Some recent aticles published in local magazines. Additional writing samples, including feature articles, press releases, personalty profiles, newsletter articles, and more, are available upon request.    

[Article for October 2008 issue of Performing Arts Magazine]   

MAXIM ESHKENAZY: Daredevil Conductor

Maxim Eshkenazy rides a motorcycle, loves to scuba dive, has a pilot’s license, climbed Mount Whitney in a day, and graced the cover of the European edition of Elle Magazine.

Oh, and one other thing—he’s also the new assistant conductor of the Pacific Symphony.

“What you see is what you get,” laughs Eshkenazy, who started his new position in July.

The Pacific Symphony did get more than they expected when they selected Eshkenazy to succeed former associate conductor Michael Hall, who was hired as music director for the Southwest Florida Symphony. The Bulgarian-born Eshkenazy has received countless accolades as both a violinist and a conductor in Europe and now in Southern California. However, it wasn’t just his resume that impressed the Pacific Symphony.

“During the audition process, I was invited by Pacific Symphony Music Director Carl St.Clair to do part of a rehearsal with the orchestra, and apparently there was a match,” recalls Eshkenazy. “I liked the orchestra and, more importantly, they liked me. It’s like a marriage—if it matches, it matches.”

It’s certainly a match made in musical heaven for the 32 year old conductor, whose duties include serving as music director for the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra, leading the Family Musical Mornings concert series, and assisting St.Clair in orchestral programming and planning.

“Maxim’s experiences as a conductor have enabled him to hone his technical craft and develop a complete podium presence,” says St.Clair. “He is freely able to express his musical feelings to the orchestra with clarity and deep understanding of the score. He is very engaging and passionate, which is very motivating and creates a wonderful atmosphere for music making.”

Blessed with boundless enthusiasm, boyish good looks and masterful musicianship, Eshkenazy sees his position with the Pacific Symphony as the next natural step in a career that began when he took up the violin at age five. His parents enrolled him in a Bulgarian music conservatory, and for the next 20 years he focused on perfecting his playing. Eventually, Eshkenazy became concertmaster of several European orchestras.

Eshkenazy moved to Los Angeles after he was accepted to the USC Thornton School of Music as a violin major, but then his career took an accidental twist.

“The Dean of the school said ‘why don’t you try conducting,’ so I did and it was fun. I stuck with it, and got a Leonard Bernstein scholarship for conducting,” says Eshkenazy, who earned a Masters of Music in both conducting and violin performance from USC. “Now, two years later, I’m going to be on stage with his daughter, conducting a Family Musical Mornings concert playing all Bernstein music with one of the best orchestras in the country. It doesn’t get much better than that. I’m super excited about it!”

In addition to conducting professional orchestras in Europe and the United States, Eshkenazy has an affinity for youth orchestras. While at USC, he became music director of the Pasadena Symphony Youth Orchestra and assistant conductor of the Los Angeles-based American Youth Symphony Orchestra, and still serves as the music director of the Bakersfield Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Those credentials prepared Eshkenazy for an important component of his Pacific Symphony audition.

“Part of the audition process was to conduct the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra. I did a rehearsal with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, and it was cool. They are really good. I mean really good. Look at our repertoire next year and you can see we are continuing to progress. We are doing Mahler’s First Symphony, and Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances, which is an incredible piece, very demanding. We have an ambitious repertoire, and we will live up to expectations.”

Eshkenazy is equally enthusiastic about the Family Musical Mornings series, which includes five sets of concerts held in the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall.

“It’s not just another education program that some orchestras in this country do,” notes Eshkenazy. “It’s actually a quite sophisticated and well organized event that often incorporates actors and dancers and stage effects, which is super cool. It’s kind of advanced forward thinking about education, which I like.”

To help audiences adjust to the passing of the baton from former Family Musical Mornings conductor Michael Hall to Eshkenazy, the two concocted a story for the young audience members at last season’s final concert. A group of boys – including Eshkenazy – came on stage in the guise of the Lost Boys from Peter Pan. Eshkenazy professed his desire to be a conductor, so the boys offered Hall a job in Never-Never Land so that Eshkenazy could take his place conducting the Family concerts.

