About Calvin Simmons; Part 1

<v Host>The facts are Calvin Simmons was born April 27, 1950. <v Host>He died August 21st at the age of 32. <v Host>For the past 3 years, he was music director and conductor of the Oakland Symphony. <v Host>He trained with the San Francisco Boys Chorus under Madi Bacon, the San Francisco Opera <v Host>under Kurt Herbert Adler, the Merola Opera Program and the Los Angeles Philharmonic under <v Host>Zubin Mehta and the Glyndebourne Opera Festival with John Pritchard. <v Host>He led the major orchestras and opera houses as a guest conductor. <v Host>In June, he completed his performances of Mozart's "Cosí fan tutte" and what was for him <v Host>his most satisfactory collaboration with a producer. <v Host>The Opera Theater of Saint Lewis brought Jonathan Miller, the British physician, director <v Host>and comedian, together with Calvin. <v Host>It was an association each felt should last for years. <v Host>Hundreds of people knew Calvin through his work and reputation, even those who've never <v Host>heard a concert he led. His personality charged his music, the orchestra, <v Host>and audiences with an enthusiasm remarkable for its power and its singularity. <v Announcer>Calvin Simmons is onstage, and before the performance, he will speak to the audience.

<v Calvin Simmons>The 2 works on tonight's program were written <v Calvin Simmons>within 4 years of each other. <v Calvin Simmons>Benjamin Britten's "Les Illuminations" written in 1939, <v Calvin Simmons>after Britten had left England to become a conscientious <v Calvin Simmons>objector to England's involvement in the war in Europe, <v Calvin Simmons>came to the United States and stayed in Amityville, New York, where he wrote <v Calvin Simmons>"Les Illuminations." 20 years after that, Britten wrote <v Calvin Simmons>"The War Requiem," using the Latin Requiem text <v Calvin Simmons>and words by a young English army officer <v Calvin Simmons>who had died in the First World War, Wilfred Owen. <v Calvin Simmons>Some words of Wilfred Owen to me aptly describe Shostakovich's

<v Calvin Simmons>symphony number 8. <v Calvin Simmons>"My subject is war and the pity of war." <v Calvin Simmons>The Eighth Symphony of Shostakovich is an expression of the <v Calvin Simmons>human spirit, the spirit to cope with <v Calvin Simmons>the violence and the suffering that was going on in Europe <v Calvin Simmons>in 1943. <v Calvin Simmons>By experiencing that expression you here tonight <v Calvin Simmons>hopefully are reminded of the hope <v Calvin Simmons>that such a conflict that happened then in 1943 will never <v Calvin Simmons>happen again. <v Calvin Simmons>Thank you very much. <v Speaker>["Symphony No. 8" by Shostakovich as conducted by Calvin Simmons plays] <v Host>And thus Calvin Simmons began a performance of the Eighth Symphony by Shostakovich

<v Host>early February this year at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, California. <v Host>And the set of words that Calvin prepared to introduce the Shostakovich <v Host>is as fine a way as any as I can think of of introducing this hour or so that we're <v Host>going to have with Calvin Simmons. <v Host>This is not a documentary about him. It's more an essay about Calvin Simmons, <v Host>because we can't really capture the essence of a man who called his car Amadeus <v Host>and kept a copy of the Rose Writings on the dashboard, who wore red <v Host>socks when he conducted Russian music. <v Host>A man who listened to the new wave rock groups, Police and Devo while preparing <v Host>his score for the San Francisco Opera production of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. <v Host>Who, because it was a restaurant he loved and he liked the people there worked a lunch <v Host>shift a few weeks ago, as the maître d' at Shea Panisse in Berkeley. <v Host>And who 1 night many years ago appeared on the Johnny Carson show and sang a song <v Host>with an Irish brogue.

<v Host>He introduced new works to the Bay Area by important contemporary composers: John <v Host>Adams, John Geist, John Harbison, and in the new season he was introduced works by <v Host>others, including Dale Howard. <v Host>And Calvin was also uh a friend of mine. <v Host>I knew him for about 3 years and we spent many good <v Host>times together. And it's in that spirit that I've put together the things that are <v Host>in this show to try and bring another side of Calvin that may or may not <v Host>be known to you. An old friend from his days in the San Francisco Boys chorus, <v Host>Bob Farnham, became his personal secretary a year and a half ago, and Bob volunteered <v Host>as to what it was like to work around Calvin. <v Host>Calvin busy preparing a performance, busy preparing something around the house. <v Bob Farnham>To be just working with my head somewhere else and all of a sudden there would be the <v Bob Farnham>appearance of Calvin in his cowboy hat or his fedora and just <v Bob Farnham>a totally different person there doing his thing. <v Bob Farnham>He did some sort of dancing or singing or just being very comical.

