Reflections from Covington, Jr. and O'Briant

Howard E. Covington, Jr.

Howard E. Covington Jr. was EMF board chair from 1991-1992. He is a well-known author who has written over a dozen historical books on Greensboro and North Carolina companies, and he was the editor of  Spectator Magazine.

I don’t recall the year this happened, probably 1991 or 1992, and I had been involved with EMF for several years. Through my activity as a volunteer, I knew the basics of this remarkable summer program – talented young musicians coupling with energized professionals in a union that produced a summer-long calendar of great music to be enjoyed in a variety of venues. The real essence of the experience became fully apparent one evening when my wife, Gloria, and I discovered that the back of our minivan was just as good a place to hear talented musicians as our seats at Dana Auditorium.

It happened this way. Old friends stopped in to visit us at the start of the EMF season to let us know that they just deposited their daughter, a flutist, at Guilford College for her first summer at EMF. A few weeks later, we were loading her and five of her new musician friends into the car for the ride downtown to enjoy the Fourth of July fireworks. On the way to the display, and throughout the half hour or so we stood and watched, the group was no different from any other collection of teenagers. Their connection could as easily have been soccer as music. It wasn’t until we headed back to Guilford College that the magic happened.

The traffic was heavy on Friendly Avenue, and as we waited for lights to change and allow our car to move along, one in the group started whistling the familiar Sousa march, “Stars and Stripes Forever.” One by one, the others joined in, contributing in a pitch and sound that mimicked the parts that Sousa had written for their individual instruments. (They all played wind instruments, and evidently knew the tune from their high school band experiences.) In an instant, Gloria and I were an audience of two for the most meaningful rendition of that old march that we had ever heard.

When someone asks us about EMF, and what it means to me, and to this community, that story is always a part of our answer. The students who come to EMF are among the most creative and talented young people in the world. It is our job, as volunteers, to make sure that there is a place for them to perfect their talent and to create music that provides so much pleasure for us all.

Our friends’ daughter didn’t end up in a career in music. She is a practicing physician in Boston, but I am sure that her life, and the lives of those around her, is enhanced by her musical experience. And EMF had a part in making that happen.

Linda O’Briant

Linda O’Briant has chaired the High Point Pops concerts and served on EMF’s board from 2000-2007. She has been a Doncaster wardrobe consultant for 25 years. Mrs. O’Briant and her family live in High Point, NC, and she “loves being involved!”

My first memory of Eastern Music Festival is that first summer, 50 years ago, when I was just a young girl riding my bike on the campus with my best friend and hearing music flowing from the windows of Dana, filling the air with beautiful melodies!! It was magical!! We would stop and just listen … .knowing it was the “music campers” as we called them.

The first High Point Pops concert was held at Market Square. Jake Froelich’s mother was celebrating a 90^th birthday. We had a violin student play “Happy Birthday” to her, and she never got over it; she was so touched and moved, as we all were! All of the Pops concerts were wonderful, well attended, and memorable, but the one that stands out the most is the time Rhapsody in Blue was played!! Absolutely, positively the BEST of all the rest.

Eastern Music Festival is a treasure that has enhanced the quality of life in the Triad all of these years. There is something for everyone! We need to dress up, show up, soak it up, and get involved to secure the future of this music for generations to come. Happy Birthday EMF – the BEST is yet to come…see you all there!!!

EMF Faculty Member Reflects...

Neal Cary

Neal Cary, currently principal cellist with the Eastern Festival Orchestra, has played at EMF every summer since 1984. He is principal cellist with the Richmond Symphony and is on the adjunct faculty at the College of William and Mary and Virginia Commonwealth University. He earned his M.M. at The Juilliard School, and his teachers included the world-renowned Leonard Rose.

One of my favorite memories from EMF dates from a summer in the 1980s when I was co-principal cellist with Diane Chaplin. Diane was a marvelous cellist with a very outgoing personality who always liked a good joke. Although we were friends, we were a little competitive and enjoyed playing light-hearted pranks on each other.

