Meet Maura McCune Corvington, new second horn at the RPO

Maura McCune Corvington joins the RPO this season as second horn. We caught up with the Chicago native and Eastman grad on returning to Rochester, reuniting with her former professor and mentor (RPO Principal Horn W. Peter Kurau), and what pieces she is most looking forward to playing at the RPO this season!

Maura McCune Corvington
credit: Kate Lemmon

Maura, you grew up in Illinois and were inspired to play after seeing the Chicago Symphony Brass. How old were you when you started attending symphonic concerts?

I vividly remember my first Chicago Symphony Orchestra holiday concert, and my parents, brother, and I never missed the annual performance of A Christmas Carol (which features a horn player) at Goodman Theatre. I have always equated music and horn with holidays and family!

Sounds like you found a love for horn at an early age. When was your “aha” moment as a musician?

My grandmother and great aunt, both professional musicians, patiently encouraged me as a budding young pianist refusing to learn to read bass clef. But my “aha!” moment was with my family in attendance at a CSO Ravinia summer performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. As a beginning band student I had no clue that the horns were instructed to “aufstehen” (stand up) in the finale. When the eight horn players stood in choreographed unison (and stole the show, of course) I was sold!

Before completing your master’s in horn performance at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, you completed your undergraduate at Eastman under the tutelage of RPO Principal Horn Peter Kurau. What’s it like to be returning to Rochester and what are you most looking forward to about working with your former teacher and mentor?

My husband and I relocated in the fall of 2013 from Houston to Honolulu where we performed with the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra for two seasons. Patrick and I have definitely been ridiculed by friends, family, and even colleagues for parting with the sandy beaches of Oahu in favor of the snowy streets of Rochester! However, this vibrant musical community was my first home away from home!

As my mentor at Eastman, Peter Kurau encouraged me to make discoveries, to formulate plans, and to be relentless in achieving my dreams! I have great respect for him as well for his vast knowledge and innate musicality. I am most delighted that I will share a stage with him and our section mates to touch RPO audiences and to inspire the next generation of Eastman students as I was inspired!

You will also be mentoring freshmen studying horn at Eastman this spring. If you could give any advice to aspiring young musicians, what would it be?

Dream big! Dream really big!

What are you most looking forward to performing this season with the RPO?

I have an inextinguishable love for Beethoven, Mahler, and Strauss, but my musical tastes change daily! The breadth of repertoire to be performed during the 2015-16 RPO season is so exciting to me. Sunday Matinees will serve as intimate musical experiences for audiences and performers where we can see, feel, and hear every tiny detail. Nothing compares to interacting musically with kids, so the OrKIDStra concerts will be a breath of fresh air. I already imagine a snowy winter day on Gibbs Street and a cozy evening showing of Home Alone accompanied by John Williams’ score. I love John Williams’ music! And pops shows are just a blast! I could not ask for more!

Look for Maura onstage with the RPO this season, and learn more about her on rpo.org!

Meet Ahrim Kim, new principal cellist of the RPO

Ahrim Kim

The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra is pleased to welcome a new principal cellist to our ranks starting this season.

Ahrim Kim comes to the RPO fresh from an appointment as acting principal cellist for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. We caught up with Ahrim to learn more about her musical training and why she is looking forward to playing with the RPO!

You were born in Seoul, Korea, and started playing cello at the very young age of 6. How did you become interested in the cello at such a young age and what made you want to play professionally?

I started playing the piano first when I was 4 years old. My mom told me that she had listened to a lot of classical music when she was pregnant with me. So naturally I’ve always loved to sing and liked the soothing sound of the cello. I was particularly attracted to the fact that the cello is one of the closest instruments to the human voice.

In the 2014-15 season, you served as acting principal cellist for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and you also have played in the Grammy Award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (NYC). What do you think about being named principal cellist for the RPO?

I’m extremely excited and looking forward to playing with the RPO! I’m so honored to be named principal cellist of an orchestra with such a long tradition of amazing cellists.

Your husband, Robin Scott, was recently appointed first violin of The Ying Quartet, a Grammy Award-winning ensemble in residence at the Eastman School of Music. What are the two of you most looking forward to about coming to Rochester?

We’re thrilled that we will both be working in the same town. We’ve been waiting for this to happen since we got married four years ago. We are very blessed to be starting a new chapter in our lives together!

Looking ahead to this season at the RPO, what pieces are you really excited about playing?

I am personally looking forward to playing a few different pieces this season. Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet tells one of the most well-known stories in literature through music so vividly. I’ve never had the opportunity to play The Nutcracker—I heard the music so much growing up and have wanted to play it for years. I’m looking forward to Brahms’ Variations on a Theme of Haydn because it’s fascinating to see how one composer can take the theme of another composer and make it his own. As for Mozart 40, it looks easy on the page, but it’s very challenging to make Mozart sound amazing unless you have clear ideas about everything. The simplest pieces can be the hardest to make convincing. Also, it’s one of the most special pieces by Mozart because minor keys are rare!

