Met Orchestra Musicians, Lohengrin Seminar, March 19, 2023

Met Orchestra Musicians in conversation at the Lohengrin Seminar, Wagner Society of New York, March 19, 2023: Thomas Lausmann (Director of Music Administration), Jason Haaheim (Timpani), Jessica Phillips (Clarinet), William Short (Bassoon), Victoria Bond (moderator and interviewer)

[@gpfoster1966]

32:26 "Rationing your emotional energy." That single phrase exemplifies why I can love listening to Wagner's music but can never actually play it on my instrument. I get too easily swept away in the moment-by-moment feeling. I know as a musician it takes a lot of discipline to be able to muscle through that.

[@larkatdawn]

What's with the pathogenic masks in March 2023? Or any time. Nuts to that! I expect more intelligence from musicians!

[@wotan10950]

I guess you missed the part where one of the masked instrumentalists said that he was recovering from Covid, influenza, and rebound covid.

[@wotan10950]

This was absolutely fascinating. I am also an MBA and amateur pianist, but I learned a lot of new things from this discussion. Of course, most of the public goes to the opera for the voices, but occasionally you can hear such a striking instrumentalist (apart from the overtures and preludes). During a Tannhauser, a number of years back, my wife and I whispered, “WHO is playing the harp?” It was Emanuel Ceysonne, and we could’ve listened to him all day.