Erik Ralske - The Opera Hangout
Erik Ralske talks with Sarah Willis in a live Horn Hangout from The Juilliard School, New York about all things opera. This inspiring live Horn Hangout also features performances from the Juilliard horn class, live questions from viewers, stories of singers falling into pits and much more!
Transcript
Auto-generated from the live stream, expect the occasional robot mishearing.
[Music] hi everybody there is no better way to start a horn hangout then with a secret horn called played by my guest today the wonderful Eric Matthews welcome welcome welcome it’s so fantastic that yeah I mean you’re so busy I don’t know how you even found time today to do this well you know you arrange your schedule when
Sarah Willis comes to town you just clear your account thank you very much Candace and where’s the party tonight thank you for starting off with see-cret actually you’re Siegfried horn coal is I think the most famous in the world can you tell the people who don’t know why why well I mean I I won’t take credit for this but it because it just went out
HD you know so we the met does about 10 or 12 of these you know live to theatres in 130 countries roughly 3,000 theaters around the world live and so I guess I’m the first foreign player probably played the long haul you know in 130 countries in movie theaters forever is huge but not only that you can go online and there’s another reason why it’s so famous not only because
I think the most people have heard you play this but people hear you playing this so don’t know it’s you well yeah from that first Ring cycle that we did when I I joined them in 2010 so we did our first complete Ring cycle since when I joined in 2012 and marketing department decided to issue meant ringtones every pun intended and it was one for me that’s the first time
I realized that [Music] ring yeah yes from the ring so they pick one from each operand from zigfried they picked my lung call so unfortunately ringtones apparently in six years since those performances ring tones have gone the way by the way like the dinosaurs basically so I don’t think it’s available anymore but once upon a time it was listed on iTunes zigfried’s phone call
Fabio Louis II conducting that’s it who cares who’s conducting sorry mom you know it wasn’t conducting any like you know the odd thing about playing the long call and this is you know something you wouldn’t think of if you’ve never played it in an opera before but your job is to basically look at the tenor and when he sort of mimes like he’s about to start the phrase you have to do that and you can really get you can really lay him in it vice versa
I don’t know but I think my first time out doing it in 2012 the Met was still using uh you know with all the monitors they have backstage for various you know cues and whatnot I got this little black and white TV from like about 1950 it was about a four-inch screen and I see this little blob you know and
I saw this little thing move and that’s where you’re supposed to jump oh good guy but you know he we got the flat screen and High Definition the next season middle of job I’m glad to hear it I’m glad to hear you know this is the amazing thing about the horn hangouts is where everyone is watching from and it’s really amazing your your student
Roy is watching in Lisbon okay go and he just got a job there so hi Roy we’ve got dick rice ik is watching a retired met third horn he’s watching Victoria who played for us yesterday in Philly from Curtis she’s wishing she was here with us snowy Seattle Bulgaria Tasmania Boston I mean this is really quite new
David Powell hasn’t heard you play since 1979 really I’m it sees in the room thanks for that Vladimir’s Bulgaria Maryland guys we love it when you write in and tell us where you’re you’re watching from so any messages you have for Eric he will get to read this afterwards for those of you watching on Facebook we put it on
Facebook because we want you all to watch and we want to share Eric with you but I can only see the questions on the website because the facebook chat goes behind you it’s really chaotic so go over to Sarah Willis comm slash live and you can write in all your questions and all your admiration for Eric and keep them coming because today it’s all about all things
Opera mm-hmm yes principal horn of the Met how many years now this is my ninth season ninth season and you know something Eric you have some colleagues who love you very much and vice versa and vice versa and I have something that I would like to show you and Tim is going to show you now on online and because we have so many wonderful people here in the audience we it’s good thing
I have got weird things open on my computer I tell you you everyone can see my computer screen right now we have something for you that we prepared a little bit earlier [Music] it’s very good to go I just make sure that even the first no you give it enough so that it’s registered in the home and also where’s
Eric Eric we’re waiting for you oh I see Sarah’s in town of course of course if Sarah’s in town you must go immediately [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the best thing is that I think they on their way up yeah I think they’re on their way up and I’m hoping that there will be but a huge applause for everybody much for doing this come come and say hi come and say hi come and say huge applause with the
Metro section [Applause] we went for some real coffee Costa Rica Google are you watching are you watching let us know if you’re watching I think you are he said of it thank you for doing this and also to Sara your daughter for putting this all together great job you brought the coffee so that that’s good a nice coat
Barbara just gonna turn out to be a roast now today oh my goodness so we’re back what did you think of that everybody it wasn’t that the most amazing thing yes that’s really that people have been going crazy for this I love it I love it it’s just something to be around creative people didn’t know you know
I was just saying the other day how you know it’s like it’s the greatest thing in the world to make a living as a musician it truly is but you’re looking better than that is to love the people you work with and that’s the way I feel I think that even if you guys weren’t here well I wasn’t on camera tell me how does your one section work because you know there’s yeah you want to work really high she worked really hard there’s this we could talk about your you know your your job just not getting into
Juilliard - they have the files downstairs somewhere they are there but we can we can Google all that so the horn hangouts is about getting the stuff that we can’t Google first of all we’re very grateful for Juilliard for putting this on because thank you very much Juilliard that we were we were allowed to celebrate you here you’ve been teaching here for how long seven years now yes my 70th you’re a mean teacher
I’m sorry that’s the guys over here well you know I I like to think that my standards are really high and then I’m only mean when I have to be you know the you know when you teach every every student is you know it’s like there’s a it’s like a lock that you need to find the key to open the door kind of you know and and there are times you know when they need nourishment and encouragement and there’s times when you have to sort of lay down so you know you have to just wears many hats as you can possibly think of because everyone’s
Different and at different times in their life to you know it’s like there are there are times when it when they do feel the heat and they’re really working hard you’d have to say anything but there are times when people you know kicking butts I think is the word we had Jen Montone on yesterday and she was she said she’s she would she really was careful not to say this and we love it we love it we’ve had all sorts of well my kids might be watching so
