{"id":2151,"date":"2007-04-30T15:22:57","date_gmt":"2007-04-30T21:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/uncategorized\/the-national-symphony\/"},"modified":"2007-04-30T15:27:10","modified_gmt":"2007-04-30T21:27:10","slug":"the-national-symphony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/uncategorized\/the-national-symphony\/","title":{"rendered":"The National Symphony"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week cellist Mstislav Rostropovich died. Rostropovich was the conductor of the National Symphony when I worked there about 25 years ago (and long after I left). I was the Data Processing Manager for the National Symphony, hired to set up an IBM System\/34 minicomputer donated to the Symphony. My office was a former broom closet — albeit a very large one — on the edge of the suite of Symphony offices deep backstage and upstairs in the Kennedy Center. The glamor and grandeur of the Kennedy Center largely stopped at the backstage elevator.<\/p>\n

The interview for that job was the most grueling of my life. My soon-to-be boss, John Berg, was — probably, still is — a mild-mannered, good-natured gentle man. For the interview, he was joined by Mr X, whose name I suppress. X worked for the donor and took it upon himself to test me during the interview. So, as John asked the usual questions, X kept interjecting rapid-fire questions and comments, often interrupting me mid-sentence, seeming not to care at all about my actual response. After the interview, I walked numbly along the huge exterior balcony with its magnificent view of Memorial Bridge. I’d been through the ringer. Later, John confided that after I left, X said, “there’s your man,” believing I was even-keeled and unflappable. While no one who knows me would call me unflappable, I am mostly steady, a trait that has served me repeatedly in the classroom. I know for a fact I flapped more than once at the Symphony.<\/p>\n

Conductors have longer lifespans than any other profession. It helps to be rich and pampered, but there is no question that the physical and mental exertion — and the adulation — keep one strong.<\/p>\n

Though I saw Rostropovich conduct the Symphony many times and play cello a few times, I only met him once. I don’t recall the occasion, but staffers gathered in an office with him. We each downed a shot of vodka and greeted Rostropovich one at a time. I can imagine he kissed everyone on both cheeks. mjh<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week cellist Mstislav Rostropovich died. Rostropovich was the conductor of the National Symphony when I worked there about 25 years ago (and long after I left). I was the Data Processing Manager for the National Symphony, hired to set up an IBM System\/34 minicomputer donated to the Symphony. My office was a former broom … Continue reading The National Symphony<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}