Interview with Frank Almond Part 1: The Journey and Joys of a Concert Master

You.

Hello, and welcome to KNOW Studios live, where we socialize with purpose with our amazing members upstairs in our fabulous rooftop lounge. So, I'm Beth Ridley, your host. Happy to be here. And today, let me just say, this is our second episode, and we came out with all guns blazing. We. We held nothing back. Frank Almond. Let me just say that. And I could drop the mic. I'm so excited, I will admit, even a little nervous, but I have to say. So you are violinist extraordinaire, concert master for our own Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. But whenever I mention your name, everyone says you are just the nicest person. So under normal circumstances, if I just read your bio, I'd be super nervous. But because people I know vouch for you that you are so nice and down to earth, I actually feel a little bit more comfortable.

Well, it's great to be here. Thank you. I'll try to live up to some of that.

Thank you so much for being here. So much to cover. Where to begin?

Don't know.

If it's okay with you, I'm actually gonna go back to high school. If that. If that's okay. I know most people don't want to relive high school, but. So here's my kickoff question for you, right? So at the age of 17, you're still in high school. You're winning major classical music competitions, you're working with masters in the industry, but you're still a student at a public school. And peers around you are doing, like, ordinary, normal, like, high school things. I've got two high schoolers, and I know how hard it is just to stay focused. What was your motivation and in high school to stay so committed to the practicing that actually it required to achieve your level of success at that age?

Well, that's kind of a funny question, and I should probably just point out, for the record, I actually was not in high school at 17.

Oh.

My answer to trying to get through all of that was to get out of high school.

I love it.

Which I did when I was 15. 15. So by the time I was out sort of, and had decided to try to play professionally or at least possibly get into music school, I was out already doing that. Okay, so that kind of undercuts the whole thing.

No, but. But actually, great insight. So, like, was a motivation just the fact that you wanted out, you wanted something else. You recognize that at an earlyish age.

Yeah. Plus, I was in. I grew up in Southern California, in San Diego, which is a beautiful place that at the time had absolutely horrible public schools. And I really, I didn't like high school at all. I mean, a lot of people don't like high school, but I really didn't like high school. And I had stuff I wanted to do and found a way to sort of build up enough credits and whatever to get out. So that was really what it was. I wasn't quite sure exactly what I was going to do when I got out. But also a key thing that happened at that time was I found a teacher, violin teacher, who we kind of clicked. And there was a period of time just before I got out of high school where I really wasn't playing much at all. I mean, you know, I knew I was good at it, but I wasn't sure I wanted to do that, like, for real. And then I saw all my friends working at McDonald's or, you know, going to their local community college and none of that particularly appealed to me.

Yeah, yeah.

So I thought, I'll give it a shot.

And I love it to hear you say, now give this a go.

Well, the alternative was really either that or hang around and wait and see what happens. But with music schools generally you need to do it earlier just because physiologically the way that things develop.

So even earlier than when you actually started.

Well, yeah, like Juilliard has a pre college division. You know, they have kids there that are that. That go there before they were born.

Wow. You know, Yeah, a little dramatic, but, yeah.

But you know, there are five, six, seven year olds running around playing and it's amazing to see. But.

Right.

You can go to law school when you're 25. Right. You can't become, you know, a really high end instrumentalist. I think to get into Juilliard when 25, maybe as a master's student or something like that. But earlier is better, I think so.

Interesting. So it's almost a. You were motivated by wanting to get out. You didn't really like high school. You were seeking something better. You didn't really see what you didn't like what you. The alternatives that you saw around you. And you had the benefit some really good teachers. But it, but you were still kind of, I guess, starting a little bit late. You didn't enter Juilliard at birth.

Right.

So in other words, I would think, like, if someone's entering Juilliard at birth, they have a parent pushing them behind them, because what do you know?

At 5, right.

You were still old enough to be able to make some of your own decisions. Is that fair?

Yeah. Good and bad decisions.

Yeah.

Like most 17 year olds, I Mean, I grew up in a house that had a lot of music around it. My parents are both musicians and I kind of understood, sort of understood what it meant to try to get into music school. But the main thing was that I had a good teacher in a place like San Diego, California, which is not exactly a bastion of activity for fine arts. Or it wasn't. It's more so now. Nothing against San Diego, but, you know, I had a fairly normal beach going, outdoorsy upbringing and playing the violin was more of a sideline.