“I conducted the last piece of the final concert so the kids know that their new conductor is one of the Lost Boys, and now their old conductor is one, too.”

A new face often brings new ideas to the table, but Eshkenazy is reluctant to tinker too much with the Family Musical Mornings.

“The main challenge is being part of the script and talking to the audience, and then switching gears and turning to the orchestra and conducting. That’s a challenge I want to explore and get better with. After that, I don’t know. The format is very successful, so if something works I don’t want to touch it very much. The program has filled the hall with kids who are excited about being there.”

Eshkenazy wants those kids to keep coming back, now and after they grow up, but he admits it’s not easy to gauge how successful family concerts are in helping to cultivate the classical music audiences of the future.

“It’s difficult to measure over the short term, but it’s incredibly important, he states. “That’s why I am taking this job with full awareness of the responsibilities I have to present these concerts in such a way that those kids will someday return. It’s the same with the Youth Orchestra. I don’t know how many of them will go on to be professionals, but I want to instill in them a love for music that will carry them through life. I got that when I was in a youth orchestra.”

Ironically, Eshkenazy was a member of a local youth orchestra when Carl St.Clair made an appearance as a guest conductor.

“He conducted Capriccio Espagnol, and it was so cool,” recalls Eshkenazy. “Now I get to work with Carl St.Clair, and I am making Capriccio Espagnol the first piece in the first concert I conduct with the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra. I like having that little bridge between my past and the future.”

Given his myriad duties with the Pacific Symphony, Eshkenazy’s future looks full, but his well-organized schedule still offers ample opportunity to pursue his many hobbies.

“I love anything that flies. I developed that love early on when I was training as a parachutist for the Bulgarian army. Then I moved to paragliders, which are like a glorified parachute. Then I got a pilot license, and now I am learning to fly helicopters, which is so much fun. I also love scuba diving because again it’s that feeling of flight, or no gravity. I also love motorcycles. I have one that I ride up north on Coast Highway. It’s so much fun. It’s such a liberation—you feel the air on your face and all your problems are gone.”

So how does he find the time for both his career and his hobbies?

“I make time,” he states. “Art is to experience, and I like to experience things. After I experience, I can put it in the music. It kind of broadens my horizons and makes me a better artist. I also love challenges. If you get too comfortable in the arts, you are not doing an honest job. You can be comfortable technically, but if you feel comfortable emotionally, well, I think there should be a moment of struggle to be able to be at the right place at the right time. Doable, but just a bit beyond our comfort level.”

Eshkenazy pauses for a moment to reflect, then states: “I love classical music—it’s amazing and superb, but we have to make this music very valuable to people so that it’s meaningful and at the same time appealing. That is the success story of the Pacific Symphony. Meaningful and appealing. That’s the right combination for critical mass.”

When asked to sum up his burgeoning career, Eshkenazy grins and with his customary enthusiasm, says “You know, I enjoy my life tremendously. So far it’s been really fun.”

One suspects that for Eshkenazy and the Pacific Symphony, the fun is just beginning.

[Article for October 2008 issue of Coast Magazine]

THE BARBER OF SEVILLE: A Close Operatic Shave

Been to the barber lately? It’s been 12 years since Opera Pacific’s had a shave and a haircut, but the venerable company is making up for lost time by finally revisiting a barber—make that The Barber of Seville.

It was back in 1996 that Opera Pacific last staged Rossini’s beloved opera buffa (or comic opera), which is unusual in that The Barber of Seville is ranked as one of the most popular operas of all time. It has one of the best known opera scores and is a prime example of expressing comedy in sound, an ability Rossini became known for. In fact, Beethoven once told Rossini that attempting anything but comedy would be pressing his luck. Good thing Rossini took Beethoven’s advice.

