Music Director of the YSO from 1995-2004
Our concert in St. Patrick Cathedral in NYC with Yale Camerata performing Mozart Requiem recalls a moving event mixed with perilous moments. There were more than 5,000 audience gathered around the cathedral and the traffic on 7th avenue and Rockefeller plaza was a total mess. The fire marshal came backstage and told me that we could not perform with this overwhelming audience. While the management and the fire marshal debated the situation, I snuck onto the stage and began the Requiem. The concert was a huge success.
Many students were remarkable to me, but I always remember Catherine Amstrong, who played trumpet with me for three years. She was the first one to come to rehearsal and probably the only one knew her part by memory in the first rehearsal. I was not aware at first that she was blind. Her musicianship was unparalleled.