Not only is a professional orchestra job physically challenging to begin with, TFO’s ranks include musicians who are runners and cyclists, swimmers and hikers—even a former professional softball pitcher. I talked to five of them. Also I asked: Don’t they ever get a leeetle bit tired of Christmas music? See our short interviews below.
Chelsea Gallo: Resident Conductor
Her initial plan…and pivot: Pay for college tuition through sports. Then she tore her ACL. So she pivoted to music: She’d been playing violin since the age of four. “My folks made sure I never had to choose between music and sports.” In Vienna, she did both; while studying for her master’s in conducting, she pitched for a Team USA satellite that played all over Europe.
On physical challenges: “I have a worn-out, old, broken-down, darn-right-terrible right shoulder. That really makes things annoying.”
On stamina: She’s leading approximately 50 concerts for TFO this season plus 15 or more with other orchestras in the U.S. and Europe. “For stamina, you never really realize you’re tired. You get tired, but you never get tired of it. I remember playing a doubleheader in Slovakia and finishing game two and thinking I could go five more bouts no problem. It wasn’t until the next morning I realized how wrong I was.”
Tired of Christmas music? “Not at all! And on the Christmas Pops show we are going to be adding some fun twists and surprises.”
Favorite holiday musical tradition: The orchestra’s New York Yankees-sponsored concerts for public school children. “Every year it becomes more and more rewarding. A huge aspect of that concert is that it highlights the parallels between sports and music.”
Ross Holcombe: Associate Principal Trombonist
Train your mouth: “I think one of the things people don’t realize is how similar playing an instrument is to playing a sport,” says Holcombe, who’s in the middle of his seventh season with the orchestra. For wind and brass players, it’s the facial muscles that have to be trained, with exercises like “lip slurs” and “long tones.”
Ride the distance: An avid hiker when he was working in the Pacific Northwest, he switched to biking when he moved back to his home state of Florida. He rides “4,000-8,000 miles a year,” sometimes in 100-mile charity rides. But, “I’m not going to be riding 200 miles on the week of Holiday Pops.” Because, “Brass works harder on Pops weeks. Especially in movie scores like ‘The Polar Express Suite’ by John Williams. That piece has a lot of long tones, a lot of brass melodies. I know I’ve got to save myself for that piece.”
He took his trombone on his honeymoon: “I had an important concert [coming up].” He met his wife, “a wonderful French horn player,” in the Spokane Symphony.
His favorite music to play: “I have probably played the Star Wars score 200 times, and every time I feel like I’m 12 years old again.”
Anna Kate Mackle: Principal Harpist
What’s it like to play the harp: “It’s like playing a piano vertically and against gravity while resting a 90-pound instrument on your shoulder, and while pulling strings that exert 2,000 pounds of pressure on the neck and soundboard of the instrument,” says Mackle, who has served as principal harpist of the orchestra since 1999.
Why she runs: “Running gives me a release from the stress of everyday life… [It’s] something I can do on my own time and feel a sense of accomplishment.” Last month she ran a half-marathon. “Since playing in a symphony orchestra is a sedentary lifestyle, running gets me moving and gives my arm and hand muscles a break.”
What she listens to when she runs: “Definitely NOT harp music! I have different playlists I choose from, ranging from ‘80s music to rap.”
Do you ever get a little tired of Christmas music? “I’ll be honest: yes. I never get tired of ‘The Nutcracker,’ but some other holiday music……
Her favorite musical Christmas tradition: “When I was growing up, my parents always played the original cast recording (on vinyl!) of ‘Amahl and the Night Visitors’ while we decorated our tree. I can still sing all the words to this day.”
Victor Minke Huls: Associate Principal Cellist
The tall guy: “I’m six feet and something,” says Huls, who joined the orchestra as associate principal cellist in 2023. He attributes his excellent posture to the Alexander Technique. As an undergrad, the technique helped him to overcome performance-related injuries like golfer’s elbow—or rather, cellist’s elbow.
Dad’s advice: His father was a longtime violinist with the Jacksonville Symphony. “One of my dad’s favorite quotes was ‘big muscles before the small.’ Backstage you’ll see me jumping up and down and doing stretches like an athlete before playing scales.”
His favorite exercise: “Swimming. It makes the body feel engaged, strong, but also relaxed. Hiking, too—in general I just want to be outside. I’m always happy to be in nature.”
He’s a conductor as well as a cellist: “Both require a solid sense of grounding in your feet—you need to be firmly planted.”
Tired of Christmas music? “No! Pops weekend may seem grueling, because we have to play the same show so many times, but in a way it’s easier because we rehearse it a little bit and then get to share it with an audience. If I had to play it over and over in a vacuum I’d go insane.”
The reason concert halls are so cold: “When I play cello or conduct I get very hot. We’re in our coats and exercising in front of you, so they keep the AC low.”
Jeffrey Multer: Concertmaster
The way he moves: Multer is known for his passionate, highly physical mode of playing.
But he’s never been injured: “No matter how well you play, if you are susceptible to repetitive motion injury you will get it playing the violin. I’m lucky that I don’t have that in my genetic makeup.”
He doesn’t get shin splints, either: Even though he’s a “pretty serious runner” (and had just finished a four-mile run before our phone conversation).
Why the violin is physically challenging: “It’s a very unnatural position you put yourself in to play. The tendons are all elongated.”
The sport it’s most like: “I tell my students, ‘Violin is so much like tennis. You’re just using smaller muscles.’”
On being one of the older players (he’s 59): “We all kind of laugh with each other about the kids, how easy it is for them. You just wait.”
His exercise music of choice: “When I go to the gym to get on the stairs, I bring the music—my ‘70s classic rock playlist. I’m not listening to St. Matthew’s Passion.”
He’s not playing Holiday Pops: “January through April is so stressful that I find that doing extra holiday concerts is a bad idea.” That irks his husband. “He gets mad when I take Pops off, ‘cause he really likes it,” he said.
His favorite holiday music: “The Messiah”
Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.
Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | BlueSky
Related Stories
Tampa Bay’s best live music happening December 20-26
This article appears in Dec 19-25, 2024.
