Center, Washington DC Dec 14 Key Bank Center, Cleveland OH Dec 20 Carnegie Hall An interesting article here by Timothy Judd analyzing the "Philadelphia Sound."
Check out this short video highlight of our annual Audience Appreciation Concerts, 26 concerts in one day!
Many of the Philadelphia Orchestra Musicians fanned out throughout the region October 23rd to share music with our audiences where they live and work. We had a blast!
Check out the article in the Philadelphia Inquirer! CBS news featured more coverage of the orchestra's outreach efforts this week as part of the "HEAR" initiative, which strives to promote Health, champion music Education, eliminate barriers to Accessing the Orchestra, and maximize impact through Research. Check out musicians Daniel Han, Jason DePue, Kerri Ryan, Yumi Kendall, and Joseph Conyers in action!
Local KYW/CBS news reports today about some of this week's orchestra outreach into the community and donating instruments to help nurture aspiring musicians at Esperanza Academy Charter School. Thanks to the Eastman Music Company in this collaboration!
 The Main Line Committee for the Philadelphia Orchestra is pleased to announce the Eighth Notable Kitchen Tour and Chef Showcase to be held Thursday November 2, 2017. Find out more information and buy tickets here.
 The Philadelphia Orchestra is now being featured regularly on Sirius XM Radio. Read coverage about it here in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Davyd Booth, Second Violin
Hometown: Clarksburg, WV Orchestra member since: 1973 What are some of your hobbies? --I grow and collect plants, particularly orchids. I have two greenhouses and about 6000 plants. I also collect CDs of instrumental and vocal performances and over the years have amassed a collection of 12000 LPS and 25000 CDS. I love excess!!! I also love spending time with my family - my partner Carlos Perez and our four parrots, three macaws, Carmen, Zilla (short for Birdzilla), Cobalt, and our very talkative African Gray Parrot Tristan. People would be surprised to know that ... --I like body art and have some 80 tattoos, several of which I got on orchestra tours in Japan and Switzerland. What do you like to do when the orchestra is on the road? --When the orchestra travels I like to visit gardens, greenhouses, museums, places of interest, and restaurants. What has it been like to play with so many of our music directors? --All of the music directors have been amazing, so many different approaches and each had special strengths. Ormandy had a great ear for sound; Muti had great excitement and presented some unforgettable opera performances; Sawallisch was quite possibly the most impressive all around musician I have ever encountered. Besides being a truly great conductor he was a phenomenal world class virtuoso pianist. I don't know how he kept his pianism at such a high level. I would say that as great as these men were we now have the greatest in Yannick. I cant tell you how many times I’ve come off the stage after one of his concerts and felt that I had just been involved in the best performance of the piece we have ever played. I feel that we are really in a new Golden Age here in Philadelphia. Please tell us about your unique role as both a violinist and keyboardist for the orchestra. --I started playing piano very soon after I started. Ormandy heard that I played piano and asked me to play for him. My audition was Firebird and the Franck Violin Sonata, which has a very difficult piano part. I played and Ormandy stood over me and sang the violin part all the way through. A rather strange but I guess effective audition. It has been very interesting and at times very challenging playing both violin and keyboard. With the Philadelphia Orchestra I have performed on piano, Celeste, organ, harpsichord, synthesizer, harmonium, putative organ and harmonium. I almost forgot accordion and cannon, which is perhaps my best instrument. One of the special things over the years is to play piano for conductor-soloist rehearsals and for Ormandy alone I did this maybe 50 times with people like Isaac Stern, Richard Tucker, leontyne Price and many others. It has really been a fabulous experience, one that I consider myself very lucky to have. |
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