Yeah, that's actually really good to hear because sometimes I think it's scary when you think like kids so young have just one singular focus. It seems like you grew up with a little bit of balance. Maybe more so than some of your peers who were at Juilliard.

Yeah, definitely more than some people I met in New York. I didn't have stage parents, you know, probably because they were musicians and I have two brothers. And I think it horrified them in a certain way that two of us went into music ultimately, you know, because they knew kind of what it was about and they knew too much. Well, yeah, they knew enough to push us that way if we wanted to do it. And that was really what was key because they understood that the self motivation is really what's going to get you past a certain point, not somebody beating you over the head to practice.

It sounds like the perfect combination, really.

It wasn't perfect, but, you know, I mean, you know, we got a job. Okay.

That's probably why you could grow up and excel in your profession, but still be very normal, very down to earth and not weird. You know what I mean? Like.

I don't know which friends you're talking to, but you know.

Anyways, so two questions out of this. So one, so it's kind of a drive for just getting, breaking out of your, your high school, your teen existence was a motivator at that time. What still motivates you now? Because you still need that drive. You're still, you're still, you're still mastering. I mean, you. So, so what's your motivation now?

Well, I think if, if you're doing anything really, whether it's the arts or medicine or law or interviewing people, you have to have a kind of sense that it's meaningful and it's making a difference and gets you up in the morning and gives you some sort of challenge that in a kind of selfish way keeps you going, but in another broader sense is meaningful in a way that's kind of intangible. And I think that's what's weird about, you know, a lot, a lot of people get into their professions and 20 years in, it's not only completely different than what you thought it was going to be or what they told you it was going to be in school, but you know, the burnout rate for a lot of especially high end professions where you're supposed to be on all the time. You know, nobody cares on Saturday night when you walk out to play if, you know, you got in a car accident on the way to the show, you're supposed to go out and play. And so I think, you know, that's kind of a convoluted way of saying I do it because for whatever reason, I'm very curious about all of those elements. And as I've gotten older and lived here longer, a lot of the work that I'm doing, especially work outside of the orchestra, is more community based or kind of is going in that direction because I think it's sort of an amazing place to be.

So that's interesting. I hear a lot of things, like around balance with you. So even when you were young, right. You know, you, you had other interests. It wasn't all about the violin, but that was one thing that you also pursued. And even now older, so accomplished in your career, you just mentioned you have a lot of community interests and you actually do a lot of things in the off season. From the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, you've got your solo work and chamber music and community. Is that fair to say that balance for you is important and maybe balance helps to keep you on point.

I'm not sure balance is even the right word. It's more variety. Variety and a kind of, you know, coalesce, having all these different branches of the same tree sort of coalesce around the same idea.

Yeah.

There's what we do at the orchestra, which kind of bleeds into what you do as a chamber musician. And then the chamber music series gives all kinds of opportunities to have a little bit more intimate experience with an audience. And then that kind of got me thinking about working more with kids and the skill set that you need to play chamber music. And it's sort of circular.

One thing that struck me, though, it seems like you were really intentional at a young age what your vision of what a professional musician was going to be for you. Maybe it helped that your parents were musicians, but you're already visualizing. Well, no, I don't want to be pigeonholed into doing one thing. Variety is really important. I feel like I Can get variety by a concert master role. Like, you had a vision for yourself. You were going into this maybe with a little bit more eyes wide open in terms of how you were going to chart a path for you that. That made you happy.

Yeah. I'm just kind of thinking about how that worked out, because one thing I know for sure, in this business, you cannot plan. Doesn't matter what area of the business you're in. You can plan everything and how your career is going to go. And I'm going to do this hit and write this song and have this, and none of it's going to happen, or it'll happen in a way that you completely don't expect.

Okay.

And there is.

And you. Did you come to know that, or did you know that going in again because of your parents?

I think what I knew was that I was gonna go to music school and then kind of take it from there.

Okay.

You know, you're 17. You're kind of winging it. And thrown into a place like New York City, where I was suddenly surrounded by all these people who played at least as well as I did, and most of them, you know, better.

Okay.