I keep it clean your kids are watching how nice maybe your horn section the met horn section how many are you how the things will be how do you work hard yeah you really do can you just explain to people watching around the world sure don’t know that much if they know you from them met HD of course right right well we we have nine horns at the
Met and you know which it seems at times barely enough because we do seven opera performances a week so and it’s no two operas two nights in a row to so and as you find as you get as I have in the last time you just get well first and in the in the operatic literature there’s a lot of operas to there may be four in the pit or four with the five with the assistant bumper as you might say but there’s stage bands and and and whatnot and then we rehearse on top of the the seven performances a week so we have basically two
Sections of four the lovely Julie pilant is our bumper and jack-of-all-trades and and fills in exactly thank you and so there’s two principals two seconds two thirds two fourths and and then Julie who does it all so we divide up the workload be at the beginning of the season but then there’s always things that happened vacations illnesses horn hangouts exactly you know personal things for families whatever and and we we do
I think an amazing job of covering for each other you know I think artistically we try to keep the same four quartet you know together as much as possible but there is repertoire for the options like that yeah well you want to respect that and and you know Michelle’s watching Michelle Baker retired second horn player boy I joined the mat and seven years later she retires early early shell everywhere though on all these horn conventions and stuff and recitals and
I mean it’s like yeah people retire like people like that they only get busier I think but yeah that’s that’s how we do it we cover for each other and we have these two sections and and and then there are times where we’re all employed plus some you know when you get to be huge things like the ring like the ring which is coming up now this is a ring season
I remember of finishing gutter demo on for the first time I done the Ring cycle in Berlin with the Opera and I really felt like I’ve been run over by a bus I really at the end of a Ring cycle you really oh I know and I don’t know you know it’s our season always seems to build to that climax every every year that we’ve done the ring since
I’ve been at the Met is that the we end the season with a Ring cycle several Ring cycles you know we’re running through sometimes just even in a week we’ll get squeezed in all four sometimes it ends up being about a nine day span and you start the next cycle back over again from the beginning but don’t forget there’s between those four ring operas this three nines reclaim what they’re saying and you know and they’d like to put on small things like
Swan Lake and and all the stuff that seemed easy but then you guys are do you know we don’t need la under Stalin one year was really bad okay significant Horne stuff I think one year we were doing Chesser a right Julius Caesar and handle thrown a ring so yeah not a horn player was planning our seasons there’s some nice questions coming in a min wants to know which would vogner offers your favorite
I want to know which one is your least favorite favorite but I certainly Parsifal yeah in the music is sublime yeah well we’ve we’ve done not Parsifal with Sir Simon but we do Tristan with so Simonton can you find it I mean how lucky you were to have had years with him because I mean if there is so much you know
I think this photo he has even as a glass of red wine you guys are not know it was a party he threw a party for the orchestra after ordering the parsifal run and I was a thank you such a kind man he gave the the horn section we got a bottle of champagne from him to was it a bribe not to say no it was at the end of the run so
I assumed it was preferred for our excellence but well you know on the bottle champagne regard certainly absolutely so so pass will be your favorite tea do you have one is there any of the repertoire when you see that and you think oh because you know everyone’s got their yeah favorites and they’re things that they may think true enough true enough you know let me preface this by saying that when
I joined the Met you know I only had limited opera experience and so the repertoire is also new to me and I I do feel like you know I’m fourteen again hearing some of this music for the first time an absolutely loving so much of it this stuff that I don’t enjoy as much and I would generally say it’s the
Bel Canto stuff because that early Italian operas oh the e knees the Rossini Bellinis well they take what the Sopranos take about an hour to die yeah and the hundreds of repeat parts is nothing like and but then you like two and a half hours in of all these after beats does an area where you’ve got something beautiful to play a lyrical and it’s it’s not the greatest setup always for that but you know it’s all it’s all about you know the singers and you do even though
I don’t enjoy playing that rep as much you know the one thing about my job is sure you’re hearing the greatest voices in on the planet every night and so you can sit back and at least appreciate that I save it for the car and the shower and there there’s some great questions coming in keep them coming in because if if
I don’t see them then sometimes I’m busy and keep them coming in we actually have a huge surprise for you guys coming up very very soon but we’re gonna keep on with some of these questions today is all about opera and Jacob has asked a really good question can you talk about the benefits and downfalls of playing in an exclusively operatic orchestra now
I I really get that because I came my first job was in the Opera I knew no operas at all and I had to learn them well you know it’s like you said there were the there were no rehearsals it was just repertoire on those days so we never got to rehearse anything it was just one after the other first week was was was butterfly and then it was
Hoffmann and then it was Magic Flute and then it was rosenkavalier so but you do you can’t you did it the other way around I came from an orchestra or probably went into a symphony orchestra you came from the LA almost la Phil that’s another story yes you almost got the job in the early film patent did but then you
I had a choice I was I felt you know talk about you know winning the lottery you know as two great jobs and you know part of me thought I would never leave the New York Philharmonic but you know two great opportunities come along and opportunities yeah that’s good but yeah I don’t know I mean there’s something so refreshing about delving into whole new repertoire
I mean you know it’s not that I I don’t love the symphonic repertoire but in order like the New York Philharmonic 17-years split between third one and and and associate first you know you kind of done it a lot and without moving across the country move next door to the Opera and like you know one of the great opera companies on the planet if not the will get an argument about that that’s okay
I thought you could really say my opinion what do you guys think okay so yeah the the chance to do opera on that level and and and it’s a horn player to have gone through my career and never having played like the ring never having played you know some of these other unbelievable ceases sometimes think opera must be boring they want to sit in the stage they want
I would send every student for at least a year to it to play in an opera yeah I think it would the great thing it does is opera orchestras have to be flexible like no other Orchestra and in its it’s like chamber music on an enormous scale because singers don’t sing the same way you know two nights from night to night and there’s cast changes there’s sometimes conductor changes in the middle of a run but you just gotta be ready for anything at the drop of a hat and so you know