After a few weeks had passed, I finally found the perfect opportunity for one prank when I noticed that each week she had a new and wild nail color for her fingers and toes. The timing I chose for my prank was when she was scheduled to play principal in Shostakovich’ Symphony No. 1. As you may know, this symphony has many difficult cello solos and ends with a sad and quiet, extensive, and especially difficult cello solo.  

In the first rehearsal of the Shostakovich, I took special care to turn each page with my left hand. Since I was sitting on Diane's right side as her assistant that week, she couldn't see that the nails on my right hand looked absolutely ridiculous. (My friend Carol Havelka had painted the nails of my right hand all the different colors Diane had used that summer!) However, most of the rest of the orchestra could see it -- notably Lisa Johnson (later Lisa Sutton), who sat in the violin section opposite Diane. With each cello solo, quiet giggles and smiles traveled across the orchestra because everyone knew I had something up my sleeve. With each cello solo, Diane became a little less secure because she thought something was wrong -- first with her playing, and then with her clothes. All the while, Sheldon Morgenstern remained the total professional and just kept rehearsing.

  

Finally, when Diane was just about to begin playing the last big cello solo at the end, I very carefully and slowly adjusted the music to the left with my right hand. Diane let out something best described as a “horse laugh”!

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When I arrived at Eastern Music Festival in 1984, I heard many stories about things that happened in the past.  One story involved the president of the board locking the door in a board meeting until board members donated enough money to keep the festival going. [ed. note: it was E. R. Zane Jr.]

Back then, the workload was pretty light. Faculty coached chamber music twice a week, maybe taught one or two students each, and there were usually no extra orchestra concerts off the Guilford campus. Faculty chamber music was performed only once a week, so usually faculty would perform only one or no chamber works each summer. Instead, faculty would often gather until the wee hours of the morning, reading various chamber music works at informal parties.

Orchestra concerts were Saturdays, but the rehearsals for the next week didn't begin until Wednesday morning. Many faculty would leave for either the beach or the mountains Saturday night after the concert and return just in time for the 10:00 AM rehearsal on Wednesday.

One of my most pleasant memories was one of those trips. Lindsay Groves (cellist), Bob Anderson (bassist), and Lisa Johnson (violinist) invited me to Wrightsville Beach where I learned how to windsurf. On another weekend, I went hiking with Lindsay up Grandfather Mountain.

The extra free time we had back then meant that we had more time for practice, relaxation, and just to hang out and make friends. We stayed in Bryan Hall, which had connected balconies on each floor, and often faculty would get together to have cookouts on the balcony or would stay up late listening to music and talking. Bryan had a courtyard which was another gathering place for faculty. There were quite a few squirt gun and water balloon fights in the 80s.

One night, several of us threw our mattresses off the balcony and slept in the courtyard. I remember waking up to someone taking my picture.

Usually, John Feddersen (timpani) would string a badminton net across the Bryan courtyard late at night, hang lights on the balcony, and faculty would play until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. One night I made the mistake of playing too long and then had to struggle with a shaky bow for my performance of Appalachian Spring the next night. It was torture, but worth it!

The last Thursday late evening of the festival was always reserved for the "Graveyard" -- skits performed by the faculty for the faculty. These skits usually made light of funny things that happened over the summer and were funnier than the best skits one could find on “Saturday Night Live.” It's too bad that these performances were not videotaped!

Of course, Jeff Multer (now concertmaster) and Jennifer (Perk) Combs (cello) were always funny. I remember being invited to a ballet performance by Jennifer where she danced out of one room, twirled around as she went across the living room, and then into the next room where it sounded like hundreds of pots and pans came crashing to the floor.

I'll never forget the time Jeff spent an entire morning learning the Meditation from Thaïs just to give me a private performance of the piece after I had mentioned it was one of my most favorite pieces.

