Erin Brophey Erin Brophey is the SSO’s principal oboe – on top of her playing she is also instrumental as curator of the PAVED Arts Core Series. When did you join the SSO? September 2010 How did you become interested in music earlier in your life? My mother always cleaned to classical music. I still associate Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture with vacuuming and lemon scent. How did you pick your instrument? I really liked the name. Seriously. I didn’t know what it looked or sounded like until it arrived in the mail. When and how did you learn to play your instrument? Do you have your own way of learning/practicing? I learned from the great oboe master, Jim Mason (former SSO principal oboe) primarily in music school. I have to make reeds for my instrument to make sound. I spend most of my time reedmaking. What piece of music do you love so much you could play again and again? Anything by Brahms.
What’s the best advice you ever received in your career? Always be prepared and make more reeds than you think you need. If you could work with one musician/ composer/conductor, living or dead, who would it be and why? Poulenc. Based on the music he wrote, I believe he must have had a terrific sense of humour. I betcha I’d enjoy dinner with him. Do you get nervous before performances? If so, how do you calm your nerves? I get excited more than nervous. I meditate to focus. What’s the best thing about being a musician? The music. Always the music. I love being surrounded by it. What is your hope for the future of classical music in Saskatoon? I hope that the classical music continues to serve this community by providing a unique experience of temporal musical beauty that transcends the mundanity of everyday lives.