<v Bob Farnham>And then it would just- he would disappear. And maybe half an hour later, maybe 5 minutes <v Bob Farnham>later, all of a sudden he would reappear again, a different person again with another hat <v Bob Farnham>on, again doing another- another thing, many times to something that was either <v Bob Farnham>a tape that was on or- or some sort of a record [music plays in background] many times <v Bob Farnham>would be some- some program that was coming up, some <v Bob Farnham>uh 1 of the operas he was working on or would be working on uh that you'd be hearing that <v Bob Farnham>for maybe a day or 2 weeks. <v Bob Farnham>And then, of course, interspersed were always the funny some rock tease <v Bob Farnham>or uh recently a lot of jazz, the '40s tunes and <v Bob Farnham>the '30s music. He was into every- every kind of music and <v Bob Farnham>everything possible. I mean his mind was just in all kinds of directions. <v Speaker>["High Society Calypso" by Louis Armstrong plays] <v Speaker>["Rum and Coca Cola" by The Andrews Sisters plays]

<v Host> And this music is drawn from Calvin's collection of records. <v Speaker>["Rum and Coca Cola" continues] <v Speaker>["W.P.A" by The Mills Brothers plays] <v Speaker>["Don't Stand So Close to Me" by The Police plays]

<v Speaker>["Whip It" by Devo plays] <v Speaker>[trumpet solo] <v Host>Did he have any particularly favorite method of getting from here to there?

<v Bob Farnham>If time allowed, it was always rail. <v Bob Farnham>Occasionally it had to be air. <v Bob Farnham>Recently, after his trip with the youth orchestra, where he had spent <v Bob Farnham>oh a week or so aboard ship. <v Bob Farnham>This was a new interest, but for as a little boy, there are signs of trains around the <v Bob Farnham>house. There's an old Lionel train. There's books everywhere. <v Bob Farnham>There's every time he came back. <v Bob Farnham>It was always another 2 or 3 pamphlets, books, postcards. <v Bob Farnham>It was always something to do with the rail. And again, if time allowed, this was- it was <v Bob Farnham>his choice of travel. <v Speaker>["Chatanooga Choo-Choo" by John Hammond plays] <v Host>The tinkling of the continue of the [opera music in background] harpsichord and the cello <v Host>in this compartment is complemented nicely by the clickity clack, clickety clack, let's <v Host>get back on the track of the track sound. [sneezes] And an occasional singing of the

<v Host>wheels. I think the wheels on this train are doing a remarkable job of keeping up with <v Host>the continue - listen to that. <v Interviewee>Yes, there is quite a bit of music that happens between the train and the sound of uh <v Interviewee>Mozart. Uh it's my understanding that Mozart wrote- wrote a great many of his <v Interviewee>recitatives on trains. <v Interviewee>Uh I believe it was on uh 2 of his trips to America 1 time that <v Interviewee>um he wrote some of his most famous and celebrated recitatives. <v Host>Well, his father wrote the toy train symphony. <v Interviewee>That's right. And uh his sister performed the ?inaudible? <v Interviewee>concerto at a very early age. <v Calvin Simmons>I love doin' it. I love kids. <v Calvin Simmons>I love relating to kids. <v Host>Yeah. <v Calvin Simmons>I'm a kid. <v Host>Yeah. <v Calvin Simmons>I have great success with kids and concerts and that sort of thing. <v Calvin Simmons>I know I do because- and I don't know what it is, but I know <v Calvin Simmons>I can relate to them very well.

<v Calvin Simmons>But it's also making them feel important and like <v Calvin Simmons>I'm not coming from a high place down to him. <v Host>Hm. <v Calvin Simmons>And that's very important to me. <v Host>Madi Bacon and Kurt Herbert Adler founded the San Francisco Boys Chorus. <v Host>And they also ran a summer camp in the Sierra near the town of Keddie. <v Host>Calvin was taken under their wings and he spent a great deal of time with Madi Bacon, who <v Host>was one of his mentors. <v Host>She reminisced the other day about Calvin's love for young musicians <v Host>and the ideal of teaching youth music. <v Madi Bacon>He was a very honest person and always learning and always growing. <v Madi Bacon>He cares a lot about education. I think all those years with the boys growing up as <v Madi Bacon>a child, becoming a leader and a teacher. <v Madi Bacon>I think it's influenced him in his community because unlike some other <v Madi Bacon>conductors, Calvin does not consider it a waste of his time to go into a grade <v Madi Bacon>school or into high school. <v Madi Bacon>And he's very upset with Oakland because of youngsters, the little children

<v Madi Bacon>don't get music now the way they used to. <v Madi Bacon>And if we as adults stopped to think, would Calvin have been <v Madi Bacon>the conductor of the Oakland Symphony had he not had early <v Madi Bacon>music as a little boy? My answer is no, he wouldn't. <v Steve Silva>He never wanted you to treat him like- like he was, you know, <v Steve Silva>really something special. You know what I mean, it's like- um- I've always pictured <v Steve Silva>a relationship between musician and conductor or musician and, you know, and his peers <v Steve Silva>who are older than him and with more experience that, you know, that the younger <v Steve Silva>musicians should sort of, you know, should sort of stay quiet and listen and learn. <v Steve Silva>But Calvin was never like that. He wanted to learn from us. <v Steve Silva>He was uh- I don't know, and he never- like he- he refused to let us call him anything <v Steve Silva>but Calvin. Like um someone called him maestro once on the cruise, <v Steve Silva>and he got really upset. <v Host>17-year-old trombonist with the Oakland Youth Orchestra, Steve Silva.

