Innocents Abroad

My personal history and the question arising as to how I landed here requires some backtracking since it was a circuitous journey and not at all planned far in advance. I always had a dim yearning to spend some time in Europe. Being a classical musician, I felt that a familiarity with European culture and languages could only enhance my education and growth as an artist. What is more natural than a classical musician being exposed to the fountainheads of the music he or she plays? The experience of having played a bit of Italian and German opera as a student and young professional in the States made me want to really understand those languages.

Since I had never gone on a sightseeing tour of Europe, I jumped at the chance to join the Fesitval dei due Mondi. That fesitval got me to Europe. In those days we played in Charleston, South Carolina, and Spoleto, Italy. I really fell in love with the picturesque town of Spoleto, a small city nestled in the hills of the province of Umbria. In the Festival Orchestra, composed of American students from all over the country, there were several members who were intent upon exploring employment opportunities in Europe. I had heard too that there were former members who had gone on to careers as musicians in Europe.

Actually at the time I was in the middle of a Masters of Music program at Indiana University and not primarily thinking about career opportunities. My plan had been to finish up the degree the following year, concurrently starting to get my feet wet taking auditions. However, a friend, a fellow violinist, informed me that there were openings at the orchestra in Florence, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and that he was going to try out. Wouldn’t it be good experience for me to go along?

As luck would have it, I got the job in Florence. (My friend, ironically, didn’t have such a good day.) It all happened very quickly. Before I knew what was happening, the general manager was pushing a contract, in Italian of course, in my face, waiting for me to sign. In the euphoria of success, I realized that I really had always wanted to “get some experience in Europe” and that I would be a fool to pass up such an opportunity. So much for auditioning “just for the experience”. The idea of spending a year in Italy working really grew on me and I decided that I could postpone my studies at Bloomington since as it happened my violin teacher was on sabbatical that year anyway.

To make a long story short, I did spend a year in Florence, mostly enjoying the experience, but came back to Indiana University to finish up my masters degree the following year. During that time I took a few auditions in the States, coming close, making the finals at a few major orchestras, but having nothing to show for it. Although I was asked by one American orchestra to stay on as a long-term sub, I decided to return to Italy where they offered me a new contract.

At that time in Italy, foreigners from non-European-Community countries were only employed on a non-tenure basis. The contracts would run for one or two years and might be renewed or might not, sometimes with very little notice. There were several Americans who had been there for years. However it seemed to me that there was little contractual long-term job security. For that and other reasons, I decided to apply for a position in Germany, which had a reputation of being more liberal with respect to working conditions.

I sent my application to several orchestras and by chance the Munich Philharmonic was the first to respond, informing me that there was an audition to be held in Munich in two weeks. Glad to be invited, I took the night train up from Florence to Munich, won the audition the next day and took the train back the same day to Florence so that I could be back in time for a rehearsal the next day. It was like survival training.

After finishing up the summer in Italy and tying up loose ends in the States I assumed my duties here in Munich. That was nearly 26 years ago and I am still here today. Not speaking German when I arrived here, I enrolled at the Volkshochschule (equivalent to night school in the States). Here I met my wife who was my German teacher too. We have two children, a boy and girl, both now in their twenties.

It has now been over a quarter of a century that I have been in Munich, something that takes even me a while to get used to. We all get older and it is part of life personifying the old adage “how time flies!” Especially when you stay in one place for such a long time, and in this case a foreign land, you see yourself graduating from the ranks of the young up-and-coming to the middle generation, soon to join the seniors. If somebody had told me in my student days that I would still be here after so many years, I would probably have laughed. Yet all things considered, life has been quite agreeable here.