And that's tremendously invigorating also, being in a place like New York City where you, you know, for me, it was just this playground and soaking up all the art that was going on. And all of that sort of fed into this idea of eventually coming to meeting certain people or certain mentors, for lack of a better word, that. Where I kind of slowly got an idea that I'm probably not going to be very happy as a soloist with a limited solo career that I have and had just because of the lifestyle and a lot of other things. And then I had, at a very early age, actually, I was 15, I went away to a place called Tanglewood, which is the summer home of the Boston Symphony. And I met the concert master there and worked with him for about four or five weeks at a really critical time. I mean, I was right on the edge of maybe quitting or stopping. And this guy was a legend. His name is Joseph Silverstein. And I was so fascinated with him as a person and what he was able to do and his intellects and the just kaleidoscope of information and abilities that he had. I thought, that's amazing. Like, you could do that and still, like, play the violin. And that was probably a really kind of seminal influence on me. And from there, I met people in New York that were more in that direction, whether they were playing in string quartets or some soloists who also did a number of other things. And so that definitely was an influence.

So the power of having the right teachers at the right moment and mentors to, you know, help guide you or to show you.

And a lot of it was chance, you know, a lot of it. You know, I bump into somebody at the Aspen Music Festival.

Yeah.

And we became, you know, I'd see him in a restaurant, we'd talk or whatever and have a beer.

It seemed like you sort of had that mindset that a lot is out of your control, but you are open.

But I was curious about it.

That's right, yeah. Which is. Which is great.

And I thought I could learn from them.

That nimble mindset, I think, is really critical. All right, so back to concert for the rest of us. What exactly does a concert master do?

I know, it's such a.

Or I should say, what do you do in your role as a concert master?

I mean. Well, on the base level, like the most practical level, I guess the best description is you are the principal first violinist. Okay. So if you think of an orchestra divided up in sections, which is violin, viola, cello, bass, and then woodwinds, brass, they all have principles and assistant principles. And they're sections. So the quote, unquote, leaders of those sections are sort of playing almost like a large chamber music group with a bunch of people behind you that in an ideal world, you're all sort of doing the same thing.

Okay.

And then there's this conductor person up there who's trying to loop it all together.

Right.

With what's written on the page and their own idea of what is written on the page filtered through 90 people.

Yeah.

The conductor cannot do everything contrary to what a lot of them think. You know, going back to the 18th century, the concert master was sort of, you know, the right hand or left hand person to the conductor. And there's this weird kind of liaison where you. You occupy a role that the other principals might not have to all the time. Like, like, say they're like. For an example, there'll be like some issue in the strings where we're all. We're trying to solve some problem or fix a Boeing or whatever. Something the conductor wants. And they will just talk to you.

Yeah.

Because especially if it's a gas conductor and they don't really know.

Yeah. They don't have the relationships.

And so you end up with this kind of chemistry.

Yeah.

And I think if you're skillful at it, you can also sort of sense what the conductor wants without them really saying much.

Right.

A good conductor can kind of portray or convey what they want visually without having to talk a whole lot in rehearsals.

Okay.

And then hopefully you're sort of transmitting that and everybody's kind of picking up on it. It's this weird alchemy.

Yeah.

That is a lot of chemistry involved and a lot of kind of intuitiveness.

So you're very much helping to translate the artistic vision from the conductor to the rest of the orchestra. And do you also absorb some of the. Just the regular personnel. Personnel issues that come with an organization, too.

Yeah.

Making sure that people are happy and fulfilled. And what does it take, like. Or is that, like, you don't. You don't get into those person. It's purely artistic, or do you get into some of those personalities?

You know, ideally, I almost feel like your colleagues, you know, your colleagues and you. You need to work together, and you're all sort of headed for the same thing at the end of the week.

Yeah.

And, you know, it's. In a way, it's like herding cats.

Yeah.

And if you. If you have a difficult personality or a rigid personality or don't respect your colleagues or, you know, all the things that you see in a lot of businesses.

Yeah.

It makes it more difficult. Right. So for me, you know, it's. It's an evolution. I try to learn something every day to make those skills better. Yeah. There are also practical things, like, in terms of personnel. You sit on all. Most of the audition committees. If there's an issue that maybe needs to be discussed in private with a conductor or the doctor wants to work out something off stage, you know, or something with a soloist, sometimes they'll turn to you and say, well, why don't we try this? You know, yeah, let's try that. Or. I don't think that's gonna work, you know.

