My Musical Life

In talking with people, we somehow inevitably come around to my life in the music business. What does that have to do with personal finance? Well, nothing and everything.

I learned about life and love in the music business. My job was to transmit emotions to an audience. As an instrumentalist, you let the music flow through you. You breathe as one with your ensemble—orchestra, quartet, big band, accompanying a major star or playing on their latest recording or playing for a church, synagogue, mosque, or wherever people gather to express themselves as who they are.

So here’s a little sampling of what I did as a professional cellist. It’s a part of who I am. Experiences along the path of life. I never wanted to be defined by what I did or who I spent time with. But still, it is rather fascinating, in a strange, unusual way.

And I was blessed to experience some amazing musical moments.

I started playing the cello when I was ten. The junior high orchestra came around to the grade schools and demonstrated the instruments and played as an ensemble. I loved the soulful sound of the cello. A big instrument for a little person. When I came home to tell my parents I wanted to try it, I discovered my mom had played the cello when she was in school and my dad played clarinet and sax and piano as he was growing up and into college with a big band.

I have to admit I wasn’t the best cello student. I was rebellious and didn’t practice enough. When my fifth grade orchestra teacher threatened to kick me out of the orchestra because I didn’t practice, I got mad and showed her. I practiced a lot—all the way to Carnegie Hall in my early 20s. You know the saying—“How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.”

So they started featuring me as a soloist with the junior high orchestra when I was eleven. I’m not sure I really enjoyed performing as a soloist, it was more a matter of sheer determination. Later in my 40s I started wondering if playing the cello was truly my heart’s calling. But I always loved the camaraderie, the transporting of self in the service of the whole, the emotional high of being able to express a wide range of emotions through music.

York High School

I attended Northwestern University where I became the principal cellist of the orchestra my sophomore year. By the time I graduated, I came to the attention of the cellists in the Chicago Symphony. I was playing “gigs” during my high school and college years and was part of the Chicago Youth Orchestra of Greater Chicago and the Chicago Civic Orchestra, training orchestra for the Chicago Symphony. There we played with all the great conductors of the day. I had a wonderful mentor during those years—Dudley Powers. A true inspiration to me and a great gentleman.

Northwestern University

By my junior and senior years at Northwestern, I auditioned for some national orchestras—the New York String Orchestra and the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra (in connection with the Boston Symphony). So at age 20 I was playing at Carnegie Hall in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. We were the subject of a television special called Alexander’s Bachtime Band. Alexander (Sasha) Schneider led the New York String Orchestra that was well-known for their Christmas Eve midnight concerts at Carnegie Hall. We were coached by luminaries like Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zuckerman, Gerard Schwartz and many others.

New York String Orchestra

At Tanglewood, I had my first inkling that I might actually be good at this cello thing. I was chosen to play some very avant-garde compositions that summer and won the C.D. Jackson Master Award, along with someone who’s name you’ll be more familiar with—Winton Marcellus. He was just 17, I believe, but already a major talent.

Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein

I also had the privilege of playing concerts at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein—who was quite the character—and Seiji Ozawa, who I first met when he conducted the Chicago Symphony and Civic Orchestras. I’ll always remember playing Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony with Bernstein—one of those rare musical experiences where you know something magical is happening.

Tanglewood with Seiji Ozawa

My family played an important role in my development as a young artist. First, I want to thank them for buying my first cello for me when I was eleven. It cost $500 and we really didn’t have that kind of money. I came from a more modest background. They also took me to lots of concerts especially when I was in college. I listened to many world-class performances that inspired me and showed me what was possible. I am indebted to my family for encouraging such an imaginative pursuit on my part. But I came from a family of poets, dancers, teachers, scientists. All with visionary aspirations in their own rights.

When you’re just starting out in the music business, you play all kinds of gigs to gain experience. I played as a substitute and extra in many established groups. The Chicago Symphony was one unbelievable experience—under Sir Georg Solti and many other guest conductors. I played with them fairly regularly for several years in my early 20s at Orchestra Hall and Ravinia plus tours, recordings, and with a string quartet that lasted for many years.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

I also played with community groups. In the fall of 1979, I played the musical Camelot at the Marriott Theater—a theater in the round. Notable was the star at that time—David McCallum. I was star struck because he was the Man from U.N.C.L.E. from my childhood. But you probably think of his more recent role on NCIS. The music from this show is beautiful and I had some soulful cello duets with David McCallum as young King Arthur.

That same month, my father died at the age of 50, very unexpectedly. I was 22 at the time. I remember coming home from a rehearsal and could see cars gathering in my driveway. What a horrible experience. Life changed for all of us in my family. A rare blood disease took his life before anyone could identify and try to treat it. But because of that, I had to step up and help with my mother’s finances. And that eventually became my life’s work.

?Although my dad wasn’t alive when I got married, he was able to catch my performance with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr at Orchestra Hall in October 1979. He was thrilled. I remember the Pope was making a rare appearance across town at that exact time, so traffic was a complete nightmare. You don’t want to be late when you’re playing with Sinatra and Davis. I was also able to travel with Frank on a Midwest tour and that was quite the experience too.

