The Eureka Symphony features a cross-section of musicians from across the greater Humboldt Bay area, staging concerts for the general public as well as local schoolkids. In this episode of Talk Humboldt, MacDonell talks about the live concert experience, how the Eureka symphony is managed, and how Twitch streaming helped get her through the COVID lockdown.
Tom Jackson:
Hi, I'm Tom Jackson, president of Cal Poly Humboldt, and I'm here today with my dear friend and colleague, Dr. Keith Flamer, president of the College of the Redwoods. Good to see you, Keith.
Keith Flamer:
Tom, it's always good to see you, too. It's great to be here.
Tom Jackson:
Did you play an instrument when you were younger?
Keith Flamer:
I did. Oh, my gosh. This is such an exciting interview, because from the age of 10 to 15, I played Viola.
Tom Jackson:
We're here with Holly MacDonnell, the principal violist for Eureka Symphony. Welcome, Holly.
Holly MacDonnell:
Thank you so much for having me. It's really great to be here.
Tom Jackson:
Good to have you here. Can you say a little bit about your background? Followed up with what do you love most about the symphony?
Holly MacDonnell:
Well, I grew up in Orange County. I started Viola when I was in middle school after playing violin for a while, and I came to Humboldt to go to school, had a lot of a lot of string experience in my past. Also got a lot of playing in college and community orchestras. My favorite part about playing with the Eureka Symphony is definitely the collaboration and community. And we love the music we play. I mean, why else would we be doing it? To be able to look at something that looks really challenging and awkward and terrible and be able to play that six weeks later is a real joy and a real accomplishment in that sense that you get that. I'm really doing something special and important.
Keith Flamer:
So what is your your favorite style and type of music?
Holly MacDonnell:
I like a lot, and the more I play, the more I like what I'm playing. I really love the Russian romantics.
Keith Flamer:
Really? Those ones are hard ones to play.
Holly MacDonnell:
Like Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky. They're just, they're thick and rich and have so much going on. Those romantics know how to use those inner voices.
Keith Flamer:
Holly, we got a chance to take a look at your website.
Holly MacDonnell:
Okay.
Keith Flamer:
And I heard some of your your music and it's clearly not classical.
Holly MacDonnell:
Clearly.
Keith Flamer:
I think it'd be good for us to just to hear a clip of of some of the music that we're talking about.
Holly MacDonnell:
All right.
[Music Plays]
Holly MacDonnell:
I call it chill-lectro.
Keith Flamer:
Chill-lectro? Interesting. So how did you get from where you are with the symphony to this avant garde style of music that you like to record?
Holly MacDonnell:
We sheltered in place for a while and we weren't playing symphony music, so I was good friends with one other musician. We just got together and started with one of those little red looping pedals, just making something, making noise, and then we just started getting more equipment and let's go ahead and stream on the Internet while we're here. And we sort of found a community of other noise makers and blossomed into this other kind of musician now, I think.
Keith Flamer:
By my very first symphony, I remember I think I was about eight or nine years old, and we had seats right at the front and the music just rolls over you. How would you describe seeing it and hearing it in person versus a recording?
Holly MacDonnell:
It's it's really an amazing thing and it's this feeling like there are 45 or 60 people on stage and we're going to get all worked up and excited. Like I get emotional about it. I know when I watch other performances, as you know, when I'm an audience member, I go home and I'm like, I should practice. It's very inspiring.
Tom Jackson:
If I can go back to the Eureka symphony for just a moment, can you talk a little bit about the role of the conductor? And and because I may watch a performance, but it doesn't always appear that the musicians are looking or watching. But I know you are. Just share a little bit about that role.
Holly MacDonnell:
There is a there's a lot of peripheral vision that we have. There's definitely the stand can't be too high because that would block out the view of the conductor. We're always watching, even if you don't really see watching and that conductor really is there to help us stay together. The conductor also portrays sort of the emotion of the sound that we're trying to make, and that might be with a really like bouncy stick motion or it might be a really smooth wave like motion.
And and that really that helps us sort of grab on to what kind of sound we're supposed to be making.
Keith Flamer:
Holly, if you could talk to us a little bit about who makes up the group. Talk to us about like the ages and you all have jobs outside of the symphony.
Holly MacDonnell:
We do. We're all like these little mini rock stars just walking around the community.
Keith Flamer:
Oh I like that. Mini rock stars. That's great.
Holly MacDonnell:
We have a big age range. We have a high school player or two. And we even have someone who is 90 years old playing in our orchestra and that's actually one of the really neat things to me, we're all members of our community. I'm a teacher. I know there are a few other teachers they’re are doctors. One of our players is one of the local transit bus drivers. So like you get a really big cross-section of our local community.
Keith Flamer:
How do you select the music of the season?
Holly MacDonnell:
So our conductor, Carl Jacobsen. It's really up to her to make all those decisions, all those choices.
Keith Flamer:
How is the Eureka Symphony set up?
Holly MacDonnell:
Well, we have a board and the board hires the symphony manager and they take care of a lot of the background stuff. And the artistic director is our conductor. So she's making those musical decisions and leading us. The concertmaster is sort of that right-hand person to the conductor. And then each section of instruments has a principal player who's supposed to be, you know, the most experienced person in the section and is the person that would take any questions from their section. So as the principal, Viola, if there's a question about a bowing or a note or something, then they would ask me if I don't know the answer, I can go to the concertmaster. If the concertmaster doesn't know the answer, they can go to the conductor, that kind of hierarchy.
Keith Flamer:
Interesting. Thank you for that.
Tom Jackson:
Lastly, what goes into an audition? So let’s say Keith wanted to dust off his viola and audition.
Keith Flamer:
Oh the pressure's on.
Tom Jackson:
Oh, yeah, yeah. What would go into an audition? And what are you looking for?
Holly MacDonnell:
So I know Carol likes to listen to players. I'm sure it's like, play a piece of repertoire that's some sort of solo piece. And then sight reading, which is reading a piece of music that you've never seen before, you know, and being able to play it, which is quite a feat. It's like reading in a different language, in a foreign language, like with emotion in real time. And I'm sure Carol would like to get along with that person also. We're a team. We're really trying to collaborate.
Tom Jackson:
I'm fascinated by this conversation. And, you know, Keith, we like to do a lot of things together. Maybe this is one of those things that we, say, let's show up to the Eureka Symphony one day and just enjoy it.
Keith Flamer:
You got a deal. I'll be the first one in line with you.
Tom Jackson:
Sounds good. Holly MacDonnell, thank you so much for your time today and the insights you provided. It's greatly appreciated.
Holly MacDonnell:
Thank you.
Keith Flamer:
And my granddaughter will be very happy to know that I talked to you today.
Holly MacDonnell:
Excellent. Wonderful.
