The principal trombone and principal trumpet have to be sympatico. They have to be on the same page.
We (Lucerne Festival Orchestra) did Mahler 3 with Boulez . . . it was off the charts!
Soloing in front of a thousand people at the Monterey Jazz Festival . . . are you kidding me? On the French horn??
I gravitated to the weird kid instruments. Euphonium. . . . what’s that? I’ll play that!
My advice about playing opera. . . don’t drink too many liquids before you start.
We’re always going to be on the brink of disaster, that’s just the way the music business is. I believe it will always find a way, because music is part of being human.
When push comes to shove, I have no idea what Phil Smith and Joe Alessi are thinking.
Bud Herseth used to refer to me as a greenhorn. I was totally a greenhorn. I didn’t know one side of the trumpet from the other.
When I go to work, I feel like wow . . . I’m going to work in the New York Philharmonic! I still can’t believe it.