Some of my current friends get a big kick out of me playing with Barry White and the Love Unlimited Orchestra (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLTJ95kj9ng&list=RDvQZ2NVWHW8M&index=3). That was in 1978 and 1979. I was still in college at the time. I was already doing various studio gigs around town often with Motown performers and backroom recordings of disco music. Crazy when I think about it now. I did one concert with Gladys Knight and the Pips at Mill Run, a suburban theater in the round, where one of the Pips threw me his corsage. Also several summer concerts with Smokey Robinson over those years. In 1978 I played a show with Barry Manilow in costume for Copacabana. I remember a light gel exploded over our music stand and the music caught on fire. Not the only time that happened…

Perfume promotion at Marshall Fields with string trio

So I was unbelievably fortunate to be playing with the Chicago Symphony and then Lyric Opera starting in the fall of 1980. That’s where I met my husband (now ex)—also a musician. He and I played a lot of studio recordings making “jingles” for national TV and radio commercials as well as many albums for extraordinary musicians. While playing with Lyric Opera, I had the chance to perform featured concerts with solo artists Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo—two icons in the operatic community.

Since I wasn’t a full-time employee of the symphony or opera, I could do a lot more free-lance jobs that included backing up touring musicians (or going on tour with them) at the Chicago Theater, Auditorium Theater, McCormick Place and other venues. The free-lance musician community was a fun-loving, highly-intelligent bunch of characters and it’s where I first heard players discuss investing. That definitely peaked my interest in how I could learn more. There was no financial literacy program for anybody at that time. Not much better now!

In 1981, I was playing a lot at the Schubert Theater in Chicago. I must have done at least fifty performances of Evita in the first few months of that year. As I get ready for financial planning meetings now, I often think of those days with eight shows a week. Different stage. Still serving others whether?through music or personal finance.

In 1982 I got to tour a couple times with Tony Bennett. He had the Ralph Sharon jazz trio backing him up and he also brought along a string quartet. It was a bus tour through the Midwest, so we all got to know each other well. We’d play in different cities and then pack up and head out on the bus. I remember everybody dancing with Tony after some of the late night suppers after performances. Definitely memorable.

Over the years there were many other memorable performances at the Chicago Theater which re-opened after a multi-million dollar renovation in 1986. We had a tight group of musicians who played for lots of inspirational performers including Dionne Warwick, Burt Bacharach, Joel Grey in a revival of Cabaret, Johnny Mathis, Dean Martin, Red Skelton, Harry Belafonte, Julie Andrews, Liza Minnelli, Richard Harris in Camelot, and Robert Goulet in South Pacific.

Liza Minnelli was enormously talented (they all were really). I remember one time a bunch of us went out to eat in-between her shows and we made the reservation in the name “Minnelli”. Needless to say, we got a great table. The meals we shared as musicians between shows over many years were enormous fun and very memorable in their own right.

Lots of very cool musicians came through Chicago. One of my favorites was George Benson. We played at Poplar Creek in 1986. Here’s one of the songs we did: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIF7wKJb2iU. I got to play with Henry Mancini who wrote the Pink Panther themes and Moon River. I got to play with Andy Williams singing Moon River.

In 1988 I had the pleasure of recording A Fresh Aire Christmas with Chip Davis and Mannheim Steamroller. I performed in his live Christmas shows for several years. That album has sold over six million copies and Mannheim Steamroller is one of the best-selling Christmas artists of all time. I also recorded Chuck Mangione’s Save Tonight for Me album in 1986 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQZ2NVWHW8M&list=RDvQZ2NVWHW8M&start_radio=1&t=39).

Mannheim Steamroller Christmas Show

Before it hit six million copies sold

I’ve filmed several television shows with various artists. There was the Alexander’s Bachtime Band with the New York String Orchestra and Dionne Warwick: Live from the Rialto in Joliet (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGc91CViD04). And then in 1992 Michael Bolton filmed a concert version of his biography called “This is Michael Bolton” at Arie Crown Theatre. We filmed for two nights and they turned it into the TV show for NBC. Kenny G was his special guest.

Lots of my friends kid me every holiday about seeing me in Home Alone II. If you want to join in the fun, take a look at this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl6GUbF3cGw. We recorded all night. It was filmed in 1991 in Chicago at Orchestra Hall, although in the movie the presumption would be that this was Carnegie Hall.

Home Alone II

I love all kinds of music. Classical, pop, soul, R&B, country. In 1994 I got to play in Lyle Lovett’s big band. He was just breaking up with Julia Roberts. I played a concert in 1996 in Rosemont with John Denver accompanied by string quartet. There were some beautiful cello solos in that concert. So sad we lost him the following year at age 54.

Well, that’s enough about that. I’ve had a lot of fun in wildly different careers. And I’m just getting started. If you want to listen to artists I’ve played with or albums I’m on, check this out: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7u2aeW9tjciZEXmpp1RufZ?si=-LQ7p7OLS7SqodjexPaccA.

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