More details to come - for no, suffice to say that Roger will becontinuing to work with the Athens Symphony Brass in addition to upcoming classes in Greece, Spain, Portugal and Romania. Check the Bobo Events Calendar for dates and info.
For those of you who have worried about not ever being able to study with Roger Bobo due to his forced retirement at the Lausanne Conservatory, here is some good news: Roger will be phased in as a full time professor at the Royal Northern Conservatory of Music in Manchester, England.
Roger has been a visiting guest professor in Manchester for the past two years. In light of the Lausanne retirement policy and the tapering off of Roger's activity in Switzerland, the RNCM has decided to ease him in to a regular full time professorship. The following academic year 2004 marks the beginning of Roger's full time tenure at the RNCM.
Please contact the RNCM directly for admissions information -
This will be Roger's sixth year in Kalavrita. What started out as a very relaxed national course is starting to develop into an intense high level international class similar to the course in Canada. Due to the lack of publicity by the course promoters and the fact that most Greek tubists view August as a month of holidays far from the practise room, we need to recruit students by email... might you be interested?
Kalavrita is a town up in the mountains above the port of Patras and Diakofto in the Peleponese region of Greece. Famous for the mass execution by the Nazis of the entire male population during the second world war, it's a quiet and scenic town connected to the sea by an ancient cog railway. As a tourist, it's a nice chance to immerge yourself in the Greek culture (giros, tavernas open until 3 in the morning, long siestas during the heat of the day, grilled local trout and cheese pies, ouzo and ice coffee in the shade, incredible hospitality by the population of Kalavrita, excellent Greek beer, the beach in Diakoftos, etc.).
Tubisticly speaking, it's a great opportunity to have some intense time with Roger Bobo. Morning masterclass dealing with a variety of subjects (warm up, technique, excerpts, range extension, etc.), individual lessons, and ensembles. Evening faculty and participant concerts. Pre-formed brass quintets are also welcome to register for coaching with Roger Bobo, and of course can also take part in the individual instrument seminars. Other faculty includes: Trumpet: Fred Mills formerly of the Canadian Brass (also Gerassimos Ioannidis from the National Opera of Athens, and Americans Vince DiMartino, Richard Illman), Trombone: Scott Hartman formerly of the Canadian Brass (and Kostas Avgerinos from the Athens Symphony Orch), Horn: American Lisa Bontrager and Vangelis Skouras (Principal, Athens Symphony Orch). American tubist Marty Erickson (Penn State, formerly in the US Navy Band) will also be there to perform with the Millennium Brass Ensemble and teach tuba.
In other words, a very interesting course. But that's not all: it's also a lot of fun! AND it's quite affordable. 10 days of the tuba masterclass with accommodation and breakfast in the youth hostel (also the location of the tuba class) last year was just 460 Euro (please don't ask me for equivalents in your currency.. non-Europeans should visit the currency conversion site at http://www.xe.net/currency/ ). Or, you can take the class- only option for 310 Euro (2003 price) and make your own hotel arrangements. A meal plan is available in the youth hostel or you can try the numerous (and I mean NUMEROUS) cafes and restaurants in Kalavrita.
Travel by air is into Athens with connecting bus service. Train connection Athens - Diakofto and then up to Kalavrita by cog train is possible but not recommended. Travel by ferry from Italy into Patras with connecting bus service to Kalavrita (have done this myself and it's quite easy). Yes, like the course in Domaine Forget, it is a bit of a hassle to get there, but it's certainly worth the trip once you're there!
Please visit the course website at http://www.kalavrita.gr/music - you can also get more information on this site: just click here.
The Swiss are known for alphorns, chocolate - and clockwork efficiency. This last characteristic unfortunately extends not only to train timetables and cuckoo clocks but to a mandatory retirement age...
Roger Bobo is unfortunately caught up in this mandatory retirement policy as he will turn 65 next year . He has proposed to the conservatory that his professorship be extended - a fact that they find very strange (why would someone want to continue working after age 65???? definitely not typical Swiss behaviour). As it stands now, Roger has been granted a very rare extension of the mandatory retirement date - the conservatory has decided that academic year 2001-2002 will be his last year to accept students for the three year post graduate program. Roger can have up to twelve students, which means he has five openings for the coming academic year.