I’ve heard conductors say that they love opera orchestras just because they listen in a way where you know other works you sometimes you know you get into a grind there there are symphonies you know that you can count them off and and walk away from the podium and it’ll stay together because it just gets into a very you know steady grind and and and the orchestra can just run it we do think or the conductor exactly or that many conductors watching
Yannick is probably out there somewhere but you know eight measures and if you need to ignore the conductor then you go with the singers well yeah there’s always that what about chopped wise because it was I think we’re all horn nerds here on the horn hangout you know we are allowed to be as nerdy as as we want to be oh by the way nice mug mm-hmm
I’ve got a Julliard mark - nice marks here so she is it’s not very interesting what’s in them but what about chopped wise what is the what did you find was the different I had to beef it up along when I went from opera to the Berlin Phil did you have to beef it down well you know there’s there’s
I would say that just in terms of just flat-out endurance I I would say the the best preparation for my current job was the years I played third horn at the New York Philharmonic because you are playing with no help at all all the high stuff you know you get your solos and and you’re you know I’m there trying to match the film iers and you know so you’ve got you’ve got heavy lifting to do and and you you know it’s it’s a it’s an orchestra that really knows how to play the brass section knows how to play loud and not just about that but
You know you have just incredible I think endurance that you have to have and that that Jarett chair in that Orchestra particularly so that I felt like that you know I sort of had a deal with that issue the the biggest adjustment is probably the mental looks just being most stay focused for six hours it was hard
I remember to learn that as a 20 year old student that was really hot imagine yes keep keep your concentration going you don’t go home to like 11 o’clock at night and many thanks to my understanding family yeah but in all seriousness though yeah it’s it can be later than that you know even just something recently were playing
Carmen and Ann Ann was playing second that week because it was on vacation and we got to our duet you know the end of Carmen and that’s like it was like 11:15 that night got a late start and it’s like and we had two operas that day was a Saturday so anyway it happens you got it yeah yeah so so you say chop wise you were you were you would build up that strength and what about the the quiet plane yeah a different way of playing quiet yeah would tell me else is watching yeah the soft playing you know generally in the
Opera we don’t get a play as loud or at least not as for sustained passes as you get to do in in the huge symphonies and so yeah it’s a soft playing that really is and you know I often have told students to you know horn players usually don’t get into trouble for not being playing loud enough they to get into trouble not being soft enough so you have to learn to take your chances you got to figure out a way of producing soft and you know
I’m here that I think one of the big surprises to me only having really known the prelude to Meistersinger the next night but particularly Meistersinger is the rest of it is very chamber music being very soft and it’s like I thought it’s gonna be five hours of last paper very long five hours of my sensing was the other one that
I felt like I’d been run over yeah I thought yeah thirds were micing was my greatest sporting event of my career AMM literally cuz if you’ve played third horn master singer if you have a bumper I didn’t play first story I’d never play first on that and I don’t intend to not in this life anyway but I played third one in it it was that’s really quite painful oh yeah oh really but interest done as well throw it horn out yeah yeah
I mean third morons I’m telling you have you read yeah so right on the very last page all your best stuff comes when you’re thinking oh well you know I think also Tristana cuz you and you know everyone else to pray with love yeah and you know the final two lines of the arse rhythm that’s at the end of six hours well there’s a lot of high
F sharps I remember that our pianist Simone a couple of good cornered questions thank you Brian J how much how do you know how much to project in the Opera House’s must be more complicated than being in an orchestra that’s true it is is true I mean I would say we are blessed with beautiful acoustics I’d say when you see that means from the conductor mates are too loud yeah that’s true but
I would say you know that the met is probably the most successful Hall and Lincoln Center and you know a modern opera house it’s well it’s modern architecture for concerts or it’s a crapshoot right but the Mets got beautiful acoustics and I feel like from where we sit in the pit I mean I can hear my sound ringing off the back wall and pianist emotion sit open don’t you have you know under you know amazing we were like against the door and under
I’ve been in pits like that before and other jobs but no we’re just like it’s basically if you took out you know the first eight rows of seats from a theater drop them down about four feet below that’s where the the men Orchestra says okay you’re playing there somewhere where we’re eight feet under he imagine what it must be like to play in bioriod where the orchestra is literally playing in another room you can’t see them they all come too short to work in shorts you can’t see them the or you can’t you can’t see the conductor but it’s if they can play as loud
As they want and it doesn’t affect what’s going on one day I’ve got to go really what I’d love to hear something they’re online audience dear online audience I just wanted to say it’s amazing where you’re watching from Wendy is watching from Toronto and Anthony is watching from New York and Joan is watching from New York why don’t you hear you guys
Debra are solling in in Germany and I mean really Portland Maine this is really fantastic we love this let us know let us know where you’re writing in from and also if you’re watching on facebook go over to our live chat on the website because that’s the one I’m seeing so all the secrets everything you ever wanted to know about
Eric about opera playing let us know and we’ll do our best to answer them so but we we’ve promised you we promised you guys a a surprise and what do you think yeah there’s the questions coming in and out shall we carry on a few more questions or should we start with our surprise maybe it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s a hard one to plan about we have got a mouthpiece question before maybe
I get to it’s always a mouthpiece question sure and um actually I just get your mouth please Oh remember to put it back this isn’t the one that someone asked about they’ve asked about some rim though this isn’t the one that’s at home that’s at home but to answer that question for many years I played it’s a mouthpiece made bar
Marcinko it’s over in on the west coast Pacific Northwest I think he’s in Oregon or Washington State and it’s a very unusual looking mouthpiece it’s for those people who remember the original Star Trek series lieutenant over a war Louie if it looks like that mouthpiece Franklin’s unite I’m dating myself but anyway it’s it’s it’s a very usual looking mouthpiece
I it looked cool but but you know the bottom line just play yeah and I did love the way that mouthpiece plays it was actually a model that he made for John Sherman arrow who was a former teacher of mine and John I guess had originally sent me at the mouthpiece and I was like this is great and so
