San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Married couples in S.F. Symphony explain how they got there.
S.F. Symphony’s married couples talk about love and work
When the San Francisco Symphony takes the stage for a concert, it is a random procession without order, each musician following individual routines before showtime. Watching from the audience, you’d never know there is romance, perhaps a scandal even, rising up to the strategically placed acoustic sound baffles and bouncing back to the stage.
But among the 106 orchestra members are four married couples — at one time, there were nine — which is a bit surprising given that the hiring process prevents nepotism of any kind.
This is not Paul McCartney and Wings. Symphony openings are rare, and each hiring comes through a blind audition. So how does it happen that married couples end up in the same orchestra? And how does the dating ritual work for those who meet on the stage of Davies Symphony Hall?
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, three couples shared their love stories with The Chronicle:
Jessica Valeri and Jonathan Vinocour
Instruments: Valeri, fourth horn; Vinocour, principal viola
Residence: Cole Valley
Wedding date: Jan. 3, 2015
Years together: 7
Q: How did you meet?
Valeri: We met in the St. Louis Symphony 12 years ago.
Vinocour: We were in new members orientation. There were three of us.
Valeri: We were just friends. We played in the St. Louis Symphony together for about a year.
Q: How did you both land jobs in
San Francisco?
Valeri: At the end of that year, I ended up winning this job, so I moved here. The next year, Jon called and said, “Hey, there is a principal viola opening in your orchestra. I might take it (the blind audition).” I said, “You absolutely should. I’ll make you a goodluck dinner.”
So I made him a goodluck dinner of French lentils with puff pastry, and he won the audition.
Q: Who made the first move?
Valeri: Jonathan. He was extremely persistent.
Vinocour: I had been pursuing her for a while, and at some point I said, “C’mon, it is a historic inevitability that we end up together.” (laughs)
Valeri: When we finally got together, I
think I was the last to know.
Q: Was there gossip in the orchestra?
Valeri: We kept it pretty quiet, but I remember going into the personnel office to report my address change. The person there looked it up and said, “Oh, we already have that address for you on file.”
Q: How do you make it work? Vinocour: It’s not that hard, but we do have a child, which makes it complicated because our work schedules are the same. If one of us is at work,
we are both at work.
Q: How close in proximity do you sit on the stage?
Valeri: He’s at the very front of the orchestra and I’m at the back. Oftentimes we don’t see each other until the end of the day, and we’ll have very different ideas of how the concert went.
Q: Do you make contact or send signals during performance?
Vinocour: There is an unwritten rule at work that you don’t turn around and look at the performers behind you. Very rarely I can turn ever so slightly. There is just a lifted eyebrow or something like that.
Q: What is the best thing about working together?