Luckily I haven't made too many mistakes with this group. However, I would say have a couple martinis before a rehearsal would be the big one mistake that I made. Didn't play as good. Won't do that again! Fortunately I was not in the concertmaster chair that night.

The Gala Concerts for New Year's Eve can be a little stressful because we have to switch books between numbers from as many as 14 different production scores. The audience usually picks the music for the 2nd half of the program. In addition to being a little stressful, it's also quite fulfilling.

It's the thrill of doing fabulous productions of my favorite music and being the leader of a highly skilled orchestra.

It was 7 years in the making that I worked as a sub for the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players through a dear friend, Ellie, who was a long time member of the group. As a sub I did mostly runouts and tours, but never had a chance to play in New York City. Then one fateful day Ellie had passed away in February of 2011, and there was also another violinist who retired after being a member for several decades. These events created vacancies for the violin section. A few months later, I wound up doing a small tour at the Wolf Trap near DC with NYGASP and I was playing H.M.S. Pinafore for the first time, therefore sight reading the music for the performance. Little did I know that this was my audition for the company. Thank goodness I took sight reading classes when I was at Manhattan School of Music. My stand partner, Peter (who we unfortunately just lost) told the leaders of the orchestra that I was kicking tail and nailing the music. A couple months later, they asked me to sit in as Concertmaster for The Grand Duke (a very rarely performed work & the last collaboration of Gilbert & Sullivan) for the entire production run. Shortly before the run of Grand Duke, the management asked me to be a member, but after performing the concertmaster role for the first time, they agreed that I was qualified to be a rotation concertmaster. Ever since late 2011, I've been sitting in several different positions in the violin section, but also concertmaster occasionally. It's a real privilege and a testament of legacy to those who helped me become a member of this wonderful organization.