Barbara R. Morgenstern

As part of our new e-blast update, 50th Reflections, I will be posting the weekly reflections on our blog, in case you missed an e-blast or would like to link to these wonderful stories through your Facebook or Twitter accounts.  And please do share!  These stories are too enjoyable not to :) 

Barbara R. Morgenstern

Barbara R. Morgenstern is co-chair of the EMF board of directors.  In the 1970s she directed Project: LISTEN, a community outreach program at EMF, and worked in the EMF office.  She was married to Sheldon Morgenstern for 13 years.  Ms. Morgenstern is a practicing attorney specializing in family law in Greensboro, NC.

I first became involved with Eastern Music Festival when I met Shelly in 1975 while playing second flute in the Bética Filarmónica in Seville, Spain, during my junior year in college. Shelly came as a guest conductor, speaking no Spanish, and I was the only one in the orchestra who spoke English. Not easily adjusting to Spanish culture (rehearsals started when there was a quorum), he at one point threw his baton down and said, “I quit” -- which I refused to translate! After the concert, we corresponded, and he invited me to come work at EMF in 1976 as the coordinator for Project: LISTEN (Let It Sound to Everyone Near!). I arranged for a faculty quartet to perform at day care centers, nursing homes, parks, etc. in 1976 and had two faculty quartets to “book” the second summer. I also worked in the EMF office during the summers, typing programs, answering the telephone, running errands, etc. On one of my errands, I took a phone message to Yo-Yo Ma, who answered the door in his boxer shorts! 

As our relationship developed into something more than just friendship, I had the opportunity to socialize with the guest artists whom Shelly invited, including such notables as Leonard Rose, David Bar-Illan, Lynn Harrell, Yo-Yo Ma, the Guarneri Quartet, Nobuko Imai, Gary Karr, and the list goes on. I was impressed by the variety of interests they had beyond music and by their humble manner. I lived in Bryan Hall, where most of the faculty stayed as well as the guest artists (except Leonard Rose). Bryan Hall is configured as four-bedroom suites with a common bathroom. The guest artist suite had a microwave and dormitory size refrigerator, but was otherwise the same as the other fac­ulty suites! The nice aspect of this housing arrangement was that the faculty had ready access to the guest artists and would often get together with them for impromptu chamber music-making or for badminton games in the center court since they were here for an entire week. The guest artists ate in the cafeteria and were therefore also accessible to the students.

Shelly’s ability to engage these internationally known guest artists to come for a pittance and live in pretty deplorable conditions for a week was amazing! His vision of a festival where high school students could interact regularly with their teachers and the guest artists in master classes, casual conversation, impromptu music-making, etc. allowed stu­dents to have an experience unlike any they could have elsewhere. The guest artists all performed with the musicians at the Tuesday night chamber music concerts, gave master classes later in the week, and then performed with the Eastern Philharmonic Orchestra on Saturday. The EPO members played in respected regional orchestras during the regular sea­son and had a studio of students whom they could bring with them during the summer. I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to get to know many of the musicians and their families over the years because so many continue to return year after year.

As you can imagine, having 175-200 mainly high school students on a college campus for 6 weeks might create havoc for the counselors. One of the most memorable events was when Wynton Marsalis removed the door knobs from all of the students’ rooms making it impos­sible to get out of their rooms for breakfast or rehearsal. One of the student orchestra conductors, Bob Helmacy, was pretty adamant that students get to rehearsal on time. Needless to say, he was furious at Wynton!

After my divorce from Shelly, I didn’t attend EMF concerts until his retirement. Because I believe EMF is truly a remarkable place, I then contacted Tom Philion and told him I would like to be involved again. I am so happy to continue my association with EMF and to see the 50^th season come to fruition and EMF continue to succeed in its mission under the leadership of Jerry Schwarz!