One summer, I remember marching across the lawn late at night with 20 other faculty members toward Milner (the student dorm) singing the soldiers’ song from The Wizard of Oz (Oh wee oh, ohweee - oh) and launching hundreds of bottle rockets in a mock attack. The students retaliated by playing a brass quintet concert at 5:00 AM the next morning in the Bryan courtyard.

EMF has come a long way since those carefree early days. Many of those early personalities on the faculty, on the board, and administrative staff -- people like Shelly Morgenstern, Leah Tannenbaum, Perk, and others too numerous to mention -- helped mold EMF into the world-class festival we have today. Today, we still know how to have fun, and I'm sure there will be plenty of memories in store for our future!

Mary G. Long

Ronald V. Long, Jr.

Mary G. Long

Mrs. Mary G. Long is the mother of Ronald V. Long Jr., a violin student at EMF from 2007 to 2009. Ron has performed at several special events in Greensboro, including performing at Shelly Morgenstern’s memorial service in Dana Auditorium. Mrs. Long is a stay-at-home mom and resides in Greensboro, NC.

I felt honored when my son’s violin teacher recommended that he apply for EMF (2007). I heard about the wonderful things this festival has done for children from all over the world for years but did not expect my son to be a part of a spectacular music festival. When my son auditioned, he asked me “Why am I so nervous?” and I responded and said, “You are nervous because you care about what you are doing; don’t be nervous.” To be honest, I was as nervous as he was, but of course I did not allow it to show. I further explained to him that “you have worked so hard for this opportunity, and whatever you do, don’t let your nerves distract your love for your instrument.”

When my son received his acceptance letter, I really could not believe it, but my son ran through the house like it was reality. He immediately darted to the computer and searched up all of the guest performers and faculty, and he continued to run through the house yelling how excited he was to learn from immense professionals. He was happier than a kid receiving his first Christmas present. My husband and I were amazed that he was accepted by the festival and realized that he may have some talent. I soon after thought about how he would keep up his laundry for 5 weeks in a joking way. Of course being a mother, I was happy and worried, “happy” that he was taking the right steps to increasing his violin talent but “worried” about it being his first time away from home. When arriving at his dorm, we were warmly greeted with open arms. My son felt at home, and so did I.

What really put the icing on the cake is when my husband and I attended his first symphony concert, not knowing what to expect. Taking my seat and seeing my son on the stage improved my realization of this whole experience. The performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 was a cathartic experience. At that moment, my husband and I realized that our son was living his life the way he wanted and was serious about it -- more serious than he has ever been about anything. Eastern Music Festival was certainly the key to his love for music. It not only changed my life, but it changed my son’s life in an elevated way.

William R. Rogers' 50th Reflection

William R. Rogers, Ph.D.

William Rogers is president emeritus of Guilford College, having served as president from 1980 to 1996. He has remained involved with EMF, and his wife, Beverley, has served on the EMF board and several committees. An accomplished musician, artist, sculptor, and Quaker leader, Dr. Rogers resides in Greensboro, NC, and summers in Islesboro, ME.

The Eastern Music Festival and Guilford College

A Retrospective and Affirmation

This brief essay is intended as one in a series of reflections on the interesting history of the Eastern Music Festival as this organization celebrates its 50^th anniversary. This history is intimately tied to the people and the purposes of Guilford College, which has housed and encouraged the work of EMF through all these years.

The story really starts with the musical excellence and organizational vision of Sheldon Morgenstern (Shelly), who developed an early and passionate love of music, especially classical and to some extent jazz. He heard fine classical music in his early childhood in Cleveland, and he went on to study and play at Florida State and Northwestern universities. As a young musician he played the French horn in the Atlanta Symphony. But he quickly realized his particular fascination with the overall composition, phrasing, and interpretation of musical performances and their technical and emotional power, and he went on to study conducting at the New England Conservatory.