What's your favorite music to listen to?

I love listening to any kind of music. The Beatles are one of my favorites, and it never gets old. I always find myself coming back to J. S. Bach, as his music is personally very therapeutic and close to my heart. 

Look for Ahrim Kim in the first chair cello seat this fall, and read more about her on rpo.org!

"Follow" the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra: Now on SPOTIFY

Our 2015-16 Season will be kicking off in a few short weeks! With our Spotify account, you will be listen to dozens of playlists for free, each filled with the repertoire for each of our Philharmonics, Pops, Sunday Matinee, OrKIDStra, and Special concerts!

Spotify is a musical search engine in which you can create custom playlists, or search for new music to listen to and enjoy on your Laptop, PC, Tablet, or Smartphone.

We at the RPO have created playlists around each 2015-16 season concert for you, our audience members, to get a sneak peek of what's to come during our live performances. The recordings of all musical works have been performed by various ensembles from around the world for you to enjoy at home, in the car, on the way to work, and more. The listening possibilities are nearly endless if you have a Spotify account.

Downloading Spotify is FREE, unless you would like to upgrade to Spotify Premiun ($9.99 per month). A bonus to upgrading is that you have no advertisements to interrupt between movements or pieces. You can also try Spotify Premium (99 cents for 3 months, then $9.99 per month after, if you are satisfied).


How to create a FREE Spotify account:

1. Go to www.Spotify.com
2. Choose "Download" up in the top right corner of the page
3. You can choose to click "Sign up with Facebook," or "Sign up with your email address." Once this is done, click "Sign up." *
4. Once you click "Sign up," the Spotify engine will download to your Downloads folder. Double click on it, and click "Run," to run the file to your computer.
5.  Once you click "Run," Spotify will begin to download to your computer. From there, you can click on the Green icon, and Spotify will open on your computer.

 * You can only have a profile photo added to your account if you choose to sign up with Facebook.


After completing these five easy steps, you are now able to click the search tab in the top left corner of Spotify's screen and search from thousands of created playlists, musicians, albums, and songs to your choosing!

You can share our playlists with friends, click the "Star" to add a great work to your "Favorites," and FOLLOW us on our Spotify Account: RochesterPhilharmonic

Happy Listening!

RPO musicians on the road this summer: Part 2

Today we continue our two-part series on what our musicians are up to this summer. After traveling 600 miles with the RPO in July for our summer season, many of our musicians travel to teach and perform at conferences and with other symphonies and musical groups in August before starting another season at the Rochester Philharmonic. Today we catch up with clarinet Will Amsel and trombone Lisa Albrecht to learn more about their summer plans!

Will Amsel, clarinet
Where else did you play this summer?

Will Amsel

In July, my wife Rose and I spent the first couple of weeks playing with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra (the summer resident orchestra of the The Chautauqua Institution). Then we came home and I finished up the summer season with the RPO. I think it’s good playing with other groups, whether it's another orchestra or chamber music, because for me it gets me out of my comfort zone and it's just a nice way to meet other musicians from different parts of the country, keeps things fresh.

What are your plans for August?
I’m looking forward to having some time off away from the clarinet (we're re-doing our kitchen, doing some of the work ourselves), and traveling with my wife, who’ll be playing bassoon in various places in August. She’s played with the RPO before, too. While RPO musicians are playing with musicians from other groups around the country, we are able to tell them about the orchestra, and sort of act like mini-ambassadors for what we do here in Rochester!

Lisa Albrecht, trombone
Where are you traveling this summer?
In July, I performed with the Opera Saratoga (formerly known as Lake George Opera) in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. I’ve been performing with them since 2007. The company, which has a renowned apprentice program, just wrapped up its 54th season!

What do you like about working with an opera company?

Lisa Albrecht

It’s always a pleasure to have a chance to perform opera in such a beautiful setting as Saratoga Springs. Changing genres, from symphonic to operatic repertoire, brings a different experience and skill set to my playing, which I really enjoy.

What are some of the highlights from your summer in Saratoga?
This past year the Opera Saratoga welcomed Lawrence Edelson as the new artistic and general director. I’m very proud to have been a part of our recent world premier, The Long Walk, by composer Jeremy Howard Beck and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, based on Brian Castner’s critically acclaimed book of the same name. The opera is a deeply personal exploration of a soldier’s return from Iraq where he served as an officer in an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit and his battle with what he calls “the Crazy” as he tries to reintegrate into his family life upon returning from the war.

That sounds like a very powerful work, and it’s exciting to hear that new opera works are being created and performed. Will you be performing locally this month?
My trombone quartet, Hohenfels Trombone Quartet, will perform on the concert series at the Sodus Point Lighthouse on August 23rd, from 2-4pm, presenting a “summer pops” program with everything thing from James Bond movie themes to jazz, pop, and several tunes inspired by their seaside setting. We’re really looking forward to being a part of this annual concert series with the picturesque backdrop of the historic lighthouse and Lake Ontario.

Lisa Albrecht (center) and the Hohenfels Trombone Quartet