On That Note
...with Alice Blankenship
On That Note introduces a member of the orchestra. This issue features violinist Alice Blankenship.
players, but this piece had a lot of emotion and beauty and did not ultimately feel merely cerebral.
What year did you join the orchestra, and how long have you been playing music? I joined Eugene Symphony as a regular member in 2011. I had also played with the Symphony as a graduate student at the UO from 1995–1998, then I played as a substitute from 2001–2003 when I returned from Europe, and once in a while after my son was born. But mostly, from 2004– 2010, my son Francis and I would go to Symphony rehearsals, and I learned a lot about what the orchestra sounded like from out in the hall of the Hult Center.
Where is your favorite place on the planet and why? Aneroid Lake, in the Wallowa Whitman National Forest. You can only get there by hiking eight miles in or going by horseback; there is no motorized traffic whatsoever. The water is so pristine you can drink directly from the snow-melt streams, and the landscape is indescribably beautiful.
Why did you decide to play the violin? I sang around the house all the time as a small child. We had a whole repertory of four-part Christmas carols and my sister and I were expected to hold down our own parts by the time we were three and four years old. Mom was our first music teacher. When my dad had a year’s sabbatical in Reno, Mom heard that the violin professor at the University of Nevada was going to accept a few very small children as students. Professor Rusty Goddard had recently heard of Shinichi Suzuki (this was 1970), and he decided to give it a try. It was only a few months with Rusty, and after that my training was pretty spotty until high school when I started lessons with now retired Eugene Symphony member Sharron Smith! When you’re not playing your violin, what would we most likely find you doing? Teaching the violin, driving my 12-year-old son Francis to myriad activities, walking, dancing, hiking in wilderness with husband Mike and Francis whenever possible, feeding and watering my backyard flock of ducks, caring for my still singing and wonderful elderly parents, gardening, studying upcoming concert music on YouTube, following NPR on my many commutes, dreaming of travel, and trying to scheme ways to fulfill Francis’s wish of visiting the Galapagos Islands someday. What are/were you most looking forward to playing in the 51st season and why? Everything! But if I have to nail down just one thing it would have to be the Brahms symphonies, because they are the kind of repertoire that allows us to greet old friends and timeless moments in music, like Kristen’s beautiful flute solo. I also appreciated the stretch of having to work up the Webern Passacaglia, because 12-tone music is very difficult for string
FEBRUARY – MARCH 2017
Musician or composer you wish you had known personally— and why? Haydn, because not only did he come from humble roots and grow as a musician through his entire life, achieving total genius as an older person (he did not have the financial opportunity or parentage to be a child prodigy) but he advocated for his players in a time when there were no unions, and every decision was made by the monarch-employers at their whim. He helped mediate disputes, and persuaded the Duke to release his players to go home for Christmas one year. Not only do I love his music, I would love to have played in his orchestra, under his leadership and personality. Red, white, stout, hoppy or none of the above? Stout, for sure. Favorite book/movie you’ve read/seen recently? Children’s book: Rooftoppers, by Katherine Rundell. I gave a copy of this to Yo-Yo Ma when he last played with the Eugene Symphony and he graciously accepted! Thinking Like a Watershed, by Jack Loeffler is what I am currently reading. It is good for all Oregonians to read, even though it is about the arid parts of our country. As It Is In Heaven is a brilliant Swedish film about a retired orchestra conductor/violinist who finds his muse and meaning in a tiny village where a church choir leader is needed. A great one for our Symphony patrons! What do you think some audience members might find surprising about you? I’ve studied four languages, lived in three countries besides the US, always thought I would be the mother of four to six children, and realized rather late in life (age 27) that I actually wanted to be a violinist! Do you have any other exciting life endeavors you’d like to share? I am both honored and excited to have been asked, in the past four months to do three very exciting things: Record Tom Manoff ’s beautiful Violin Sonata, extracted from the his opera, The Trials of Katherina Keppler; perform the Mozart Concerto No. 5 in A Major in the fall of 2017 with an orchestra in Salem, and the Lalo Symphonie espagnole with the Willamette Valley Symphony in June of 2018!
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