Roger Bobo, as most of you are aware, has an extremely successful track record of international tuba students. Bobo students have historically matured into successful orchestral and solo musicians (Gene Pokorny, Norm Pearson, Roland Szentpali, Christian Lindberg, Wesley Jacobs, Mel Culbertson and Anne Jelle Visser too mention a few "big names"), and former Lausanne students include last year's Markneukirchen first place tie Alessandro Fossi, Mario Barsotti, tubist with Zubin Mehta's orchestra in Florence, Italy, and last year's Tanglewood tubist Tom-from-Regina. If I tried to list them all, I'm sure I'd miss a few names, but it's safe to say that Roger has former students playing in major orchestras and winning auditions and competitions in throughout North America and all of Europe in addition to Japan, Australia, Iceland (!) and South America.
Of course I'm not claiming that Roger turned all of these tubists from raw beginners into stunning virtuosi, but the fact remains that study with Roger Bobo has been a formative stage in many professional players' careers. So, if you want to study with this tuba legend, this is your last chance.
Live auditions are in Lausanne on May 6 (sorry, no tape auditions), and unfortunately the application deadline is at hand - March 21 (I think that unSwiss leniency may be extended past this date, but better safe than sorry).
Another weird Swiss idiosyncrasy - the Lausanne Conservatory will stop offering a tuba program after the last of these students finish the three year graduate program. Something to do with splitting the conservatory between Lausanne and Geneva, but strange nonetheless.
If you miss the Lausanne boat or just want a short condensed period of study with Roger, don't worry, you can catch him at his many international masterclasses (see https://rogerbobo.com for this summer's suggestions).
After an illustrious forty year solo career that has seen him on prestigious concert halls throughout North America, Europe and Asia, tuba legend Roger Bobo has programmed what will be his final solo concert: 26 May 2001 in Riva del Garda, Italy.
Rumours abound in the tuba community as news of Bobos decision percolates through conservatories and orchestras: illness? advancing age? or the looming fear of every concert soloist that of no longer performing at the highest level? Bobo is quick to dismiss these rumours, Im healthy, and frankly Im playing better than ever. The concert in Italy will definitely end my solo career on a high note. He adds, Its true that the aging process is not kind to brass players; I find that I need to play a good three hours a day just to stay in shape, and time spent on the horn of course increases when I have new material to learn. However look at trumpet soloist Doc Severinsen over seventy years old and still playing like a god! With a well thought out daily practise routine, the muscles involved in playing are well toned and retain their function.
Rumours dispelled, why then has Bobo decided to shelve his tuba? Quite simply, he is driven by a new passion that requires all of the time and energy currently dedicated to his playing: the desire to conduct. This combined with his increasingly busy schedule of international master classes has forced Bobo into making a decision. A typical day at his home in Lausanne, Switzerland where he teaches advanced tuba studies at the Conservatoire sees Bobo already in his studio at 6:00 AM. A four hour practise session is followed by a student at ten for a lesson, two more students in the afternoon (lessons in Lausanne are two hours), and currently, conducting rehearsals of Stravinksys Histoire du Soldat in the evening. Anyone who has ever attended one of his master classes or taken a lesson knows how passionate Bobo is about his teaching, and the same is true of his personal study and conducting. Its quite simply not possible to give 110% of ones self to music and students 12 hours a day and still have enough energy left for score study, travel and, hopefully, a private life. Something had to give way, and as Bobo explains, Perhaps if I had three major concerts a week, Id continue playing, but unfortunately thats not yet a reality for a tuba soloist. Playing at a consistently high level requires the same dedication and study whether its for one concert a month or five a week. I love playing, but at this point in my musical career I want dedicate that time and energy to teaching, conducting and score study, and this means cutting out performing and the long hours of preparation involved.
While agreeing that he is ready to move on and looks forward to being able to accept the increasingly frequent requests for conducting and master class engagements, Bobo admits to a certain nostalgia. There is a measure of sadness involved, just as there was when I left the orchestra and moved to Europe in 1989 to focus on solo playing and teaching. However, this is a positive decision, and its with great joy that I dedicate my energies to this new direction.
Conductors tend to come in two flavours: those who study conducting from an early age, and those who take up the baton after a period of musical maturity as an ensemble player, a soloist or, as in this case, both. Imagine the wealth of musical experience that Roger Bobo brings to the podium after having spent years in orchestras under the direction of maestros such as Zubin Mehta, Carl Maria Giulini, Andrea Previn (the three permanent conductors of the Los Angeles Philharmonic during Bobos tenure 1964 - 1989), Eric Leinsdorf (Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, 1956-62) and Bernard Haitink (Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam 1962-64) and innumerable guest conductors. Bobo has also enjoyed a close collaboration with conductors and composers including John Williams, Igor Stravinsky, Pierre Boulez, Leonard Bernstein, Bruce Broughton, Johan de Meij and Ralph Vaughan Williams. In addition to his legendary solo career that began with the first ever solo tuba recital in New Yorks Carnegie Recital Hall, Bobo has performed in a wide range of instrumental ensembles ranging from symphony orchestras to the Los Angeles Brass quintet, Hollywood studio ensembles and large brass groups such as the Keystone Brass. The same intensity and passion that have always characterized Roger Bobos tuba playing will now be directed to conducting, and the musical community looks forward to seeing and hearing - the results.
