Orchestra Member Profiles
Richard Wunder, Trombone
How long have you played with the ESO (including this season)?
I'm pretty sure I'm in my 20th season.
What brought you to the orchestra?
Linda Keller. I was playing a Savoy-Aires show and found out that they had a loose connection to the ESO. I was playing in a concert band at the time, and I was looking to get into a symphony orchestra. The band was in Palatine, and I was looking to get closer to home. Linda was also in the Savoy-Aires orchestra, so I spoke to her about the ESO. She told me she was pretty sure there was an opening for second trombone. She had me talk to then-personnel manager, Ernie Kettnich, and the rest, as they say, is history. After two seasons, I became principal upon Verne Hoogheem's retirement from the ESO after more than 30 years.
Who were your favorite music teachers?
Tom Scott (piano), Ed Kocher, Frank Crisafulli (trombone), Leonard Smith (high school band director), Roger Heath (college band director).
Why did you choose to play your instrument?
I had been playing piano since I was 8, so I didn't get the urge to play a "band instrument" until I was about 12. I approached the band director at my school and told him I wanted to play clarinet. He said, "No, you should play trombone." I'm sure he had way too many clarinets and not enough "slush pumps." By the way, my piano teacher was unhappy with me for taking up another instrument, even though I continued to study piano with him.
What is your favorite memory with the ESO?
Several years ago, the last time we played the Tchaik 6, my section would meet twice a week, early in the morning, for sectionals. We even hired Roger Oyster, then principal trombone for the St. Louis Symphony, to coach us. We were a really tight section, and we had it together pretty well by concert time.
Unfortunately, the section did not stay together long after that. Joseph Agnew (tuba) and I are the only remaining members of that section.
How far is your commute to ESO rehearsals and concerts?
It's approximately three miles round trip for ETHS and about two miles round trip for Pick-Staiger. I live in northeast Evanston.
What do you do for a living?
I work as a systems analyst (mainframe computers) for Packaging Corporation of America, a box company. I have worked for PCA for the past 14-1/2 years and have been a mainframe guy for more than 32 years. I plan to retire soon so that I can devote more time to my music and other avocations.
What are your hobbies?
I'm an avid bowler. I bowl in three leagues a week, plus tournaments on weekends, schedule permitting. I also work part time in a bowling pro shop. Yes, I have bowled a 300 game on more than one occasion. I also dabble in home theater.
Who is your favorite composer?
It's difficult, but if I had to pick a favorite composer, I think it would be Tchaikovsky for his symphonic music or Chopin for piano. If I had to pick a favorite performer, it would have to be either Michael Mulcahy or Joseph Alessi, both trombonists.
What is your quirkiest habit?
Hmmmm--that's a tough one. The best that I can come up with at the moment is that I like to talk to myself a lot. (Yes, I answer, too--yikes!)
Richard Holbrook, Violin
How long have you played with the ESO (including this season)?
I have played since 1990 or 15 seasons.
What brought you to the orchestra?
I was impressed with Lynn Schornick, who conducted the string seminar at the Allen Center of the University of Illinois. I had also heard that it was a good community orchestra.
Who was your favorite music teacher?
Samuel Gelfer (Denison University) was my first teacher was I was 8. He was a very warm, kind person. In high school, I studied with Clifford Cooke (Oberlin College), who was a very patient man and excellent teacher. In the late 1980s, I resumed lessons with Barbara Fraser, a member of the second violin section of the Chicago Symphony, now retired. Excellent teacher with a wonderful sense of irony.
Why did you choose to play your instrument?
My dad was a semi-professional cellist as well as professor of religion at Denison and later at Oberlin. One day, when I was 8, he said I should start playing an instrument--violin or cello. I chose the violin because I thought the treble clef looked easier to learn. For an 8-year-old, that was a sufficient reason.
What is your favorite memory with the ESO?
There are many. When we are all in synch making music, it is profoundly satisfying and for that I would point to two performances of Elgar's Enigma Variations, particularly the Nimrod Variation. Then, there was our recent performance of Tchaikovsky's "Pathetic." Our sound has become more musical and powerful in the last two years, and friends in the audience confirm that. That pleases me.
How far is your commute to ESO rehearsals and concerts?
To and from Hyde Park where I live is about 40 miles.
What do you do for a living?
"For a living," such an ambiguous phrase nowadays. I live by conducting a current events course at a Jewish Community Center, studying Italian at the University of Chicago, preparing a course I might teach on the French Revolution, meeting with friends to discuss life and politics, and playing the violin. Then, I do the occasional translation job and evaluate loan applications for the Duman Loan Fund through Jewish Vocational Services.
What are your favorite hobbies?
Learning new languages--Dutch, Danish and Czech are next--and ballroom dancing.
What is your favorite food?
Veal Marsala, lobster and steamed clams.
Do you have a special routine to get yourself ready for a concert?
General routine before rehearsal or a concert: for the left hand, scale exercises from the Rode book of caprices, in particular, scales by thirds; and Flesch finger-stretching exercises. For the right hand, I try to sustain one note on a bow for as long as possible on each string as Viotti did prior to a performance. (He could do it for a minute. I am up to about 20 seconds.)
What is one unusual thing about yourself?
I was a bus driver for the Chicago and Madison transit authorities.