I ordered a few in different sizes as one does and I played it for years particularly when I was when I was playing my Schmitt horn I felt having come from a con named D that it gave me a little bit more of the New York sound signal ease a little heftier you know I liken it between the difference between like maybe a vog
Marian tenor and a sort of you know a light Italian or Mozart kind of tenor voice and so that mouthpiece I thought gave me what I had that gear that I was would couldn’t get out of another mouthpiece with that horn combination I about two and a half years ago I switched to a horn made by Jim
Patterson of New Mexico it’s an american-made horn and that’s what you just played yeah and Jim I originally from LA area and was a carnie take on ad player himself studio musician and freelancer and he also became the doctor for anybody in the West Coast for their con a DS and Jim then started making his own horns and
I he was kind enough to send me prototypes on it’s a triple horn that he was developing began maybe five or six years ago I guess and he’d sent me a prototype and then he said we you know we went through he kept sending me the horn and but it was the first guy ever listened to me when
I said I could a little bit more of this and a little less of that but with this one I didn’t I didn’t feel like I needed quite as big a mouthpiece and so I’m now playing a mouthpiece from Paris yes no she was great she just drank champagne all the time I loved that you see now once we once we once we start saying hi everyone writes in and saying you know
Taiwan snowy’s yeah Mexico California I mean really great I love this I just love it’s amazing you know you know it’s cheap applause for Sarah because she created this amazing community online to do it I was the lonely student in the world you guys wouldn’t believe this but it was really true I was very lonely student I didn’t feel good at college
I felt felt like there was that the competition was I was the only horn player in my year as well that was quite hard so so I really felt like it really got to me and I never want any horns student to ever feel like that ever again that is sweet and so even just for an hour and we’re online with the horn hangouts we feel like we’re a community and
I get sent photos all over the world people doing that with their horns it’s really is amazing just love it and you know just the word about community too because we are a community as horn players and you have brought the community together you know internationally you know on these hangouts and and but it’s carries over into live events and
Horn conferences and whatnot and I just I you know there’s a thing about horn players vien as a camaraderie that exists as maybe a mutual sympathy for for this beast of an instrument that we play but you know I I’ve been in this business a long time and and I have seen you know the best of human behavior and and at times sadly the worst and
I just I just want to say that you know it’s like an orchestra is like a microcosm of the world of what the world could be you know we’re a hundred people onstage different backgrounds different nationalities different you know sexual preferences religious beliefs languages economic backgrounds whatever all working together towards like the greatest of what mankind can produce and
I just think it behooves us to be the best we can be as human beings towards each other in terms of you know showing people respect and support and you know we don’t always see things eye to eye but I think that that that’s that kind of sense of community that you’ve brought to our world is greatly appreciated and and for our future the the young students of today
I hope that you know this spirit that sarah has created you know carries over into daily life you know it’s it’s our community it’s our it’s our life it’s our profession and and horn players just rock I mean I just I’m sure there’s a more cool word of saying this but we do [Applause] I mean if it this is feeling of community it is hard what we do and you teach here at
Juilliard and you didn’t get into Juilliard the first time and then you said in an interview you were quite happy you didn’t because you you wouldn’t have survived that’s no criticism - Julia do there’s an amazing school it’s every big conservatory yeah it’s really tough in there for students it is we it’s such a competitive business that we’re in and and it’s cruel in a way - because that is a numbers game only this only so many jobs out there but you know that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and yeah that comment from that inner was was was really about that
I wasn’t ready quite yet at this level and so I did transfer in after I had two years of being sort of the bigger fish in a smaller pond so as it were I studied with the same teacher here I went abscess to me a purchase which was a great option for me at the time you were you go to quite a good deal because it meant you could do everything here but you weren’t actually it could come down and have life they paid for yeah exactly
I’m a teacher here yeah exactly Renier Dean tennis yeah debt of you know to him because he was the most patient man a wonderful teacher and I would just want to say by coincidence to the teacher for the other principal at the Metropolitan Opera Joe Andrew Xavier Gandharvas teacher and I think I think Julie Landsman spent a year with him here on studying and and
Geoff Langley socio Philadelphia I mean the list goes on I’m leaving people out and I apologize for maybe but he was he was a great teacher and the kindest most patient patient man really and you felt better you felt better coming back here later you felt stronger if you said he wouldn’t have survived why do you think you wouldn’t have survived well
I I think I was kind of a naive kid maybe still am and it’s not a kid anymore but I you know I I mean that’s just my nature and I think and but I think I don’t think I had the confidence at that age to do things at this level you know I think I’m somebody who always had to learn you know how good
I truly was because I didn’t I didn’t you know I didn’t I didn’t have any pretensions about you know my ego I think was well in check and and if anything I tend to undersell myself and I think probably know the reason in my career I’m gonna hit kind of every wrong on the ladder I didn’t start out you know at the
New York Philharmonic I mean it took six jobs to get there you know honest so I saw everyone on the ladder but it was like you you whatever Orchestra I was in at that in my early days in my career you had to sit there and think about okay well if I want to be in a better worker what do
I have to do what why you look at yourself you know it’s warts and all and you kind of figure and get busy in the practice room and and how to improve oneself and it’s you know easy when you’re holding down a job as well it’s like in when you were in Vancouver you were loving though and then your pottery and you did all these when you make you some more horn hanging out mugs yeah when
I retire oh yeah right first on my list but yeah it’s it’s the learning never stops you know and I think that that you have to be introspective and self reflective to sort of figure out you know and be honest it’s like you know I’m just even from night tonight it’s like this or so you know some aspect of horn playing didn’t they felt a little rough yesterday but how do
I address that no just ask what type of mental strengths do you need to play at the Met or any big any big opera orchestra I mental strengths we all know what we need for mental strength to play the horn period you know that that we all know what that what we should be aiming for but at the
Opera are there anything in particular that you need you need to make sure you’re focusing on or not focusing on yeah in some ways because we’re we’re not on stage and there isn’t this the distraction of what can get in your head of of all eyes are on me because I have a soul one kind of thing and we all know that what it would be bits bit dark yeah yeah
