ABOUT YOUR BSO
Year I joined the BSO: 2001
I was born in: Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, former republic of USSR.
Favorite thing about playing orchestral music: I grew up in a musical family. Both of my parents are cellists. My mother was a principal cello at the Opera Moldova for 30 years and father taught cello at Musical College (he is still teaching at the Republican Musical Lyceum “S. Rachmaninov” for gifted students in Chisinau, Moldova). I spent most of my childhood backstage, absorbing the musical atmosphere while my parents were performing. It was mesmerizing to me. I started playing violin at the age of six, and since then I cannot imagine doing anything else but playing in the orchestra. It feels very natural and organic to me.
Favorite composers: Shostakovich , Tchaikovsky, Brahms.
Piece of orchestral music I’ve always wanted to play, but haven’t yet: Georgy Svirodov Time Forward
Hobbies/Interests: video/photography, fixing things, brewing good coffee
David Calhoun is currently principal cellist of the Brevard Symphony Orchestra, The Villages Philharmonic and the Florida Philharmonic, and is a resident artist each summer at Classical Tahoe. He enjoyed a long and diverse career in New York, performing in virtually all the city’s most prestigious venues as principal cellist with the American Symphony Orchestra, American Ballet Theater, the Brooklyn Philharmonic and on Broadway, and held a 15-year chamber music residency at the Metropolitan Museum as cellist for Orion music. Hailed by the Danbury News Times as “a world-class soloist”, his solo appearances have taken him around the globe from Millennial performances of Bach for the Cardinals of Rome to soloist performance with the orchestra of the Tchaikovsky Festival in his childhood home of Izhevsk, Russia.
Year I joined the BSO: 1998, I think.
I was born in: Rapid City, SD
Favorite thing about playing orchestral music: Sharing the power and unity of a large ensemble to audiences.
Favorite composers: Beethoven for the power and emotion, Mozart for the clarity and details.
Piece of orchestral music I’ve always wanted to play, but haven’t yet: Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss. We’ve performed the opening as the movie theme of 2001: A Space Odyssey, but have never performed the entire work.
Hobbies/Interests: Chamber music and implementing music educational programs for the Native American youth in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Year I joined the BSO: Beginning of the 1989/90 season – which makes this my 31st year coming up! I was born in: New York, NY (Far Rockaway Queens to be exact)
Favorite thing about playing orchestral music: Being part of a team where everyone is striving for excellence with a unified goal. Nothing feels better than that.
Favorite composers: Beethoven. Then Ravel, Prokofiev, Bach, Haydn. I also love Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Shostakovich.
Piece of orchestral music I’ve always wanted to play, but haven’t yet: Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet (I have played a few excerpts, but not the entire work. Also would love to play Shostakovich’s 6th symphony.
Hobbies/Interests: I love to garden, cook, the NY Times crossword puzzles, and Sudoku. Also love professional baseball and college basketball, following the Washington Nationals and Duke Blue Devils.
Year I joined the BSO: 1987
I was born in: Westport, Connecticut
Favorite thing about playing orchestral music: I’m a sucker for a great melody.
Favorite composers: Puccini, John Williams, Richard Strauss, Johann Strauss, Jr., Schubert, Mahler, Vivaldi, J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Mozart operas and chamber works, de Meij
Piece of orchestral music I’ve always wanted to play, but haven’t yet: Mahler 3rd Symphony, Prokofieff Romeo and Juliet.
Hobbies/Interests: I transport and foster for Low Rider Dachshund Rescue of Florida (dachshund wrangler), Irish traditional flute, American fife and drum music, Shakespeare and Star Trek fan.
Year I joined the BSO: 1992
I was born in: Frederick, MD
Favorite thing about playing orchestral music: I love the team aspect of orchestral music, with all of the different forces coming together to make a great result.
Favorite composers: Mozart, Brahms, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Ravel, Mahler, Strauss
Piece of orchestral music I’ve always wanted to play, but haven’t yet: Strauss – Don Juan
Hobbies/Interests: Travel, movies, science fiction
Year I joined the BSO: Started part time in 2019, full time in 2023.
I was born in: New York, NY
Favorite thing about playing orchestral music: Collaborating with friends and colleagues to bring art to life.
Favorite composers: Brahms, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Mozart
Piece of orchestral music they’ve always wanted to play but haven’t yet: Shostakovich Ninth Symphony
Hobbies/Interests: Home Theater, Cycling
Year I joined the BSO: I joined the BSO in my current position in the Fall of 1989. However I was a member of the orchestra while in high school 1979 – 1982.
I was born in: Des Moines, IA
Favorite thing about playing orchestral music: I love how each part is vitally important to the whole sound of the orchestra. I feel part of something much bigger than myself when I’m playing with the orchestra.
Favorite composer: Tchaikovsky
Piece of orchestral music I’ve always wanted to play, but haven’t yet: Mahler Symphony #2.
Hobbies/Interests: Canoeing, camping. I would like to get a private pilots license.
Year I joined the BSO: 1993?
I was born in: Plattsburgh, NY
Favorite thing about playing orchestral music: Getting inside access to the orchestrations and helping to manage the rhythmic flow of the ensemble.
Favorite composers: J.S.Bach, Beethoven, Stravinsky, Prokofiev
Piece of orchestral music I’ve always wanted to play, but haven’t yet: Ralph Vaughan Williams – Symphony No. 4 in F Minor
Hobbies/Interests: Home audio, literature, dogs, baseball
Year I joined the BSO: 2004
I was born in: Minneapolis, Minnesota, but I mostly grew up in Rochester, New York
Favorite thing about performing orchestra music: The thrill of being on stage and performing great music to a live audience.
Favorite composer: Stravinsky. Mike and I actually flew to Paris for the 100-year anniversary performance of The Rite of Spring.
Piece of orchestra music I’ve always wanted to play, but haven’t yet: Firebird, the complete score
Hobbies/Interests: Biking, gardening, traveling, and hiking with Mike and our two dogs Mato and Luna
