San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
“French Masters: Thibaudet & SaintSaëns Organ Symphony”:
8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14. $20-$165. Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave., S.F. www.sfsymphony. org
Vinocour: We get to share the same passion for music, and even though we’re not close to each other onstage, we’re still experiencing these moments together.
Q: What is the worst thing about working together?
Valeri: We can stress out at the same time.
Vinocour: Some weeks are worse than others, and we can both be grumpy.
Q: What about on tour? Valeri: Touring is fun because we have a builtin pal. Now it will be fun because our whole family will be going. Our son, Luca, is 4, and we can’t leave him behind for a month.
Vinocour: Each of us is entitled to our own room, but we share a room, and we will use the other room for our son and our caretaker.
Q: Do either of you play on the Symphomaniacs softball team? Valeri: I do. Catcher and outfield. Vinocour: I did not grow up playing baseball and softball.
Valeri: He wants to watch his fingers (laughs).
Q: Who is the better performer? Vinocour: Certainly when it comes to standup comedy and improv, it is her. Valeri: I study with BATS, the Bay Area improv school. It is something I do on the side. It’s another creative outlet and a good way to learn to think on your feet, and adjust immediately to what someone else is doing. That’s exactly what we do at work.
I feel like if I have a microphone in my hand, I am more comfortable. Jonathan is more comfortable with an instrument in his hand.
Q: Do you have a Valentine’s Day tradition?
Vinocour: A lot of years we have a concert so we can’t go out.
Valeri: Candy is a solid tradition. He always gives me candy.
Tim Day and Robin McKee
Instruments: Day, principal flute; McKee, associate principal flute
Residence: Mill Valley
Wedding date: Aug. 21, 1976
Years together: 48
Q: How did you meet?
McKee: At my grandfather’s house in York, Pa., when I was 16 and he was 19.
Day: I knew her grandfather because I played in a local orchestra with him since I was about 14. He was a mentor to me.
Q: How did you both land jobs in the same orchestra?
McKee: I was here first, 20 years before he auditioned.
Day: I was teaching at the San Francisco Conservatory (of Music) and arranging my schedule so one or the other of us could be with the kids.
Q: How do you make it work?
McKee: We love music.
Day: We love each other.
McKee: And we love the paycheck.
Q: How close in proximity do you sit on the stage?
Day: We usually don’t play at the same time. When I’m playing principal, she’s off, and when she’s playing principal, I’m off. If there is a piece with four flutes, she’s in the middle and I’m on the end.
Q: What is the best thing about working together?
McKee: The paycheck (laughs). We get to share the experience.
Q: What is the worst thing about working together?
McKee: Being together all of the time (laughs). He thinks it’s fine.
Q: Who is the better flute player?
McKee: You don’t ask anybody that question. Ever. It’s like asking who is better, Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo?
Q: Have you ever heard of an orchestra with four married couples?