His specific inspiration was to learn how young musicians develop and to open their vision and aspiration for genuine excellence. He became familiar with the creative educational model at Interlochen in Michigan and worked for a time with the fine summer program at Brevard in the North Carolina mountains. But he yearned to develop a superior program that would attract some of the most talented musicians in the country, if not the world, as instructors – and some of the most promising young students – to refine and produce some truly exceptional music together in a supportive, not a competitive, artistic community.

In the summer of 1961, encouraged by friends in the Greensboro area, Shelly came to talk with Dr. Clyde Milner, president of Guilford College, about the possibility of using the Guilford campus as a setting for his dream of an Eastern Music Festival. The beauty, reputation, supportive climate, academic excellence and community commitments of this college and its Quaker roots were very attractive. Guilford, though it had a few other small programs in the summer, was glad to examine the possibility of a first rate educational and musical program that could benefit the entire community with exceptional concerts and open master classes while utilizing dormitory and dining facilities that were under-utilized in the summer.

Plus, 1961 was the year that Clyde Milner had persuaded Charles Dana to fund and begin construction on a striking new auditorium that would comfortably seat slightly over 1000 people. Little did Shelly and Clyde realize as they walked around the construction site in rain and mud one day that summer that this chapel/concert hall would have some of the very best acoustic properties of any building in the region – still an uncertain architectural challenge. The next summer as the professional orchestra as well as the student orchestras came into being, even the most refined pianissimo notes could be heard perfectly all the way to the back row of the balcony!

The first few years of EMF – indeed all the years – took enormous work. Shelly and his friends literally travelled the country following leads and seeking promising students. It took broad-ranging professional contacts to locate and persuade outstanding musicians to form the fledgling faculty and orchestra. It took patient and supportive staff to eat and talk with students, building extraordinary professional and personal relationships. It took supportive community friends and marketing to assure very appreciative audiences at chamber and orchestra concerts. And it took creative fund-raising.

But it worked. In 1962, 72 students came and most of them went on to achieve very noteworthy careers. Think for instance of Eliot Chapo from that year who at age 26 became the youngest concertmaster in the history of the New York Philharmonic.

When Dr. Grimsley Hobbs succeeded Clyde Milner as president of Guilford in 1965, the support of EMF continued and broadened. This was in spite of the somewhat humorous tension between Grimsley’s support of a Scottish bagpipe summer school and the needs of the classical musicians. The bagpipe school did not last.

In 1980 I came from Harvard to Guilford, attracted by both the Quaker roots and the educational quality, including the outreach in art and music. Imagine our delight within a few weeks of our arrival in July when friends from Cambridge called to see how we were adjusting, and we could take the phone to our patio outside the President’s House and let them hear Leonard Rose preparing beautifully for a concert!

I had a long personal history of enjoyment in choral and instrumental music, having sung in Bach festivals, madrigal groups, opera choruses, and especially in the Tanglewood Festival and Boston Symphony choruses. I admired every phase of EMF. It pleased me very much when Shelly and I explored the possibility of inaugurating and endowing a Guilford String Quartet to support both EMF and the college’s educational and community service mission. In 1984, EMF developed an International Scholarship Program and continued a pattern like that of Guilford in seeing incredible talent and friendships thrive from global and cross cultural relationships. The outstanding character of musicianship and the personal student and faculty relationships continue to be supported in an excellent way by Gerard Schwarz.

In short, the relationship between EMF and Guilford College has been a great blessing to both. I am grateful for the hard work and the sacrifices that were made by many staff members and donors to help this colleagueship thrive and keep both parties strong. Among the many who helped, I want to single out for thanks Jim Newlin who so quietly and diligently worked from the inside with both Shelly and me to see that knotty administrative and financial issues were carefully addressed over many years.

Here’s to the sheer exhilarating joy that comes from the outstanding music of the EMF concerts! And here’s to the passionate commitment and lasting professional friendships that have inspired many generations of talented young people to become leading musicians around the world.

