Kevin Owen
Kevin Owen, principal horn with the Boston Philharmonic, has played in the orchestra throughout most of its thirty years’ existence. He marvels at the energetic spirit of the orchestra, rebelliously present at its inception and continuing right down to today. As he describes the passion that others bring to playing in the BPO, his own delight is written all over his face and in the gestures that constantly animate his calm, polite way of speaking. Pamela Feo, Program Book Editor, learned more about the origins and development of the orchestra through Kevin’s eyes.
“Quite frankly, it was a madhouse,” Kevin jokingly begins as he remembers back to the early days when it was the shared enthusiasm and passion for music that pulled the group through the challenges of starting an organization. Yet in all seriousness he recognizes that it’s the same colorful atmosphere that has always made playing in the Boston Philharmonic an exciting experience. “Not all orchestras have the same artistic goals. Many times I’ll play a piece I’ve played with Ben in another orchestra, and think ‘This is so horribly boring,’ and it’s because when the performance went down the energy was not at as high a level.” Kevin says that it is Ben’s total commitment to the music that gives the group its drive. “Ben devotes himself with such unrestraint to the music. Back when I first joined I really felt that if he could make music twenty-four hours a day then he would live out of a box and eat out of a can and it wouldn’t bother him.”
Kevin describes rehearsals as an important part of BPO culture, because they are the venue where the music to constantly develops. Again, teamwork pulls the group through as they work through the challenges of the pieces. “The Philharmonic has an unusually high degree of musician participation in the process of fixing things. People feel free to shout out what they think needs to be fixed and Ben is running a three-ring circus trying to not only get what he needs done but also what individual players need to get done. It’s more like a cooperative than any other organization I have ever played in. We all know what we want to accomplish…all eighty-five of us,” he laughs. “But we all respect Ben as our leader through this difficult process and we admire what he has to say about the music at all times.” The orchestra’s freedom of expression creates an environment that encourages experimentation, making each rehearsal a chance to discover something new about the music. “It feels good in rehearsal when you think, ‘I’m going to try something new, I’m going to go out on a limb’ and no one is going to laugh at you or roll their eyes or think you’re trying to one-up them. We don’t have that mentality at the Philharmonic. Years ago, when I was playing with Neil Deland—now principal horn in the Toronto Symphony—we’d have a specific lick and we’d look at each other and say, ‘Let’s Zanderize it.’ We both knew that it meant adding something special, something beyond the convention, and we’d take that idea and use it in other orchestras too.”
The thrill of the rehearsals continues into the performances. “Sometimes you don’t know how it’s going to come together but it does. One of the most exciting performances was Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto with Stephen Drury years ago. Somehow we got into the snowball-falling-down-a-hill syndrome where we rushed a bit so Stephen sped up, so then we rushed after him and then he sped up to keep up with us! When the last movement was over the audience jumped to their feet! It was one of the most exciting things ever, and I don’t even know how it happened. It was terrifying but it worked, and I haven’t been satisfied with any performance of that piece ever since.”
The experience of performing Mahler with Ben Zander is never far from any Boston Philharmonic member’s collection of favorite concert memories, and Kevin is no exception. “There was a concert of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde years ago which was very exciting. The first movement ends with a great big loud note and right after it finished, Ben looked at me and I looked at him, and later he came over to me and said, ‘I knew what you were thinking, and I was thinking the same thing: that was bloody good!’ Kevin laughs at the memory. “And he was right; that was what I was thinking. Ben’s performances of Mahler are amazing. Mahler as a composer was very focused on his own spirit, and he didn’t know any restraint. And that, in a few words, is Big Ben, so they go together very well. I don’t think Ben ever had to read a book about how to understand Mahler; I think he and Mahler are kindred spirits. Ben just understands Mahler like he and Mahler are brothers.”
Kevin speaks eloquently about the emotions of the music and the transcending experience it can be for audience members at the concerts, but he does not romanticize the act of performing and is honest about the grit involved in making music. “It’s never comfortable when you are trying your ultimate to make it happen. In many ways the process of making good music changes the listening experience for the musicians. You know, when I hear certain pieces sometimes I think, ‘That’s a beautiful piece of music,’ but I also remember in my bones what it feels like to play that piece. Take for instance Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony: the second movement has a huge French horn solo which I played with Ben many years ago, and it’s preceded by about ten bars of very beautiful orchestral introduction. But whenever I hear it I break into a sweat! Because that’s what I’m feeling when I’m playing the piece and thinking to myself, ‘Oh, here it comes!’ So I can’t hear that piece of music and not feel like I’m panicking.”
When Kevin is asked if there is anything he would like to say about the thirtieth anniversary of the orchestra, he takes a long pause before saying, emphatically, “No.” Then he laughs and explains, “It’s because I really can’t believe it has been thirty years.” Kevin seems genuinely taken aback by the thought and for a moment his normally fluid speech is broken into fragments of “wow” and “it’s amazing.” Perhaps the reason Kevin finds it so difficult to grasp the passage of thirty years is that he sees what has remained the same just as much as he recognizes what has changed. He credits Ben and the mix of players for the energy that keeps the original spirit of the orchestra strong. “It’s the young people who are a constant source of energy, and it’s the older people who have been with the orchestra from the beginning—and who are just nuts! They have been bitten by the bug of making music and there’s nothing that can be done for them, so they keep playing. I’m on my way there myself!” he concludes, laughing.
Written by Pamela Feo