Yeah.

So it's.

It's a lot. So I'm having an appreciation. This is like a really big job. Multifaceted.

Yes. It's. It's strange. There's a lot of hats to wear. And you also have to know, you know, when not to say anything.

I think the reason why you're really good at it is because, one, you have sort of the technical, actually artistic mastery and expertise. Like, people look up to you because you're good at what you do. You're really good at playing the violin. But you also, to me, you seem like you've got really good people skills in the sense that you're nimble in your approach when you need to Be you sort of have this curiosity and this flexibility about you that's just kind of innate. I would imagine that those are a nice combination of skill sets that lend itself well to the job.

I hope so.

I mean, I'll say that I'm fired by now. If you've been in this role for.

A while, I think that if you set the tone in terms of just your style of playing, that becomes a big part of it as well. If you have somebody up there that has a very small kind of personality, it's probably not gonna work in that chair. Although you do need to know when to kind of just be part of the machine.

Yeah.

And the section.

Yeah, yeah.

And. But at the same time, you know, you're supposed to be able to play all the concert master solos and have a, you know, an approach that's gonna set the tone.

Yeah, sure. We say, yeah.

Yeah. It's nice to have it all together like that. But I would be remiss if I didn't say that, you know, there's some spectacular violinists in that section.

Yeah.

That can do stuff that I can't do, and there's a lot of stuff.

But having that respect is more, you know, it's appreciating that. Appreciating that there are some extremely talented professionals that you're leading and you're not always better than them. And I think affording that respect when you need to, I think enables them to see you as that leader.

And there's a lot of really great soloists that would be terrible. Concert masters, for example, you know, it's just different. Two different animals. And it's a weird combination.

It seems like a very weird combination. Very fascinating, though, especially if I try to, like, articulate it in sort of, like, business sense. Like. Yeah. That's a job that not a lot of people would be good at.

Well, it's also strange because I'd say 80% of what happens in that chair and that job, people don't see. They see you walk out on Saturday night or on Friday night.

Yes.

And there's this ritual where you walk out and, you know the orchestra tunes.

Yeah.

Sit down. I am still trying to figure that out, but it's left over from.

Yeah.

You know, 18, whatever. And. But the real stuff happens during the.

Week in the practice rehearsals. And I wanted to ask you about that. These rituals. Okay. So as a just a regular concert goer, you're looking at everything. Everything occurs as it should. Let's just say. Few surprises. There's few things that I See up in my seat where I'm like, oh, that was different. Right. Every. And, and the music is beautiful and, and people applaud and it looks seamless. It looks perfect. Perfection. I would give me, give me a story.

It looks that way.

Yes. And I know when you're down in it, like it probably isn't, but give me a story because you guys are all at the top of your game in terms of like professionals. Right. It's not likely that somebody's missing a beat or played the wrong note, but what goes wrong or what has gone wrong that the layperson just may not see that, you know, happened down in the trenches.

I mean, there's lots of little things that happen that we might notice and nobody else notices, which is part of our job as well.

Yeah.

But it is supposed to be this sort of well oiled machine with a certain form formality that I don't always, you know, appreciate really. I, I wish it were less stiff sometimes, but you know, we've had all kinds of crazy stuff happen during shows.

Like, okay, give me one, throw one out.

Let's see. Well, yesterday we were playing along and the conductor just, his baton just flew out of his hat and hit the violin of the person's. My stand partner, Lana bounced off of her violin and went onto the floor. This is an extremely complicated contemporary piece that we were opening the program with.

Yeah.

And all, you know, the only thing you can do is she very casually just got, went down and picked it up and set it back up on the stand, you know. And later on we looked at the violin to see if there was some big dent in this, you know, seven figures. You know, we've had people pianos almost roll off of the stage. The Marcus center has a stage that has little gaps in it sometimes. And we've had people walk out and say get their heels stuck in the gap while they're walking. So there's nothing worse than a soloist who almost goes down during their bow. You don't want that to happen.

Well, thank you for sharing those stories because honestly, sometimes you're like, we just can't be that perfect. So it's good to hear that. It's not always, not always.