I will never forget the 1982 April night in Evanston when the phone rang and the voice said “Hi, Kathy, this is Larry Combs. Are you a member of the Union?” I answered that I could be by 9 a.m. the next morning. I was working on my master’s degree in clarinet performance at Northwestern University, and Larry, the principal of the CSO, knew my work from Civic Orchestra, in which I had been playing in since September of 1981. I had already done the paperwork to join the Chicago Musicians Union, and being asked if I wanted to play third clarinet on Mahler 9 under Solti was reason to take an early morning “el” downtown and finish the process. It was a fabulous experience! Solti’s eagle-eye, no-nonsense demeanor got wonderful results. I”ll also never forget Larry’s comment at the break of the first rehearsal — “See how much fun it is to play in a great orchestra?” And it was a thrill – – the rehearsals, the pension fund concert, and the recording. If you know when to listen, you can hear one trill by the third clarinet on the recording.
Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra Principal Clarinet Chair