I mean there may be two upper you know in the balconies but so in some ways because of that and because of the spontaneity of opera you know you really just have to be live living in the moment so it’s a laser to be less distracted and and and more focused of being in the moment where I think on stage you feel a little bit more pressure and and and that in itself is its own little distraction little could be big distractions yeah and so you know it’s is mental toughness in in in a different way because living in the moment is what we really
Need to do to as performers no matter where you perform and but yeah that spontaneity really really draws you in and there’s something also about the art form of opera the fact that you can really get swept up in and I think I feel just because it’s it’s not just the oral pleasures of of the music it’s it’s the visual of what’s going on on stage you guys see oh yeah yeah yeah yeah well don’t you know this ever in the pit that’s literally where you are most of the time yes very well done yeah no sorry
I love you know what I also love about it maybe playing in any Opera Orchestra is the close proximity you set to colleagues that you would never hear in a symphony orchestra and for us that’s the second violins and violas and particularly me I’m really up against the second violins and you know those are enemies the friends absolutely and and
I stand there with admiration because you know the first of all I never realized how much stuff the horns have with violins least you know and but you hear individual players because you’re really up close because they’re on stage for unity spread out and you hear the the maybe the section on Mouse but you don’t appreciate the level of these people is is really extraordinary cuz they’re quite busy and they’ve got a lot more know soon yeah that’s what
I meant about friends or enemies I I’m sure you’re friends with them but how happy are they about sitting so close to the horns well you know they don’t they sure have the best seats in the house they’re the best okay a couple of cornered questions telling you all online we have really big surprises coming up we are going to have an opera quiz and there are the most amazing prizes to be won we are going to split the quiz if you’re pardon the pun split the quiz between you online audience who are able to win some prizes and also you guys in the room
How about that so we are we are going to get there very very soon I’m just looking for my boys my piece of paper that I had here that’s all disappeared anyway I think I know yeah I need that it’s okay that’s right I’ll pick it up in a sec so just a couple of things do you play tripplehorns do or what about
Julius Caesar do you do you change somebody’s who just wrote that in Angela asked another mouthpiece question you change mouthpieces for Julius Caesar if are you using a death count yeah well we did Julius Caesar about five years ago I played it to my every day horn which was a Fishman triple at the time an F alto triple and
I I kind of like to try simplify equipment you know something’s not working I look at myself first but I feel like I’ve got equipment that that sort of ready for anything kind of any day of the week what I would I have for this one and I had for measurement was bell choices mmm because I’ll go sometimes to a smaller flair for something that needs a little lighter more focused sound mouthpieces again keep it kind of simple it’s kind of one mouthpiece
I’m in Julius Caesar I think I play it on my big giant Marcinko its mouthpiece but you know again it’s it’s you do what you have do I do find time to do that some of the more transparent optics like we just did Pelle house with unique palace and I know the song of Debussy and you know it’s very you know quiet and very exposed at all it’s very it is for how many hours four hours yes a little over four yeah my first year with
Simon loves up he did begged Elena sing she does beautiful performances too and but yeah you just I felt I have another belt that that you know it’s it’s it is a little bit more of how to and and lighter and so you but I don’t like to make huge changes I’m just you know do you have any good stories about missing your cue on stage or you know there’s always there’s always this banda these are the things we can’t
Google about you right that’s what I wanna know there’s always a banda there’s all these offstage starfire last time when I was here there as one see I came Barbara’s it we both of you you you both knew you with Julie weren’t you you were dressed up in some incredibly credible wigs what was it Don Giovanni yeah see my my my two girlfriends here and they sort of greeted me with white wigs on a very you guys experienced like true disasters or
I just remember missing a complete don’t dun Dada I just missed it I was in the ladies of the shot sofa and I heard it and I thought oh well you know what can you do when you play a Banda you know and it might be an hour hour and a half into an opera you’ll get a special call time you don’t they don’t necessary to be there and waiting so you’re usually either brother started started the other alcohol but we were just playing
Don Giovanni the other night actually and somebody was supposed to be in the Banda at the end of the first act you know had cut it close because it’s a costume change and and and so how here because again we had a little shuffling around with vacations in the section Xavier who was playing assistant to me on it the other night in the middle of towards the end of that first night got yanked out of the pit
I hope you came back to the pit with the wig on no it’s just me and a couple of such good any stage props or people falling into the pit we had the tenor land on us in La Traviata because they had a that was really bad landed on Ignacio Garcia’s horn could have had a mouth pipe through his windpipe but instead only squashed it we had a walk around and and there was a state as scene change when all dark and prison this thing sort of landed on us and swore brilliantly in
Italian and it was a terror it in my time at the right now there’s some sure the legendary stories that I’ll let my colleagues share those stories but in my time the thing that I find is you know when the Opera is over and you see it these bouquets that are that’s great along that don’t make it onto the stage and just like comes barreling down right past people’s heads and the first thing people to and it’s just getting their instruments is usually because that it does you know
I mean I’ve fortunately no instruments ever been hurt since I’ve been at the Met there’s about the plainclothes just do you give them do you give them back then we throw them back up yeah the pit and it’s easy so amazing catches two one thing I AB see love is the enthusiasm or the displeasure of an opera of an opera audience you know in the symphony concert you might get some
Bravo’s you really get boos and let’s it’s a modern piece that nobody liked but even then but in the Opera you either go or you get hollow and then there’s this rush of of adrenaline and and it’s incredible isn’t nothing beats an opera opera house audience I really do pay for a Horton hang out audience devoted a knowledgeable devoted and knowledgeable and they’ll be fair sometimes because when one day when the curtain calls come out they’ll give maybe great cheers to the principles singers but then you know if it’s opening night and the director comes out like the production yeah you take cover at those
Did Carmen’s earrings fall in the pit says Richard Richard Wright Seger Pawnee Commons a comet’s earring we had loved from siegfried secret went and was dead in the blood went into the pit all over our music and it’s still on the music and we dated it and put you know Arizona that was very nice one of the great things we did in my time artistically at the