Of course, Bobo is no stranger to the podium. While playing in the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he developed and conducted a summer orchestra of chiefly LAPO musicians, the Topanga Philharmonic. This in turn led to appearances as a conductor for a series of childrens concerts with the LAPO, and Bobo was also recently the conductor of the Regina Symphony Orchestra in Canada in a special concert of new works for solo tuba and euphonium. Equally at home in the band world, Bobo has conducted symphonic wind bands in Italy, Israel, Japan and North America. Whenever possible, he enjoys combining conducting with teaching and adores his monthly engagement with the Italian National Youth Orchestra in Florence, where he conducts the orchestra brass section in preparation for concerts with such noteable conductors as Giulini,, Muti, and Sinopoli. Bobo has also been employed by professional orchestras in the Netherlands and Scandinavia to prepare their brass sections for upcoming concerts. While it doesnt always entail conducting, coaching chamber music is also an activity that he enjoys.
Bobos passion for teaching is relatively recent, dating from his move to Europe in 1989 when he left the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the hectic orchestra schedule, suddenly finding himself with time to teach and numerous young musicians eager to study with a north American master. The first year in Italy was difficult, recounts Bobo. I was struggling with a new language and culture, and the first students I encountered were at quite a low level. However, that quickly changed not only did I decide to stay in Europe, but the level of Italian tuba and brass playing in general skyrocketed. Id like to think that I played a role in that. Europe has some incredible young tubists now, and Im happy to be a part of this development.
Bobo also entered the master class circuit and found the time ripe for a European brass renaissance, also drawing a following from advanced North American and Asian students looking to expand their cultural and playing horizons. Bobo jokes, my master classes tend to draw very talented students and young professionals. I really dont even have to teach I can just put them in a room together and they all get better! An international master class activity combined with successive teaching appointments in Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands has built up a very strong following of international Bobo students that reads as a whos who list of successful international competition and audition winners, As well as being a finishing school for advanced players who are preparing to enter the professional world as either ensemble musicians or soloists, Bobo has had great success with mature musicians of all brass instruments looking to revitalize their playing or overcome some of the hazards and stresses encountered in their professional careers. Roger Bobo currently teaches at the Lausanne Conservatory in Switzerland and the Fiesole Music School near Florence, Italy, and has just accepted an appointment at the Royal Northern Academy of Music in Manchester, England.
What is in store for the final concert? The evening off May 26 2001 will find Roger Bobo and friends in the magical acoustics of the historic lakeshore Rocca fortress of Riva del Garda, a stage that has hosted some of the worlds finest tuba and euphonium players at the Verso il Millennio international tuba conference hosted by Bobo in 1997. Bobo will be accompanied by conductor Mario Lutterotti and the Riva del Garda Symphonic Wind Band, an ensemble with whom he has a long standing friendship. The first half of the program sees Roger Bobo in the role of soloist, performing a new band arrangement by Johan de Meij of the Concerto for tuba and orchestra by Alexander Arutiunian (commissioned for Bobo by Yamaha and Editions Bim in 1992). Bobo will then be joined by his protégé, Hungarian tuba virtuoso Roland Szentpáli, in a musical romp for two tubas and band in Szentpális arrangement of the Bobo signature tune, Romanian Dance No. 2 by Dumitru Ionel. It is quite appropriate that in the second half of the concert Roger Bobo will take the podium to conduct Johan de Meijs Aquarium and other works to be announced.
Bobo explains, its going to be fun, a real celebration! Ive chosen Riva del Garda for this concert as its one of the most beautiful places in the world, and I have a lot of friends there. More friends are expected to travel to Italy to celebrate with Roger Bobo at this historic concert, and students, friends and colleagues of Roger worldwide wish him well in his new direction..
- Emily Harris 26/04/2001
The concert is sponsored by Yamaha Musica Italia in cooperation with the Corpo Bandistico Riva del Garda and Academia Musicale Altogarda. The concert (admission free, rain date 27/05) is held in coordination with a masterclass with Roger Bobo, 25-27 May in Riva del Garda. For information about the concert and/or course, please contact Harly Arts Promotion, tel/fax +39 0464 555444, email:[email protected], http://www.harlyarts.com