Reflection No. 3 - Edward S. Palanker

Edward S. Palanker

Edward S. Palanker (Eddie) was principal clarinet and personnel director with the Eastern Philharmonic Orchestra for 25 years, from 1965 to 1990. He has played bass clarinet with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for over 40 years. He is professor emeritus at Towson University and just retired from Peabody Conservatory after 18 years. Eddie lives in Phoenix, MD, a suburb of Baltimore.

Life in Bryan Dorm

One of the joys of EMF in the “good old days” was life in Bryan dorm. We moved in there in my 4^th or 5^th year. Besides having A/C and only four units to a suite, we had the “courtyard.” That’s what made social life so much fun. Most of the faculty chose to live there, despite having to eat in the cafeteria for many years until several members got food poisoning one summer and we convinced the college to allow us to live on campus without having to sign up for meals.  We often had a badminton net set up in the evening, and people took turns playing as the rest of the faculty sat around watching, drinking a beer (or two) and socializing.

For several summers, the kids of faculty members built a lemonade stand and used the profits to make a kids’ pizza party at the end of the summer. The courtyard was also the place for what became an annual event called “the graveyard concert,” putting the festival to rest for another summer. Everyone was invited after the last student concert of the summer, and we would have a big party in the courtyard with faculty members doing skits and performing chamber music and jazz into the early hours of the morning. One summer, Wynton Marsalis, a former EMF student, was at the festival giving a master class. He came by and participated in our graveyard concert to everyone’s delight. He played into the wee hours of the morning.

Pig Pickin’

One of the faculty highlights at the end of many summers in the “good old days” was our pig-pickin’. In the great North Carolina tradition, we would have a bar-b-que near the lake and hire a “pig picker” to arrive early in the morning with his cooker and slow cook a pig all day. The faculty raised the money and invited the board members and staff, had soft drinks, and all the trimmings, and literally picked our dinner off of the pig, as well as having it chopped up NC style. The tradition was started by a trombone player named Woody, but then John McElroy, principal trumpet, and I continued it for many summers after. We would pick up the pig the day before and keep it in the college kitchen refrigerator all night. No students were invited to this one.

Happenings at EMF

One summer evening at about 11:00 pm, right in front of several faculty members, a young child pulled the fire alarm. OK, you’re asking why a young child was up at 11:00 pm. Because it was EMF, that’s why. When the security guard came over, he insisted that the entire dorm be evacuated. We argued with him that we saw the child pull the alarm so he should call the fire department and tell them it was a false alarm. It took a long time to convince him that there was no need to wake up all the good children and parents that were sleeping when we knew there was not a fire. After a while, he finally relented.

One of the highlights of every summer was our weekly softball game every Sunday morning. Not too early though; after all, so many faculty members partied after our Saturday evening Eastern Philharmonic concerts. Most of us who were up ended up at Ham’s, a local watering hole that made the best homemade fries in NC. (We used to go to other places in the very early days of the festival, but they wouldn’t let us back because we could get very noisy.) We often tried to get the students involved in the ball games and would have faculty against student games when we had enough of each to man, or woman, two teams.

As personnel manager, I took it upon myself to announce the upcoming softball game at every orchestra rehearsal and at times would stand in the middle of the courtyard at about 11:00 am Sunday morning and announce the start of the game. I considered it my duty as a principal player and personnel manager to see that this important event was successfully done every Sunday, and by the way, I couldn’t stand losing.