Met was Parsifal with Danielle Gotti and but that production has something like 15,000 gallons of fake blood in act two in a giant pool that the chorus has to wade through and stuff but that did leak down into the master lock or enough and we had pouring this blood stain down the walls for a few years I’d say opera orchestras it’s so much more fun than symphony orchestras
I love my job but I miss the Opera terribly I really really miss it well if you ever get tired of your day job yeah yeah well you get your tooth you’ve got too many great girls playing the horn here thank you go you’ve got to go who is not written into the chat yet so I think he’s probably on the beach shame on maybe so which is okay recreation you go wherever you are well deserved
I think a last question I would like to ask you from here is from Patti dakaru canon where are you writing in form I’m Patti Patti daikon ooh I can’t quite recognize that language tell us where you are what is the most challenging opera in your opinion not to stay awakened but to play play yeah yeah well any
Strauss opera is is certainly I would say frown a shot and maybe at least of the ones I’ve played I haven’t done them all yet I maybe wasn’t maybe on my list if I ever play two horns so it’s you know I love playing that it was it was it was a great it’s a great but how honest what would what
I recall about that and aside from the the the typical Wildhorn licks that Strauss only Strauss can write is for the first torn the last act you’ve got these exposed passages one that and that ends up you’re sitting on a high D above a high C and not for a quarter note it’s a good the whole note
I would say as I can’t remember distinctly the passage but that’s again and you’re you know four and a half hours in Eric I could talk to you for hours but I’m getting too excited about our opera quiz and I think our online viewers are if you’re watching on Facebook everybody who’s watching on Facebook go over to the live page now on the website because that is where the answers to the quiz are going to be taken and whoever answers first wins the prize that we’re offering right now we have some amazing prizes going we have this is really incredible we have six pairs of
Free tickets to the met which means if you’re going to win this online you need to be somewhere near New York or flyover we have blue bread and IO anta double bill it’s libras castle by Bartok and Yolanda’s by Tchaikovsky and these are on Valentine’s Day yes that’s actually not a very good opera to have on Valentine’s
Day Bluebeard I mean come on Bluebird kills all of his wives it’s very romantic very romantic okay well if you want to go and see I would I mean I might come I might apply for these so we have a chance of Valentine’s Day six tickets for that we have oh my this is amazing Eric and we have
Don Giovanni on the 20th of February 6 tickets for that so we have we have six so what we’re going to do we’re going to have your students your wonderful Juilliard horn class from all the studios right from Julie’s it’s an era created myself right so we’ve got students from all of us and we’re going to be playing opera horn excerpts and we’re going to be asking you and also you guys in the room /
XE each excerpt which one it is and which opera is it from and if if it’s tied then whoever tells us what act it is you know might might just win you guys aren’t allowed to enter ok you are section is not allowed to enter we also have a Juilliard penguin which I’m sure you’ve all wanted which will be sent out
I’d rather have a ticket but a Julliard penguin is also great Eric Sprott how many wanted one two three four five six seven eight we have an entire box of the ring of the Nibelungen was it the newest production which James Levine conducted the first two and then he fell ill and was out you know with spinal injury for two seasons and
Fabio Lewis he took over the the the final - yeah I know - and so this is bring done in 2013 and what I mean really Bryn yonas Kaufman Deborah Voigt Eva Maria who’s was my favorite segment of I just love love her voice has Peter quranic’ amazing okay I know I want to win this money okay features the
Machine our machinery the machine explain that this production I guess the the director it was from I should know his name it’s probably on here I was from Cirque de Soleil and so the set is this giant 23-ton machine moving planks and they they’re you know remotely controlled and they can transform into anything a flat screen where projections they individually move there may be about 20 of them across that span across the stage they could become the horses for the riders of all carriers and they go like this soprano fell off one night that’s a destroy land okay good but ya know this is a
Really a prop of the parsha this was this was a real this is a ring that I wish I could have seen it’s right and when it’s coming this year is it yes well we should come back into a horn hangout and get some free tickets to the - that one - great and also so that we have ten excerpts over at the penguin the julia penguin we have one two three four five six seven eight i think we can throw in two horn hangout t-shirts as well okay thank you for that dear audience they are well trained these t-shirts are really the the coolest
Thing handsome tim is in the corner wearing his big applause for handsome Tim now I couldn’t do this without Tim and his live-streaming company five stream who are in Australia right now it’s 8:30 in the morning and which is okay because yesterday’s hangout from Curtis was what was it Timbo it’s about 2:30 in the morning for you and he got one of his colleagues to get up at that time and managed the stream so he’s the boss so that’s good so thank you to all of you at five stream we were helping to make this possible flew in on
Saturday yeah he doesn’t really know where you he arrived before he left because of the time change so you literally and then when he gets back he needs two days to get back so it’s at all but we’re happy he’s here because the horn hangouts could not could not survive without him right Stephen thank you you wrote in
CEO Robert LePage she was Lapage apart apart apart so thank you from that thank you for that okay so let’s get your students ready this is of course quite stressful for everybody but we’re going to just breathe and enjoy playing but we can’t wait to hear you can I have the list just okay bear with us deer horn hangout audience so how we all set up thank you dear
Juilliard tech team because you guys are doing a great job dan and Yvonne thank you um so Eric can you tell us can you ask what your stands down a little bit so your mothers can see you yeah um Eric we’re not gonna say what the first excerpt is but can you tell us who’s playing alright we’ve divided these excerpts we have two quartets and and then the last section will involve everybody but the quartet is the last two throws last two seats here in the front row and and the back row so we have incur a we have
Jamie Reynolds we have Gabby foe and we have Ryan Williamson great thank you guys number one this first question will be for the audience in the room okay so this question is for you guys to win two tickets on Valentine’s Day to Blue Beard and aisle on top okay and the first person to put their hand up who knows what it is will win the prize okay
I know what it is because I’ve got it in front of me okay Eric let’s go guys [Music] that was really close that was really close between two of you but one of them is wearing a horn a horn hangout t-shirts so she wins what was that that’s Pagliacci Bravo and it was and you get to go to the
Mets alright next one well played you guys really sit around for an hour and then really good well prepared okay dear online audience this is now you Facebook if you’re watching on Facebook you got to get over to the live page ASAP because that’s where I’m seeing the question the answers okay we have now got another quartet from a famous opera this is hard this one this is really hard and we are going to be giving away two tickets to
