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| SATURDAY JULY 29 | SUNDAY JULY 30 2017
THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
SUNDAY BREAKFAST
Law and...orchestra A 9-year-old Emma took violin lessons — with a rented instrument. She didn’t own her finally got the chance to meet first violin until her senior year a lawyer/classically trained vio- at Caledonia High School in linist who wants to play fiddle Kent County, Michigan, where for Willie Nelson at a Ravinia she got to know a classmate Festival concert someday and eats named Eric Masse after performpoached eggs with Cholula hot ing in a rock band, Emma and sauce and sautéed spinach each Alison. morning. “Eric and I were music nerds, Do I have a great job or what? organizing and producing annual Emma Smoler — the first rock shows at the school,” Executive Director of the Ois- Smoler says. “We pretty much trakh Symphony in Chicago and did everything … even ticket a resident of Highland Park sales and lights.” Masse, today? (Ravinia District) for a little more than a year — agrees to join me An award-winning recording for an outdoor lunch at Beelow’s engineer and record producer. Northshore in Highland Park on He won the 2017 Academy of a pleasant Monday afternoon in Country Music’s Album of July. Aware that this page features the Year award for Miranda its subject in an illustration with Lambert’s The Weight of a breakfast order, the 37-year-old These Wings. Smoler scans the menu and asks Smoler matriculated our waitress for a side of two eggs at Central Michigan (over easy this time) to accom- University on a music pany her selection of bruschetta scholarship and studied topped with tomatoes and basil. there for three years “My husband [Robert] grew before transferring up in Highland Park, but he to Loyola Univernever pushed for us to move here sity in Chicago. She while we lived in Chicago [Buck- then earned her town] for many years,” says Juris Doctor degree Smoler, the mother of two at The John Marshall (daughter Renata, 9, and son School in Chicago. Jascha, 6, named after the late “I went to law school Russian violinist Jascha Heifetz, because it’s hard to considered one of the greatest make it just as a muviolinists of all time). sician,” says “I absolutely fell in love with S m o l e r, this community as soon as we who, as moved here. I can hear Ravinia a trial concerts from my front porch. Isn’t that great? I love the Ravinia District. Everything about it. It’s heaven to me.” A young Emma Lyn Cryderman was sitting in a pew at a church in Wheaton and listening to young musicians perform Bach’s “Sheep May Safely Graze” when it hit her: Music would have to be a big part of her life. “That day,” she recalls, “I knew lawyer, brought an asI wanted to play the violin. But tounding number of cases — my mother [Esther] insisted I more than 30 — to jury trial from had to learn to play the piano 2010-16. “I learned a lot during first. She told me, ‘Then the those trials, and I became fearless. violin, maybe.’ ” “Plus I liked the performance
BY BILL MCLEAN ILLUSTRATION BY BARRY BLITT
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formed at the highest level. Its signature concerts collaborate with well-known featured soloists from both the world of symphony music and other musical genres, such as folk, jazz and pop. OSC gets behind the forces of quality and innovation to expand the number of classical music enthusiasts in the city and suburbs. The OSC, in a way, is the CSO’s (Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s) younger, scrappy, creative little sibling. “Classical music tends to attract an older audience,” says Smoler, who comes from a family of pastors and music ministers and played in touring orchestras for Josh Groban and Sarah McLachlan at concerts held at Northerly Island in Chicago last
s u m m e r. “We’re trying to get younger ensemble as people to appreciate and love this Emma Smoler its music kind of music, and we’re hoping director and conductor. OSC was to achieve that by making it aspect of it.” named after esteemed Russian easily accessible. Many of our Today she is still a licensed violinist David Oistrakh (1908- musicians [ages 24-40] are right lawyer but fully embraces the 1974); Zikri studied the violin in out of grad school, highly challenges that come with being Germany under the tutelage of engaged, eager to perform at a the first full-time staffer at Ois- Oistrakh’s son and grandson. high level. The men don’t wear trakh Symphony Orchestra OSC’s mission is to offer audi- black tuxedoes, and the women (OSC), founded in 2005 by Mina ences and musicians exposure to wear colorful clothes. Zikri, who serves the unique a broad classical repertoire, per“There’s an educational out-
reach aspect to what we do, too. We collaborate with organizations [Classical Kids Music Education and Chicago Opera Theater] and put on 45-minute shows, or mini operas, for kids and tell them stories about famous composers, who led interesting lives and had eccentric personalities.” Plans are in place for DePaul University’s School of Music to become OSC’s home base in 2018. Smoler mentions the Northbrook Symphony and Highland Park Strings as potential OSC partners in the venture to net young orchestral fans and inspire them to develop a lifelong interest in classical music. OSC produces four to five concerts each year and offers an assortment of entertainment options for smaller events, e.g. a string quartet for a private party or a chamber group for a wedding reception. Smoler’s first day on the job was in early January. Her charge? “To grow OSC, to make it more visible,” Smoler says. “How do we get this to pop? “One of the many rewards of my position is seeing our musicians get the recognition they deserve.” One of her challenges outside the music halls and the walls of justice occurred in 2013, at the age of 33. Smoler was in court when she felt searing pain in her stomach. She thought it was an ulcer; it was a rare form of stomach cancer instead. Smoler underwent surgery 10 days later. “My kids were 3 and 6,” says Smoler, an avid jogger. “Life become more precious. Being a mother and a member of a family became more important to me. It was then that I focused more on the creative part of my life. “What could I do to make the world a more beautiful place?” For more information about OSC, please visit oistrakhsymphony.org.