Favorite Stories

Two of my favorite stories involved two very famous musicians. One was Ricardo Morales, now principal clarinetist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, previously of the Metropolitan Opera Company at the ripe old age of 21, only a few years after his last summer at EMF. Ricardo arrived as a student from Puerto Rico at the young age of thirteen, his first of five years at EMF. He showed up at my studio for his seating audition and began, in broken English, making every excuse under the sun for why he was not going to play well. His clarinet was in poor condition, his reeds weren’t working, he just traveled the whole day to get here, etc. etc. I was ready to hear a beginner since he told me he played clarinet for only about a year, so I was wondering how he got into the festival. After a while I told him there were other students waiting to audition and to just play for me and stop making excuses. After he left, my wife, Carol, who heard him play from the adjoining room, came out and said, “Who was that? He talked so much but he was fantastic,” and he was. He played the first movement of Weber’s 1^st Concerto and blew me away. I told him I couldn’t wait until he “plays” his best. Of course we all found out what that was like soon enough. I think the other kids waiting outside my studio to audition couldn’t believe it when they saw the young kid walking out of my studio after hearing him play his audition.

Because he always had a clarinet in his hand, I tried to get him to come play softball for several summers. One summer he finally came down to play, and as luck would have it, he was on the opposing team from me and I was pitching. Of course the first time he got up I assumed he would be an easy out until he hit a homerun way into the outfield. As he was turning the bases, I yelled, “I thought you never played softball before,” and he replied, “I didn’t.”

One summer the famous cellist, Leonard Rose, a frequent guest soloist at EMF, got sick and called Shelly Morgenstern and asked him to accept a young man as his replacement. He assured Shelly that he was one of the finest young cellists around and that he would not regret it. His name was Yo-Yo Ma. It turned out that Yo-Yo had recently gotten married and was moving into his new house with his new wife, but when asked to replace Rose, Yo-Yo could not refuse, even though he felt guilty for having his wife do all the work.

The week before his arrival, our suitemate, Owen Carmen, principal cellist of the EPO that summer, had traveled to three East Coast cities and picked up three cellos to try in his pursuit to purchase a new one. We would sit in one room while Owen played them in another, asking my wife, Carol, and me which one we thought sounded the best. We were happy to see Yo-Yo arrive at the festival because he and Owen knew each other, and we were relieved to allow Yo-Yo the challenge of helping Owen decide. Owen didn’t choose any of them and the following week made a return trip to bring them all back.

For many years it was the practice to perform the last Philharmonic concert in the Aycock Auditorium at the University of Greensboro. One particular summer we performed Mahler’s 2^nd Symphony with chorus, soloist, and orchestra, and, as usual, it was being taped for TV by a local TV station to be played at a later date. For some reason, this performance was cursed. A whole section of lights above the chorus and off-stage brass burst, letting broken bulbs fall all over them and the back of the orchestra, making some very loud blasts as they exploded and fell. To everyone’s credit, they didn’t miss a beat, but it was rather disturbing to say the least. Scared some notes out of me. At another time during the performance, some wild man ran out of the hall yelling something out loud and slammed the heavy door with a big bang. To say the least, the performance was not approved for broadcast.

One summer we were performing the great Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz. The guest conductor asked me to provide four pianos for the performance to double the chimes in the last movement. Even as he insisted, I told him it was not possible to move four pianos onto our stage at Dana. He eventually asked for two pianos with two pianists at each piano. I told him we had only two faculty members available to perform with the orchestra, but he was insistent, so I arranged to have two students help out even though I told him that would create an ensemble problem. After the first rehearsal he believed me and we released the two students. We never did get along well after that. I’ll refrain from mentioning his name.

One summer a new reed company contacted me and asked me to try out their new brand of clarinet reeds. I asked them if they would send me a box for all the students and other faculty members to try as well. After a few weeks of trying them, we all agreed that they weren’t very good and went outside to the courtyard at Bryan dorm and built a beautiful bonfire out of all the reeds. We all got a kick out of watching them burn.

One of the fun things I did with our clarinet students was to form a clarinet choir. I would bring an alto, bass, and contra alto clarinet with me from the university where I taught, and we would perform a concert in the Bryan courtyard sometime during the summer. My wife played the contra alto, Sally McElroy, English horn player in the EPO, played the alto clarinet, and Donna O’Brien, head counselor who was a former student of mine from home, played too. We had a grand old time. (I think we put the EPO to shame.)

