New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
STAMFORD SYMPHONY RINGS IN NEW YEAR.
Brass Quintet hosts interactive concert
Shortly after 9/11, Richard Clark performed in a concert at St. Paul’s Chapel, directly across the street from where the World Trade Center buildings had collapsed.
It was a transcendent experience, the trombonist says. Miraculously there was no damage to St. Paul’s, earning it the nickname “the little chapel that stood.”
Clark performed as part of a brass group that accompanied the Trinity Church Choir in its Jan. 6 “Feast of Lights.” After Sept. 11, 2001, St. Paul’s had become a round-the-clock relief ministry.
“St. Paul’s was used as a way station for frontline workers; they would rest and eat there,” he says.
“They had cots set up in the choir loft; they were sleeping in the pews.
“When we played it was an otherworldly experience. I have played thousands of church services, but to feel every note you play, that it means something, was quite an experience. When we weren’t playing I would go stand outside and look at the smoldering mound that was the World Trade Center...”
Clark, a member of the Stamford Symphony, knows what it means to play music that renews and uplifts. That’s what he and the rest of Stamford Symphony’s Brass Quintet will deliver in a virtual program, Sunday, Jan. 3, at 3 p.m.
The idea is to celebrate the new year through music and connection, so the event is more than a concert. It’s also your chance to get answers to questions about what it’s like to play in a small ensemble as compared to the full orchestra, or what makes for the most memorable experiences.
“I love it. It’s a labor of love,” Clark says, of performing with the Stamford Symphony. “I love all the people I play with; it’s a lot of the same people I play with in other orchestras.”
Directed by Michael Stern, the orchestra normally presents 10 concerts per year. One question Clark gets a lot is, “What do you do with the rest of your time?” “To a certain extent, we play with people in other orchestras or groups,” he says.
For example, the Stamford Symphony draws members from ensembles including the Metropolitan Opera,
New York City Ballet, the American Symphony Orchestra, the New York Pops and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, according to its website.
“We play with each other on a freelance basis,” says Clark, who lives in New Jersey and especially enjoys the Stamford Symphony.
“It’s one of the best-run orchestras, if not the best orchestra run in the area,” he says, and that filters down to the musical content.
“If you feel great about being there and how you’re treated, then you put in the extra effort. Not that we don’t anyway; no one is in the music business for the money, you’re there for the art. No matter where we play, even the darkest dungeon, we’re still going to give it our best.”
Aside from Clark, the quintet features Don Batchelder (trumpet), Eva Conti (French horn), Brian Brown (tuba) and Timothy Schadt (trumpet).
People are sometimes surprised to learn one can earn a living as a musician, Clark says. (Before the pandemic he was in multiple groups, so it was easier.) But folks do it. “We string things together so the rent gets paid, or the mortgage, as the case may be.”
Clark, who grew up in Syracuse, N.Y., discovered his love of music in fourth grade. Everyone was asked what instrument they wanted to learn. A family friend who was head band director invited him to try out a bunch of mouthpieces for instruments such as clarinet, trumpet, horn and euphonium, then told him he should play trombone or euphonium.
“Sure!” Clark said. “In hindsight I’m wondering whether as the top guy in music education in the city of Syracuse, he was well aware of the feeder system and what he would need!”
Nevertheless, Clark was taken with the trombone. By the time he was in high school he was in a rock band; he missed graduation because they were touring. Blood, Sweat & Tears was big then, Chicago, too.
Opportunities began to open up. After graduation from Syracuse University he attended the Manhattan School of Music for his master’s. “It just kind of went from there,” he says. “It was what I liked to do and I did it and it seemed to work out.”
Over the course of his career, Clark has played in more than 30 Broadway shows, from “Billy Elliot” to “My Fair Lady.” He’s also performed for three popes.
“I remember John Paul II, when we played at Yankee Stadium the orchestra was right behind the pulpit.
Some pageantry was going on and he walked over and blessed the orchestra. I’m not Catholic but that really got me. It certainly can’t hurt to be blessed by a pope and to be in close contact with such a person.”
Russell Jones, president/ CEO of Stamford Symphony, says, “Our audience is used to hearing our brass quintet playing live in a church or the Stamford Town Center mall at this time of year. So until we can again, we’re pleased to share great music with an even larger online audience with best wishes for a much better new year.”
Aside from the Brass Quintet, the Jan. 3 event will include music by the Wind Quartet, featuring Melanie Feld (oboe), Pavel Vinnitsky (clarinet), William Hestand (bassoon) and Lawrence DiBello (French horn).
Stamford Symphony’s Brass Quintet, Sunday, Jan. 3, 3 p.m. Free but donations are encouraged. To sign up in advance at www.stamfordsymphony.org