Don Giovanni on the 20th of February this year so if you wanna if you wanna did you know what it is and you want to come you’ve got a few days to book your ticket unfortunately we can’t really cover them maybe someone made me look Tanza or British Airways or American maybe we can see what we can do maybe we can swap the tickets if it’s not good so
I need the first person I see here oh thank you you’ve been the online audience have also been participating pal yeah cheap wrote pop pop pop Aglio cheese that right yeah cheap yes we call it CAV it’s a local exactly and and and a lot of people have got that so online so that’s great but you didn’t win not yet okay but you could win these if you know what this is first person to write in the chat gets to win here we go [Music]
Bravo we’ve just had a right one from Patty they can do where are you are you nearby can you come he says it’s pootie Tommy yeah so we know she comes right at the front of the Opera and you hear this quartet about twelve more times in the overture yeah yeah fantastic fantastic you got that but where are you can you let us know where you are okay this excerpt is for everybody in the room right get your arms ready because you are going to know who played ilpo
Thani by the way who was playing we forgot yeah that was Vincent on first horn and then the rest of the quartet I forget which positions you were playing but again it’s the same group justify it first now Orion Williamson and Jamie Reynolds great and who have we got now you’re all you guys are doing all of it the first floor and first five boys are getting introduced up game so [Music] we have a winner what is it
Carmen are you free on Valentine’s Day you are now you are now let me go to date [Music] [Applause] [Music] beautifully played Bravo Bravo I don’t know if this is allowed guys you have to decide Richard rice he says tales of hoffmann do we give him the prize okay he gets the penguin he gets the value gets the penguin we are sending you a penguin and we’ll send you some horn hangout stickers as well how about that [Music] you guys please so great with
Pete Howard you are right if you are close enough to come let us know as soon as possible and we will do this moving swiftly along how we noon who have you got here Eric we have David Alexander playing first torn on this excerpt we have Jessica elder and Harry Chu and Lee cipher but in this X if it doesn’t really matter who’s playing what right yeah we’re on the audience the first person to write in what this is and if you can tell us what act it is then that’s a bonus as well so but the first person to let me know what it
Is wins a horn hangout t-shirt the bar [Music] [Applause] [Music] Bravo gasp ah who is who is I don’t know where you are let us know where you are and if you can get this this is getting very complicated can somebody write down who’s gay who’s one what that’s these are you have one a horn hangout t-shirt
Gaspard actually doesn’t matter he doesn’t have to come down to New York to get it Gaspar you are getting a horn hangout t-shirt send me your address and your size to the to my website info at and we will get that done congratulations [Music] Bravo my goodness that’s really fantastic contact Wow and and Thomas Thomas yes line says your students sound fantastic he’s watching nice conducting eric says
JK newcastle right somebody wrote that that was Skyfall Nick our says go Harry [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Pavo Pavo we have correct answers one has already won a prize so I’m taking a second correct answer which was Lucia di Lammermoor Andrea Colombo Bravo [Laughter] [Music] you you knew what it was and you get the prize [Music] thank you so much
I’m quite exhausted that is a really that’s a fantastic idea Eric thank you for all these quizzes and you started playing and the Chatwin June June June June June and yeah we had some fun I tell you two people got the answer at exactly the same time it came in the same time so both of you who’ve won a horn hangout t-shirt they are
Peter s and vladimir petrov because they both said go to demo won’t act we call it the zone and Alf gang the Sun the sunrise and thank you very much you please send us in your addresses and your sizes and I’m quite exhausted now we have to sit down again Erik we’re just gonna finish off our chat and you guys stay there and we just finished off the chat and then we’re gonna do some room
I’m the cable but a big round of applause from online and in the room for the Juilliard home ok Tim all under control that was quite exciting and that was a fantastic idea and thank you so much for organizing all these amazing presents ok so everyone’s saying thank you Eric your students are amazing says Betsy Bobo and the
Novotny says Bravo and thank you from a percussionist I mean there’s really it’s great I don’t can’t take complete credit here these are students from all the various faculty or in faculty here and you know they did the work I did coach them we did spend you know some time together that was their prize I guess some prize guys right but they’re famous they are now
I’ve been on in the first opera corn hangout quiz though well you know the the idea behind this was you know ok we do excerpts but you know the orchestra excerpts are so well covered you know and and people know them so well and you know I mean I can add what I have to say from my experience displaying them but opera excerpts are you know if you don’t get an opera experience how do you get an opera but if you don’t have an opportunity at offer experience it’s really it’s a catch-22 and so this is you know one way of enhancing their education we
Do offer here at Juilliard in fact they’re about to do Don Giovanni anybody who’s anybody involved in that there we go there’s our horn session okay so but you know it’s like I had you know a stoppers under my maybe ten I presented my belt before starting this job so I had Gilbert and Sullivan and butterfly was my very first one
I’d spent all summer learning it and then I was quite horrified the residue life loving my life loving it but I was horrified because what I’d learned was not what they were doing you know there was some other thing in Bulgarian mother Madame Butterfly and she was doing whatever she wanted that’s what no what I’d learned on my my
CDs so so opera opera playing is just the best and I would recommend it when I got my job age 20 I thought you know it’s just a by charms yeah and I had no spirit and a little part of me thought do I really want to go and play in an opera orchestra because I want to be on stage you know and
I think students may think that but it was the best I learned so much I don’t need to tell you but I need to I’d like us to persuade the viewers today how important especially the younger students how important operating a confession you know and when I’d be in the car back in the days before satellite radio and and
I’d put on the classical station and I for came on I usually hit the dial and went for something else but it’s you know it’s an art form that that you can cultivate an appreciation for and it’s so worth it because you know it really is the sense of synthesis of all art forms do you think you’re real hard to say with the dry mouth of synthesis but it’s yeah
I mean you’ve got the visual you’ve got you know the costumes the singing the orchestrations and you know the costume department you know like if the met it’s just a really cool place to go to I mean these people are real artists you know real craftspeople and it’s what it does for your ears as a young fan plan telling the story to music you know who doesn’t like that even if some of the stories are a little wacky stuff actually most opera though there our huge congratulations coming in here from all over the world for you guys really there to say you sound absolutely amazing
