Whenever I have mentioned his name in musical circles the reactions are often mixed…but I have long understood that in the arts such a reaction more often than not means I’ve struck intellectual gold. Beneath an often-misunderstood character, is an intellect of such massive value, that what should shock American trumpet players is that he isn’t more widely lauded as one of the best American trumpet players of the 20th and 21st centuries. I am happy he has joined the Faculty at DePaul, and would encourage anyone entering this dying industry to consider joining his studio, it might give you a fighting chance.

I often talk about how arts institutions have clearly shown an inability to change with the times. This has led to a curious phenomenon; we can all agree that the industry has cancer…but the institutions are trying to treat their mortal disease with essential oils instead of chemo-therapy. In their plight to find out what content is relevant they have lost track of the fact that this is a zero-sum game. As Steve well puts it emotion is ALWAYS relevant. Wagner will always be relevant, our mistake is to think that Wagner depends on the Metropolitan Opera to survive…it is the institutions that are spelling out their demise, not the content. Few people I know are as articulate as Steve about the trends we see as normal in classical music today, but which are actually a disruption from the nature of the art form from the 1500s until the beginning of the 1900s.