singerclarinet, Author at

(Chapter 2)

Yehudi Menuhin and I perform together in Carnegie Hall

A Banner Year and an Unforgettable Experience

1983 was to be a great year for me. Over the past few seasons I had received critical acclaim, including a terrific review from The New York Times written by Joseph Horowitz on December 16, 1980. In 1977 Rudolf Serkin and I recorded The Max Reger Sonata at the Marlboro Music Festival, and I was featured on several “Music From Marlboro” tours in major cities throughout the East Coast including NYC. In addition, being a principal player with an up-and-coming group, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, all had a very positive effect on the top musicians and their managers making decisions regarding who to hire for the biggest chamber music concerts in New York for the coming season. As a result, I got a call asking me to perform in a special Carnegie Hall concert with Yehudi Menuhin – recognized as one of the greatest violinists of the twentieth century – commemorating the tenth anniversary of the passing of another great violinist and legend, Joseph Szigeti. Isaac Stern, as spokesman and the Guarneri Quartet also performed on the program.

One Rehearsal

On February 19, 1983 Yehudi Menuhin and I performed Bela Bartok’s Contrasts with pianist Gyorgy Sandor. Both Menuhin and Sandor were friends and colleagues of Bela Bartok and premiered several of his pieces back in the 1940’s. In fact, Bartok wrote and dedicated important works for both Menuhin and Sandor. I was more self-conscious playing for these two champions of Bartok’s music in the one rehearsal we had together than I was at the performance the following night.

Yehudi Menuhin and My Mother

When I called my mother weeks before and told her I was to perform with Yehudi Menuhin in Carnegie Hall, right away she became very excited. She had to be there. Her sudden enthusiasm was very uncharacteristic for her at that point in her life as she had been living as a hermit and was deeply depressed, but now, suddenly, my mother had come back to life. She bought a plane ticket and flew across the country, from LA to NYC. I told Menuhin that my mother idolized him – she was an aspiring violinist at one time and went to the Mannes School of Music in NYC. When I told Menuhin she was coming to the concert he told me to be sure and introduce her to him after our performance.

Our Performance

I was so proud to walk out onto one of the most historic stages in the world with Yehudi Menuhin and Gyorgy Sandor. The walk to center stage at Carnegie Hall is very long and felt quite different from other times I had performed there with Orpheus or with other larger orchestras. Instead of looking at the conductor or my twenty or so colleagues to begin the concert, there, standing just a few feet away was a smiling Yehudi Menuhin looking right at me. It was all I could do to notice that he was bowing to the audience, packed to the rafters, and so I bowed too.

Honored by an All-Time Great

Right after our performance, Yehudi Menuhin grabbed my hand and it felt like he was about to pull it off my arm. He told me how “wonderfully musical” and “inspired” my playing was, how much fun he had playing with me and how he hoped we could play together again in the near future. It was quite a thrill!

A Highlight for My Mother

I brought my mother back stage and holding her hand walked her up to the front of the long line of people waiting to talk with Menuhin. As politely as I could, I waited for a break in the conversation and Menuhin smiled at me as I introduced him to my mom. Many admirers were vying for his attention but he only had eyes for my mother. He actually took her into a quiet room and I noticed that they sat down together. When they came out of the room some minutes later my mother was absolutely beaming. She told me later that hearing Yehudi Menuhin and me play together and speaking with him in Carnegie Hall that evening was one of the highlights of her life.

*From my memoir From Cab Driver to Carnegie Hall

Footnote

A few months after my concert in Carnegie Hall with Yehudi Menuhin I moved to Seattle with my wife, daughter and step daughter and began my short-lived career selling welding rod products.

Thank you for reading this latest chapter in my ongoing blog. If you haven’t already, feel free to sign up at the bottom of this page to be kept informed whenever a new chapter is released, and to stay on top of any and all performances coming up for me.

One exciting new event coming up this season is that I will be performing the Aaron Copland Clarinet Concerto with conductor Michael Stanley and the Burbank Philharmonic Orchestra.
Date(s) to be announced.

See you online! David

David Singer, Grammy Award-Winning Professional Musician for 55 years
Author of “From Cab Driver to Carnegie Hall“
www.singerclarinet.com
Blog updated frequently

Click here to see Taxiing Toward Success – Chapter 1

(Chapter 1)

Weekly Reflections by David Singer

“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” – Confucius

Dear Family and Friends,

Blogging is an entirely new and exciting adventure for me so feel free to say what you think/like/dislike in comments or direct messages.

