Key player for MSO is no stranger

The new concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra is Frank Almond.

Since 1992, Almond has been concertmaster of the Fort Worth Symphony in Texas. He will leave that post to join the MSO in September.

But Almond, 31, is no stranger to Milwaukee and Wisconsin.

For the last two summers, he was concertmaster and occasional soloist with the Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra in Door County.

In March 1991, Almond and pianist William Wolfram were here on a Worklights residency program for the Artist Series at the Pabst. During that residency, Almond was the soloist in Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 ("Turkish") with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Chamber Symphony, under Margery Deutsch.

Almond and Wolfram did nine days of master classes, workshops and mini-recitals, capped with an Artist Series recital.

The MSO chair opened last spring, when David Taylor returned to the Chicago Symphony after just one season in Milwaukee. This season, various players from within and without the MSO have occupied that chair on a per-concert basis.

The concertmaster is second in importance only to the music director. This first among equals is the second-last word on bowing for all the string sections, takes all the first violin solos, and plays an important role in hiring new players.

"As a group, concertmasters have a reputation as the divas of the orchestra," Almond said. "It's well-deserved. Most of them are jerks. The old joke in orchestras is, What do concertmasters use for birth control? Their personalities."

In January, Almond served as guest concertmaster for Britten's "War Requiem," under associate conductor Neal Gittleman, and Russian programs under music director Zdenek Macal. These appearances were part of an extended audition process that began last summer.

"They did it all in one day," Almond said, in a phone conversation from Fort Worth. "I think I played three times. It wasn't much fun. I was sort of shell- shocked by the third round. I remember sight-reading something from `Elektra.' " Could Have Had Solo Career

Almond appeared well on his way to a solo career when he took the Fort Worth job. Why be a sideman when you could be front man?

"Playing a concerto gives you a real buzz, but after a while it gets boring playing the same one over and over again," he said. "You have to give up playing Mahler symphonies, which is a high price to pay. The life is bad, too, on the road all the time, all alone, no friends. I couldn't see myself doing it forever and ever.

"I like playing chamber music, I like playing recitals, I like playing concertos, I like playing in the orchestra. As concertmaster, I get the best of all worlds."

Almond grew up in San Diego. In addition to his classical training, he played drums for two years in a rock band. His brother Cliff is a jazz drummer.

"My brother was a lot better than I was," Almond said. "I did it from about 15 to 17. It was great for developing timing."

He's kept up an interest in jazz, rock and pop to this day. He named Texas blues, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Aerosmith, Green Day and Soundgarden as especially interesting to him lately.

"I will not listen to Nine Inch Nails, though, and I certainly wouldn't go to one of their concerts," he said. "Be sure to tell Neal Gittleman that." {The Journal's Nick Carter recently treated Gittleman to a Nails concert and wrote a story about the encounter.}

Copyright 1995
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