‘I know I’m going to miss it, I know it’s going to break my heart’
Principal oboe James Mason retiring after four decades with the K-W Symphony
When a musician announces retirement it usually means he’s just leaving one musical thing to pursue another musical thing.
Such is the case of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony’s principal oboe, James Mason, who will be leaving the symphony at the end the season after four decades.
His final concert will be “Sing Me A Song” in the symphony’s “Baroque & Beyond” series, May 4, 2019, a concert he curated.
Mason will continue to perform in summer music festivals, including the Elora Festival, and will be focusing on his business, Jimboe Products, the largest distributor of oboes in the country, with customers around the world.
So he’s not exactly hanging up his oboe, just shifting focus.
“I know I’m going to miss it, I know it’s going to break my heart,” said Mason.
The affable oboist has been with the symphony since 1979 and he’s married to violinist Julie Baumgartel.
The couple’s Kitchener house is perpetually filled with music but not having the daily stress of playing in a major orchestra relieves a lot of pressure.
And as oboe players grow older, they can experience reduced ability to hold the reed and use their lips. He wants to leave before his playing is anything less than perfect.
“I still make a beautiful sound but I know what my weaknesses are and they are not getting stronger,” he said.
Having more free time in his personal life also allows Mason to focus on his grandsons, Kyler and Kaleb Reger, following the July death of their mother, Sarah Reger. Mason and Baumgartel had been caring for the boys.
The much-loved musician’s life has been fraught with monumental
challenges, which included a battle against lymphoma in 2005.
Yet weaving between the tragedies has been the music, the beautiful music.
Mason was born one of three boys in Baltimore, Md., to a truck-driving father and busy mother.
“My mother did everything, she was a strong community member,” he said, adding the family loved music.
He had played clarinet in school bands until he was told by a director that they had lost their oboe player to mononucleosis and Mason would have to take his place. One kid’s illness led Mason to a lifelong love affair with the haunting sounds of the oboe.
Mason received a bachelor of music degree from the renowned Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia and a masters in oboe performance from Catholic University.
While at Catholic, Mason was given an opportunity to take eight lessons per term from anyone he chose.
“I was lucky enough to be accepted as a student by John de Lancie, principal oboe with the Philadelphia Orchestra,” he said. “I drove to lessons every Sunday morning. It was three hours each way.”
In 1975, he was hired as principal oboist for the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra.
“I loved Saskatoon, there was so much opportunity for classical musicians,” he said. “I started a children’s orchestra there.”
Living in Saskatchewan was also a challenge, particularly for winter road trips. There was that time the orchestra’s bus blew a tire. The driver wouldn’t change it — not in his job description — and it would take a couple of hours to get a service truck.
“The drummer said ‘There’s no way we’ll make it to Moose Jaw in time,’” recalled Mason.
Enter an unlikely hero: The oboe player. “I said I’d change it,” recalled Mason.
The driver had his doubts, pointing out the bus wheels were not easy to change for a novice.
Mason, still fresh from having worked in a truck garage in the U.S., got to work even though he was wearing his performance tuxedo. They made the concert on time.
Appreciative audiences would be hard to give up but when Mason heard the K-W Symphony was looking for an oboe player, he had to apply.
“When I came for the audition in June, I drove here and stayed at a campsite in Manheim,” he recalled. “It was still wilderness then.”
Mason landed the job and moved to Kitchener in 1979.
“Kitchener was so collaborative and it had a chamber orchestra,” he said, noting he’s always loved the intimacy of the smaller chamber orchestras.
In 1974, the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society was formed to provide opportunities for symphony musicians, primarily the principals before the symphony could afford its own ensemble.
Mason also played with the Stratford Ensemble and the Canadian Chamber Ensemble.
With his wife, the couple founded the short-lived Grand River Baroque Festival, held in a barn near Ayr.
As principal for the symphony and recognized as an outstanding talent, Mason has the distinction of performing more solos than any other symphony member, and in between has managed to pull off some pretty crazy stunts.
Like not wearing his pants after losing a bet. Fortunately the audience couldn’t see him playing oboe in his briefs.
Mason’s retirement is one of three to be recognized next year.
George Greer, associate principal bass, and Jay Castello, principal trombone, are all retiring.
“I love the orchestra,” said Mason, who turns 66 in November. “I wanted to leave before people wanted me to leave.”