The Beginning

Living through my past

In more than one way, this blog will allow me to share and discuss things that were always very private. I felt the need to document that I was a victim of child abuse. I did not do this to shame my abusers, but to help other people (especially other victims of such abuse) know and understand that it is possible to move past such horrific experiences and actually live a good and productive life. The experience of being violated does not have to forever define who you are and what future direction your life leads. There are ways to move on. Writing this memoir was actually very healing for me, and I realize that both therapy and prayer have guided and inspired me to do good deeds for others, every day if possible. Doing good deeds has helped me feel less afraid – less alone in my life.

My musical father

Writing this memoir also has given me a platform to bring back to life Rudolf Jettel, former principal clarinetist of the Vienna Philharmonic. I consider Professor Jettel to be my “musical father,” and still remember clearly sitting in the pit of the Staatsoper with him during opera season when I was a bright-eyed 12-year-old, watching and listening – front and center – to the operas, surrounded by the greatest orchestra and singers in the world. Even more significant, according to my orthodox relatives in Vienna, Rudolf Jettel was a hero to many Jews. He risked his own life and livelihood, playing in the Vienna Philharmonic, for helping Jews escape certain death during the occupation of the Nazis. Fact is, he was expelled from the Philharmonic. Jettel was later reinstated by the great conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler. Today, Rudolf Jettel’s name is on a large plaque in the Vienna Philharmonic Museum commemorating his heroism during WW2.

Keeping up

Another reason to me to write this book was that I wanted to let my colleagues in Orpheus and other professional groups that I played with over the years know what I went through in order to be on the stage with them. Many evenings, while colleagues were crossing Broadway or 7th Avenue on the way to play their concerts at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, they might well have caught a glimpse of a familiar face behind the wheel of a passing cab. I imagine them shaking their heads and discounting the reality of the experience, but in fact, I was that menial driver passing them by at that moment. Of course, I saw these colleagues many times while driving, but always quickly hid myself. I believed that the elite organizations I was beginning to be part of would quickly shun me if they found out that I was forced to perform such a common task as driving a cab to make a living. At times I felt like I was only brushing up against the fringe of their societal accomplishments as I toiled and struggled with everyday work, and grueling condensed musical practice sessions in a desperate attempt to keep up with my peers.

A bit obsessive, perhaps

No one in Orpheus wanted to stay in the room next to mine on the road. In large part that was because I was constantly practicing like a madman in order to feel like I was keeping up with my colleagues, who were all full-time performers. I did not want to bring the group down. As no one in Orpheus knew about my “secret life” as a regular blue-collar worker, I must have appeared obsessed with my practicing since it seemed to me that some of the other musicians I worked with had spare hours to sleep, go shopping, travel to museums, or to that ‘special restaurant on the other side of town’, to their hearts’ content. I had to maximize every hour – every minute, in order to stay on pace with my colleagues.

Family first

I also wanted to tell the story of how and why, despite my intense love of music and performing, I felt compelled to follow my wife and our daughter, Laura, and move to Seattle in an attempt to keep our family together. This was during the time I was performing at Carnegie Hall, starting out with Orpheus, and appearing with Stockard Channing in “The Lady and the Clarinet.” I went to Seattle with my family and ultimately sold welding supplies there to make a living. I also created a music program in Seattle for very young children that years later helped deliver the financial security of a university professorship.

Giving thanks to my icons

It is important for me to express my love and respect for many of the people who helped to shape my life throughout my career. Rudolf Serkin invited me to participate at the Marlboro Music Festival. We performed many times together and also recorded a Max Reger Sonata which was remastered and released in 2023 by Pristine Classical. I also performed in a trio with the world-famous Yehudi Menuhin in Carnegie Hall and after introducing him to my star-struck mother they had a private conversation together which made a big difference in her life.

From past to future

I felt consistently compelled to finish this book, not just to leave my legacy behind for whomever might be interested, but also to help the people of this world – who I can still directly touch – know some of the beauty I remember from my past, and to share with everyone my unshakable belief that there is and will be beauty in the future.

In conclusion

I hope you have enjoyed this first chapter of my ongoing blog.

Stay tuned next week for updates.

See you online!! Thank you. David

From Cab Driver to Carnegie Hall - David Singer

David Singer, Grammy Award-Winning Professional Musician for 55 years
Author of “From Cab Driver to Carnegie Hall“
www.singerclarinet.com
Blog updated frequently

Click here to see Taxiing Toward Success – Chapter 2