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!

Dr. Samuel M. LeBauer

Welcome to all of our friends of Eastern Music Festival! This is the first edition of a brand new newsletter, 50^TH REFLECTIONS, to celebrate EMF’s 50^th Anniversary in 2011. Though the seeds were planted in 1961 at Guilford College, the first students arrived in the summer of 1962 and gave the very first performances in Dana Auditorium. We have gathered REFLECTIONS from a broad cross-section of people associated with EMF:  current and former faculty, board of directors members, executive directors, EMF and Guilford College staff, guest artists, students, media critics, representatives of outreach venues – virtually ANYONE with a long history with EMF. We have invited them to share whatever stories or memories they have as they reflect on their own association with the Festival. We’ll bring you one or more each Monday for 25 weeks up until the season begins on June 25. We hope you enjoy reading this wide variety of 50 years of REFLECTIONS as we move toward opening night!

Dr. Samuel M. LeBauer

Dr. Samuel M. LeBauer is co-chair of the EMF board of directors. He was a first cousin of Sheldon Morgenstern’s and one of the original organizers of EMF. Dr. LeBauer is a retired gastroenterologist living in Greensboro, NC.

"It was the spring of 1961. My cousin Shelly (Maestro Shelly Morgenstern) came to me with the idea of helping him start a music camp on the Guilford College campus. Shelly had attended several of the best summer music festivals in the United States. He thought most of these camps and festivals provided very little in the way of personal attention from the faculty members.

Shelly envisioned starting a music camp with fewer students and a more engaged faculty, where each student would have access to more individual instruction. He thought the correct ratio was approximately 2-3 students per faculty member. Well, I certainly liked his idea, but I thought that the camp would also need a sports program. We both loved athletics as well as music growing up, so we agreed that I would lead the effort to make athletics available to the students. We set out to recruit promising music students throughout the southeast. We were amazed at how many parents of high school children were willing to send them to a new music camp. Of course, we realized also we had to raise a significant amount of money to get the camp off the ground. It was a daunting task for two guys with no previous fundraising experience. That first year, we raised over $65,000, thanks to the generosity of music lovers, most of whom were from Greensboro.

Things seemed to be coming together. In the summer of 1962, the students arrived along with 28 enthusiastic teachers from orchestras throughout the southeast. Beautiful music started to flow from our students and faculty. Somewhat to my dismay, there was very little interest in my sports program. When I approached Shelly with my concern that the students were not participating in any sports, he did not seem surprised. He explained that these were serious music students and they were concerned about injuring themselves. Well, to my disappointment, the sports program lasted only three years. Overall, that first summer was a tremendous success, and we were anxious to continue on. The enthusiasm of the people of Greensboro and surrounding areas grew along with the program.

I was the head counselor for the second summer of the camp while I was still in medical school. But after that, I spent ten years in medical training programs so I was unable to participate in the summer camp. When I returned to Greensboro to practice medicine with my family, I couldn’t wait to return to the music festival. Music is my second love, and before I knew it, I was serving on the Board of Directors. Over the ensuing years, Eastern Music Festival continued to grow under the tutelage of Maestro Morgenstern. Over 200 students began coming to Greensboro each year from all over the world. Our faculty members are specially chosen members of symphonies far and wide. Shelly also invited outstanding guest performers and teachers, such as Leonard Rose, Josef Gingold, and Wynton Marsalis (a student at EMF for three years) to Greensboro. With the continued contributions of hundreds of patrons from throughout the Triad, the Festival has become one of the finest in the United States.

I often sit in the audience listening to the students performing so beautifully and reflect on how it all started. This always makes me smile.

For fifty years, EMF has prepared extraordinary young people for possible careers in classical music. It is my dream that we will continue to build on Shelly’s dream and now, with leadership from Maestro Gerard Schwarz, that EMF will continue to bring talented musicians and beautiful classical music to our community and the world for the next 50 years"