Which which we’ve already said but you read the chat after with you it’s incredible Eric unfortunately we’re almost at the end of our hangout because we’ve been going for quite a long time an hour and a half most people usually get 45 minutes we’re gonna have to chat you know over a beer later I guess program about that how about do you think we can go out where where it will it better not tell me online because then we’ll you never know be like a
Facebook party if you give the address out beforehand but I hope you know some good addresses and just are you guys all playing tonight we have to be in the pit too but thank you Joe - Joe Andrew yeah thank you they’re under a principle so everybody watching online if you have any more questions for Eric or you just have messages for anyone here or though
I do there at horns write them in the chat and you’ll see you’ll see this or later it’s really it’s it’s it’s it’s a wonderful feeling to know that everybody’s watching I just I just want to say how inspiring you are and and I just loved your playing for so long i sat in the Met it’s something we always try and do when we’re here on on tour is to catch a performance
I must admit that if we get it it’s usually the first night no it’s usually the first night and I have snoozed my way through second house because you arrive and you’re taught in your jet lag and then by about nine o’clock it’s the morning I’ve had some very nice first half know that when the shots capella were here that you jumped in and played for a swag mature
I had the best time with your old man I have to say that was a career highlight you know it was a Bruckner cycle at Carnegie Hall with Barron boy and all the birthday symphonies of which I got to play first on the fifth and then first tuba on seven eight and nine and what a beautiful Orchestra and keep that repertoire
I mean in Carnegie - is it was such an event that whole week and you don’t say no to Dana Barenboim can I tell a quick story yes oh yes please it was a Sunday morning I was taking my older son to a basketball game and you know I was like come on we’re late get your sneakers in and the phone rings my home phone and the home phone are for like telemarketers and
I picked it up for some reason I said yeah what do you want oh no and is it mr. rice key and I thought telemarketer that’s my name it’s like yeah what do you want this is did you think it was a joke no no I did you recognize the voice no I was like it was quite short it was pretty much yeah and you will get off
Rigoletto to play he organized that yeah yeah I was done but you know like I said you don’t say no and thank God it was one of these things where my schedule was like this and it just kind of fit like a glove so you say yes and it was a crazy week but it was such an enjoyable yeah that’s my old family’s like it
I’m only across the street but it’s funny in Berlin even if you’re in there’s all these orchestras but we rarely see each other because the times the orchestra day you know it’s like here in New York as well I hardly see male colleagues at the Philharmonic anymore unless they commute and occasionally twice a year in the garage or
Indy here that’s where your horn section hang out instead of coming to hang out thank you very much you guys for coming down from the Mets section I was very grateful for that and yeah how should we finish off your hangout Eric well how about we do want to do the vogner large ensemble thing which is a good time for that let’s do better or we can we can recommend well let’s do both hey you guys online you have another seven minutes eight minutes and we would play you two tunes which were arranged especially for you yes by a very talented man who’s gonna conduct
Yeah John Sheppard and these are one is from Puccini soir Angelica one of my favorite things that I’ve played at the Met just is a piece of music people don’t know that one thing no people don’t and it’s so beautiful and such a tragic real story and then the other one is from Laval Curie it’s the vintage vintage era okay well during this you guys you could write in all your messages of goodbye
I want to Eretz got to go I’m just going to come over and talk to you into this one you guys make some space I want to play too nothing like nothing like playing with a dry mouth hmm so I’m carry a little bit of warm-up noise Eric’s been talking for an hour thank you to the audience thank you very very much it’s really been great that you’ve been here and it’s quite exciting to feel part of such a global now you know how
I feel when I do the horn Hangouts there’s all these people watching all over the world it’s amazing we I’m staying in New York we have another horn hangout on the floor I don’t hear any warming up going on there we go we have another horn hangout on Valentine’s Day turn it up down that’s enough we we have another horn hangout coming up with the amazing
Joe Alessi principle trombone of the of the New York Phil and also teacher here at Julliard and we will be in the New York Philharmonic archive for that they’ve let us use their space and that’s on Valentine’s Day and we have a really cool surprise for him so do join us for that that’s what time is that
Tim sorry Scott three o’clock okay we’ll just say it’s a three o’clock three o’clock in New York time which is 9 p.m. Berlin time how what else do we got what time is it in Japan anybody no no okay now we will work that one out you can write that in the chat for me so we’re going to go and play finish off the best way we know how and that is with music if you get a chance to go to the
Met do it’s really really for me the greatest opera house in the world I’ll probably get in trouble with my Vienna colleagues for that but am i brilliant colleagues they are pretty good too I love the Berlin opera I love when I’m in New York the Beth the Met are the best Opera House in the world if
I’m in Berlin maybe I’d be forgiven for saying there no I love what you do I love your acoustic I love the it’s a whole set up the met in HD it’s really something very very special and they have an awesome horn section they really do I love them all so goodbye from us and enjoying now these wonderful two pieces thank you very much
John for coming along big applause from the audience and we’ll see you out there I was told to move the lap so I’m moving the lap okay good okay now it’s my turn to warm up okay hello I’m going to be very quietly okay it was this our part okay right then we’ll show her okay all right okay okay body mic off don’t anyone hearing this okay shall we [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] thank you thank you you are a rock star oh my goodness me
I was so nervous for that hi-c at the end I didn’t even have to play it Danny you getting a good picking you getting big getting him in there good cuz he’s a superstar gonna make sure we get a good shot that’s well turning red yeah that’s what we want to see so um shall we finish off because everyone’s clapping so loudly and our online audience we’re going to play now a to
Garber okay an encore yes so what we got I’d like to hear your German into streamer from Valkyrie last curtain I like you I remember Placido Domingo singing this it didn’t we didn’t it didn’t sound like that but it sounded amazing oh I don’t have any music can I have some music is that all we’ve got banter apart oh man oh man no music is that without the part we were playing okay you play that part where we’re playing this part okay good okay
I didn’t play this part I’m not playing this is way too high - I’m not playing I’m going down here to the low part you guys go up there yes what part are you playing oh yeah and that’s not my lot lower oh well I okay I understand hidden okay alright I’ll just sit and count ready [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you
Horn Hangouts are created by Sarah Willis of the Berlin Philharmonic. Brassbanned is a proud long-time collaborator and streaming partner.
