For those
bassoonists and oboists who think that a full-time orchestral
position is the only road to musical fulfillment, take a look
at the variety in the musical life of bassoonist Lynette Diers
Cohen. Based in Cleveland, where her husband, Franklin Cohen,
is principal clarinetist with the Cleveland Orchestra, Lynette
is principal bassoonist of the Ohio Chamber Orchestra and bassoon
instructor at Baldwin - Wallace Conservatory. The subscription
concerts and opera performances LDC plays with the chamber orchestra
are just the beginning. A brief tour of early 1992's concerts
will give some idea.The second week in January arrived with an unexpected call to play second bassoon in the Pittsburgh Symphony for that week's subscription concerts, due to illness of regular members of the section. (This was a real pleasure with principal Nancy Goeres and coprincipal David Sogg.)
The following week LDC took center stage as soloist in the Mozart Concerto K.191 with the Ohio Chamber Orchestra. (Great fun with conductor Nicholas McGeagan, a standing ovation from the audience, and a great review.)
The beginning of February brought a chamber concert at Baldwin - Wallace with oboist Elizabeth Camus and others in performances of Haieff Duo for oboe and bassoon, Poulenc Trio, and Loeffler Ballade. Rehearsals were already in progress for a Scarborough Ensemble concert on February 10 which included the Bach D major gamba sonata (on bassoon) and trio sonatas with Cleveland Orchestra flutists Martha Aarons and Mary Kay Fink and harpsichordist Lucille Gruber.
After performances of Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio with Cleveland Opera, LDC left for Ann Arbor, MI to rehearse with oboist Harry Sargous and others for a performance of Four Persons by Bill Banfield for the National Afro-American Music Symposium at Wayne State University. (Seeing and hearing bassoonist Peter Schoenbach at the symposium was a special treat.)
A week and a half later, there were two performances with Theater Chamber Players of Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. of Sofia Gubaidulinas Zuasi Hocketus for viola, bassoon, and piano.
Another chamber orchestra concert, a benefit chamber music concert (including Glinka's Trio Pathetique), and six performances of the Firebird with Dance Theater of Harlem (in Cleveland!) and a church performance of Bach's B minor Mass filled the first two weeks of March before a week of relaxation (and a visit with Sol and Bertha Schoenbach) in Sarasota, FL.
Two terrific kids, Diana, 13, and Alex, 18 add to the music and fun in the Cohen house and husband, Frank, helps make the out-of-town playing possible by being a great dad. The kids and Frank joined Lynette in Spain after a three-week tour of Europe with the Pittsburgh Symphony in June and the family was all together while Frank and Lynette played in the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival in August.
Variety can be the spice in a full musical life!