by Michael Unterman
I’m on a tour bus surrounded by legends, people I’ve been hearing and hearing about since I was a kid.
I grew up on a steady diet of Tafelmusik, mostly heard on the radio where the dials at home and in the car were locked to CBC Radio 2 (when there wasn’t a Canucks game on). Long before I understood what “historical performance” was, I was fed daily doses of what it meant to be truly excellent in the medium. And even nearer to me was the legend of Aisslinn Nosky, a fellow West-Coaster whose former violin teacher, Heilwig von Koenigslow, was the coach of my serious-or-so-we-thought high school string quartet, as well as my mom (a dear friend and colleague of Heilwig’s) who played piano with Aisslinn in local music competitions. The difference of a few years between us, at that age, was a vast gulf, and so we wouldn’t meet for another decade-and-change, but hearing love- and pride-filled stories about Aisslinn from mentor figures left a lasting and accurate impression.
And now we’re on a tour bus, Aisslinn and Tafelmusik (incl. me) trundling through the Midwest, enjoying meals and coffees together and other mundanities, interspersed with concerts that are anything but. Performing outside of one’s hometown series is “a whole nother thing,” where we’re no longer able to count on the unconditional glow of audiences who (for the most part) know us like an old friend, but instead are in a position of making that important first impression. This wasn’t entirely the case in Columbus where we were bolstered by the presence of several dear members of the Tafelmusik family – including former members Margaret Barstow (cello) and Elly Winer (viola), and dear friend-of-the-group Edwin Huizinga (violin) – encounters that inevitably lead to meaningful moments for a new member like me, new entries in a patchwork of anecdotes that speak to the group’s history and the many people who’ve carried it to where it is.
Speaking of that, you’ll be hearing next from John Abberger who’ll share his impressions of the tour as a longtime (and certainly legendary) member of the group. I’ll be reading his entry intently with you all.
And in case you were just tuning in for the score: the band most definitely won over the Columbus crowd, Dominic’s bassoon concerto dropping jaws like it does, and Aisslinn and Johanna’s Bach Double as electric as I’ve ever heard it.
Til next,
M.
P.S. In the absence of quality time to visit each city on our tour, following Tafelmusik’s practice of Land Acknowledgment, and under the inspiration of Pekka Hämäläinen’s brilliant new book Indigenous Continent which recontextualizes North American history from its First Nations’ perspectives, I thought I’d include some quick entries about the regions we’re visiting:
In July 1755 in the eastern Ohio Country (near present-day Pittsburgh, about 150 miles east of Columbus), a small, combined party of Ottawa, Ojibwa, Potawatomi, and French soldiers, with the help of Lenape and Shawnee intelligence, forced the retreat of a massive, three-times-larger British military force, led, in part, by none other than British Colonel George Washington (yes, that George Washington). The decisive victory marked the start of four decades of near constant war, including offshoots of the Seven Years and Revolutionary Wars, during which the First Nations of the Ohio Country remained the dominant communities and political establishments of the region.
Michael Unterman, a cellist born and raised in Vancouver, BC, is a recent addition to Tafelmusik’s roster, joining the orchestra in January of 2023. Having spent the better part of 20 years studying and working in the Northeast US, he is overjoyed to be back north of the border and playing with this phenomenal ensemble!
Thank You to our Generous Donors
