Soon after after arriving in Kingsville, TX, and starting my job at A &I, Missy and I met with Jacques Singer, conductor of the Corpus Christi Orchestra. We had known about him through Bronya Foster, his sister and wife of Sidney Foster, professor of piano at the IU SofM. Bronya and Sidney were close friends and colleagues of Fred Baldwin, Missy’s father.
Maestro Singer was very kind and our auditions ended up being more of an interview than an audition. Missy joined the violin section and I the woodwinds. The announcement appeared in the Corpus Christi Times.
The following year, Singer became the conductor of the Portland Symphony Orchestra and Maurice Peress became his replacement.
When the principal clarinetist took a teaching position at the University of Kentucky, before the start of Peress’s tenure began, he held auditions and this time I performed many excerpts for him and did little talking. As a result, I was appointed principal clarinet at the start of the 1961-1962 season.
