Interview with Michael Israelievitch

Meet our new principal timpanist! Michael comes to the SPCO from the New World Symphony where he worked under Michael Tilson Thomas. We asked our newest member a few questions to get to know him a little bit better.

Q: When did you know that you wanted to be a professional musician and how did you choose to be a percussionist? Did you play a different instrument first?
                       
A: When I was younger, my parents started me out with piano lessons. They didn’t last long. After a few years of not playing an instrument, I decided to try percussion when I was 12. My first teacher had a knack for making lessons really enjoyable and fun, so I stuck with it. It was midway through high school, while studying with Rick Holmes and John Kasica of the St. Louis Symphony, that I decided I wanted to pursue a career in music. Teachers are so important. It all starts there.

Q: Tell us about your experience at the New World Symphony.

A: New World is the perfect place to go to bridge the gap between being a student and entering the big leagues. The competition to win an orchestra job today is scary, to put it mildly. The New World Symphony (“America’s Orchestral Academy”) is the only orchestra in this country where the main “job” of its fellows is basically to work hard and get better. When musicians get into NWS, they are essentially given the gift of time, both to master the art of audition-taking and to gain useful experience before setting out into the real world. For me, NWS was the perfect place to refine my technique, learn from my colleagues, play mock auditions, and work with several players from major orchestras who were brought to Miami to coach us.

Q: What differences do you anticipate between being timpanist at the New World Symphony and being in the SPCO?

A: While at New World, I only played timpani. There were four separate musicians in the percussion section. Here at the SPCO, I’m both the principal timpanist and percussionist, so throughout the season I’ll have opportunities to perform on many different percussion instruments.  Timpani is definitely my favorite to play, but getting chances to play the other instruments keeps things interesting!

Q: What non-musical interests or hobbies do you have?

A: I’ve often considered what I’d do if I weren’t a musician. Honestly, I can’t imagine not being a musician and feel very fortunate that I get to do what I love. That said, perhaps I would strive to be a ping-pong champion. As for my hobbies, eating good food (especially Japanese) is one of my favorite activities. I also enjoy playing tennis and am a frustrated baseball fan. I used to love hockey while growing up in St. Louis. I think living in the Twin Cities might get me back into it — Wild tickets, anyone?

Q: What are you currently reading?

A: Status updates on Facebook. lol

Q: What’s the first thing you did when you arrived in the Twin Cities?

A: I exclaimed, “I definitely need warmer gloves!” Then I text-messaged one of my good friends back in Miami, describing the numbing sensation in my fingers.

Q: What’s your favorite piece to perform? What’s the piece you dread the most?

A: That’s a really hard question to answer. I have so many favorites. It’s like asking a parent, “Who’s your favorite child?” My favorite piece of music also depends on the genre and, of course, which percussion instrument I’m playing. As a timpanist, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is way up there. For percussion, one of my favorite pieces to perform is Michael Colgrass’ Te Tuma Te Papa for solo percussionist. As far as what piece I dread the most, maybe “It’s a Small World.” My second to last week at New World Symphony was an all-Disney program, and the encore was “It’s a Small World.” I must’ve had that thing stuck in my head for a week!

Q: Can you share any embarrassing percussion moments, like dropping a mallet in the middle of a piece?

A: Fortunately (knock on wood), I’ve never dropped a mallet during a performance, though I’ve seen it happen many times! I do have a vivid memory of an orchestra performance during my freshman year at Juilliard. It was during a new-music concert conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw, and in the middle of the piece I had a deafeningly loud and prominent chime passage. I must’ve really been blasting away because, all of a sudden, a large chunk of the glass chime hammer shattered and went spraying into the first violin section! I’m happy to report that nobody, and no object, was hurt. Of course, I did have to replace my chime hammer! At any rate, the audience definitely got a kick out of the whole thing!