“The Barber of Seville is Rossini’s comic masterpiece,” agrees Opera Pacific Artistic Director John DeMain. “The score literally bubbles and tingles like a fine champagne.”

Based on a popular 18th century play, The Barber of Seville sparkles with wit and exhilarating comedy, thanks in large part to Rossini’s music, which is by turns sly, seductive and scintillating.

Led by Figaro, opera’s most famous barber, The Barber of Seville is a humorous tale of love triumphing against all odds. It features a handful of famous arias, including Figaro’s celebrated “Largo al factotum,” a piece that has been parodied in countless cartoons (most notably Bugs Bunny’s The Rabbit of Seville).

Rossini composed The Barber of Seville in just two weeks to meet a February 1916 deadline. The initial performance was a fiasco. Not only did the audience dislike the opera, a series of on-stage mishaps occurred that nearly derailed the production. Fortunately, subsequent performances were well received, and The Barber of Seville became the model against which other opera buffas are compared.

Tickets are $21 - $191. Call (800) 34-OPERA.

[Article for Spring 2007 issue of OC Menus/OC Wine Magazine]

CONVERSATIONS WITH WINEMAKERS: Lance Silver of Tobin James Winery

Zinfandel may not be California’s official state wine (a bill that would have elevated Zinfandel to that lofty status was vetoed last year), but it is a grape that is distinctly Californian.

Despite its popularity, Zinfandel represents only 10 percent of grapes crushed in the state, although 600 of California’s 800 commercial wineries bottle Zinfandel either exclusively (like Zin Alley in Paso Robles) or as part of their wine portfolio.

Tobin James Cellars falls into the latter category. The winery makes 11 different Zinfandel blends, an impressive number considering how many other varietals and blends are produced by Tobin James.

“It’s a distinctive wine,” says Lance Silver, co-owner of Tobin James Cellars. “California is the only place on earth that grows Zinfandel. It has a popularity that transcends how much is grown. In fact, there is an organization called ZAP that has thousands of consumer members that attend tastings religiously and they’re all about tasting big Zins, which express what California is all about: we’re big, we’re bold, and we do what we want to do.”

Big and bold are key ingredients in the wines produced by Tobin James, which has been acclaimed for its Zinfandel blends. According to Silver, that acclaim boils down to the vineyards that produce the grapes.

“Zinfandel tastes different depending on where it’s grown—the grape truly expresses each site,” says Silver. “We bring in 27 different zinfandel vineyards, and that doesn’t count the sub-vineyards within those. The most famous is the Duse vineyard. Part of that vineyard is 80 years old, part of it is 60 year old, some of it is 25 years old, and so on, so you have an 80-year-old vineyard that is basically many different vineyards in one. This means that when we make our Duse Zinfandel, it’s a blend of several different sub-Duse vineyards.”

Tobin James does have its signature Zin blends. The Silver Reserve Zinfandel is jammy and spicy, peppery yet herbaceous with sage and licorice. Fat Boy Zinfandel is fat, jammy, voluptuous and in-your-face. French Camp is a single vineyard Zin that highlights the brambly and white pepper characteristics.

To achieve their optimum blends, Silver consults with his full-time winemaker and his wife, Claire.

“I say this is what I want, and they say we can make it even better,” laughs Silver. “We sit down with samples of the last two years in front of us and we try to make the next year a little bit better. In California, we are blessed with having nine out of ten great years of grape production—and that tenth year is still really good.”

Silver says consumers have become educated on Zinfandel, and they know that it pairs well with a variety of foods.

“Zinfandel works well with greasy foods like cheeseburgers, as well as BBQ ribs, steaks, things like that,” says Silver.

One Zinfandel that Tobin James makes – Blue Moon Zinfandel – is what Silver describes as the ultimate expression of Zinfandel.

“It’s over the top, jammy, rich, concentrated, with cracked pepper, great spiciness, and notes of anise, sage, and rosemary,” says Silver. “When you have all those flavors and you can put them all together and it lingers, that’s what we go for.”