Marin Independent Journal - Lifestyles -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 2/3/2005
Last Visited: 2/4/2005
"Look at the pegs," said Constant, the young concertmaster of the Marin Symphony who, along with principal violist Jenny Douglass, will perform Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola as featured soloists Sunday and Tuesday at Marin Center.
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The small party was interrupted by the arrival of Douglass, Marin Symphony's principal violist.She arrived flushed with the news that she and her husband are expecting their second baby.
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Douglass is a busy freelance violist in the Bay Area.In 1999, she joined the Marin Symphony as principal violist, is a member of the Santa Rosa Symphony, and a substitute musician with the San Francisco Symphony.
A Mill Valley resident, she also maintains a busy, bicoastal career by performing, touring and recording with New York's renowned Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, a conductor-less ensemble, with whom she also recently completed a European tour.
"I worked during my last pregnancy," said Douglass, in reference to her son, Henry, born in 2003.The comment all but dismissed the notion that her present condition would affect her career in some way.
"I sat five feet away from the brass section," she said with a chuckle."To this day, I'm not sure if Henry loves it or hates it.But he definitely heard it."
According to Douglass, for anyone who has never been to the symphony, this program would be a perfect place to start.Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, she said, is "one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written, especially the middle movement.With its uncontrollable exuberance and brilliant flashes of color, it is a perfect example of a masterpiece."It has been described as a kind of dance with two partners, or a distinct conversation.With its can-you-top-this element of call and response in the dialogue, some have even described it as a race.
One of Douglass' friends, upon hearing that Douglass might be performing Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante, inquired if it was so."When I told her she heard right, she said, 'Well, gee I hope you win,'" Douglass recalled with a laugh.It's a musical laugh.