the interviews.

I spent a few days last week at the public television station. We did the first of a series of interviews with professional musicians about the 2011-2012 concert season. Coming up with specific questions for each piece of each program was like a mini research project. I wanted the musicians to mention the little bits of trivia that might be left out of the program notes.

I think my research helped, but it was funny... After all the time and energy I spent preparing, we really got some of the best responses when we just let them talk.

One of my favorite interviews was with a violinist I can't say I had ever seen in the orchestra before. He warned us before we started filming that he didn't know what he was going to say and he was just going to "go with it."

 Well, he was great. Really great. All of his responses were very informed, charming and genuine.

In September of this concert season, the orchestra is playing Bach's Air from Orchestral Suite No. 3 (Air on the G String) as a tribute to 9/11 victims. The violinist was asked why this piece was the most appropriate for the occasion when so much music (popular and otherwise) has been written within the past decade specifically for 9/11 victims. Without thinking twice, he went on to describe the "timeless" nature of classical music. 

I won't give it away, but his response was perfect. I hope it makes it into the final product.

That day, for the first time in a long time, I missed playing.