Art Mooradian As a young session musician in his hometown of Philadelphia, John Wadsworth had it all – the buzz, the money, the cars, the homes and a nice little family. But the jazz and rock life takes its toll on the soul, often leading talented musicians to fall over the edge. John’s journey took him to the point of no return, only he didn’t like what he saw and came back.
Retirement is what you make it. Many of us see it as a foreboding beginning of the end. Others, such as Gulf Coast Symphony French horn player Susan Oliver, use retirement to capitalize on opportunities they did not take before.
In 1939, Henry Jacobson was a German Jew living and working in France, with a French wife and a young son. Anticipating the impending European conflagration, Henry, who owned a leather goods factory, fled with his family to Switzerland the night before the border was closed.
Shawn Rieschl Johnson Lands a Lead Role Helping the Gulf Coast Symphony’s New Music and Arts Community Center Take the Stage This is not a story about a promising elementary school musician who develops through high school and university to a career that may or may not be teaching or performing music before finding a … Read more
Many of us pass through life leaving behind parts of our childhood, only to find them again decades later. That’s just what the Gulf Coast Symphony’s timpanist Gary Colston discovered, and he’s not looked back since.
Gary was born in Logan, West Virginia, the area home to the legendary Hatfields and the McCoys.
He started playing percussion in junior high school, following in the footsteps of his older brother Ken. As such, he got into music at a relatively older age of 13 or 14.
The Gulf Coast Symphony’s Principal Bassist Doni Landefeld Finds a Groove in Florida While other kids were making a few bucks delivering newspapers or babysitting, the Gulf Coast Symphony’s Principal Double Bassist Doni Landefeld was performing as a high schooler in a professional orchestra and doing paid gigs around town. And today, besides laying down … Read more
While doctors, dentists and former professional musicians are pillars of community orchestras such as the Gulf Coast Symphony, music teachers are well represented among the stalwarts.
Mary Anne Farese is the GCS’s principal second violin, and she spent 39 years paying forward her musical training and talent to students ranging from primary school through university.
Well, the Gulf Coast Symphony Has Jake Goldberger on Clarinet!
What is it with doctors playing in community orchestras? Across America, healthcare professionals help form the core of many volunteer ensembles. Big cities such as Los Angeles and New York City have doctor orchestras. There’s even a World Doctors Orchestra.
The Gulf Coast Symphony, too, counts an array of active and retired healthcare professionals at its heart.
Community orchestras such as the Gulf Coast Symphony have musicians from many backgrounds and careers, unlike professional groups, whose players tread a well-worn path to a life’s work in music.
Flutist and piccolo player Sherrie Mangan isn’t the product of a music school. She chose a career articulating financial software in business administration. And as with many of us non-pros, she ceased playing music while building a career and a family.
Idaho-born Stacey Gossmann began her musical life as do many of us – in elementary school. But unlike many of us, the Gulf Coast Symphony’s principal bassoonist spent years clawing back from the edge of death to go on to play another day.
Born to a trumpet-playing physicist dad and a pianist mother who ran major musical and theatre productions in Idaho, Stacey Gossmann started out on the cello and shortly thereafter embraced the bassoon.