<v Steve Silva>Well we were listenin' to uh- we were listening to an opera once and uh I told him uh, <v Steve Silva>I said, "Well, if I was conducting this, Calvin, I would've taken this passage slower." <v Steve Silva>And we sat there for about 10 minutes and discussed why the passage shouldn't- should be <v Steve Silva>taken slower. <v Madi Bacon>I want to tell you a couple of the highlights for him. <v Madi Bacon>Last year, when he did "Jephtha" with the Oakland Youth Chorus, they had- were just <v Madi Bacon>changing conductors. <v Madi Bacon>And he did this "Jephtha" at Zellerbach. <v Madi Bacon>After the concert, I went back fast because I realized how moved he was by- <v Madi Bacon>the Youth Chorus was so good. <v Madi Bacon>He didn't use the Oakland Adult Chorus. <v Madi Bacon>He used the Youth Chor- Chorus with the Oakland Symphony. <v Madi Bacon>When I got back, he came over to me immediately before other people were there, <v Madi Bacon>put his arms around me, and wept. <v Madi Bacon>He was so moved by the experience of those young kids, and I felt he was <v Madi Bacon>an extension of me and Boys Chorus [orchestra plays in background] at that moment in the <v Madi Bacon>sense that he cared so much. <v Madi Bacon>I can also have tears in my eyes, and so on, when I'm moved by a 6-year-old

<v Madi Bacon>child singing. But Calvin at 32 has that; my age <v Madi Bacon>you'd expected that maybe, but not at his. <v Speaker>[chorus singing]. <v Host>Calvin, how do you feel about Kurt Adler as a person, <v Host>as a- as a friend, or as a mentor? <v Calvin Simmons>I think he's perhaps my closest relative next to my parents <v Calvin Simmons>because there is- and that's what made- <v Calvin Simmons>what has made our relationship so special is because we, of course, started at this <v Calvin Simmons>professional level. But then he became concerned about me as a person.

<v Calvin Simmons>I felt very much like a relative because he became concerned <v Calvin Simmons>about me as a person, not only how I was conducting, what I was conducting, where I was <v Calvin Simmons>conducting, but just uh a very close bond <v Calvin Simmons>came between us. <v Calvin Simmons>Um working at playing all of the rehearsals on the piano and that sort of thing, and <v Calvin Simmons>everything had to be right or I had to play the piano as if I were <v Calvin Simmons>a 70 piece orchestra or I had to understand the score <v Calvin Simmons>as he was conducting it when I played the piano. <v Calvin Simmons>And all of that um, I think, gave me numerous <v Calvin Simmons>amount of good, good training for what was coming later on <v Calvin Simmons>in my career. <v Host>People have commented on Calvin's sense of- of fun, of delight. <v Host>Uh it was an unquenchable sense of humor. <v Host>He'd always know how to turn a scene from 1 of- of tension into 1 of lightness, and

<v Host>people then would be able to go on. <v Host>It seems that he was only able to do this because he took his work and his music so <v Host>seriously that he had all the rest of the time for amusement and delight. <v Kurt Adler>I think that's very true. <v Kurt Adler>At the same time, it was Calvin's nature, Calvin's character. <v Kurt Adler>I don't think anybody did better imitations of me in coming days, <v Kurt Adler>and he was entirely entitled to do so. <v Kurt Adler>He was only the most wonderful friend and the most loyal person. <v Calvin Simmons>Cape and a wig? <v Calvin Simmons>You were there? <v Host>I saw you at ?ball drop?. I saw you with the ?inaudible?. <v Calvin Simmons>Uh [laughs] You know who loved it was Kurt Adler. <v Host>Really? [laughs]. <v Calvin Simmons>He still- he still goes on about that! <v Kurt Adler>But- 'cause- you know, Cal, that was really 1 of the highlights of the ?ball drop?, <v Kurt Adler>I cannot tell you! [laughs] To see your there at the- and of course, I <v Kurt Adler>did not know what you were doing.

<v Kurt Adler>[laughs] But it was very enjoyable, I must tell you. <v John Pritchard>This is ?Coma Scalio? from Cosí and Fiordelisi, not unrecognizable <v John Pritchard>as a type of the future ?Donna Anna? <v John Pritchard>sings she will be firm as a rock in her faithfulness to the absent lover. <v Speaker>[singing] <v John Pritchard>Well done, Calvin. <v Host>Calvin performed as rehearsal accompanist with the San Francisco Opera, and part of his <v Host>chores included performing on the intermission features during the San Francisco Opera

<v Host>broadcasts. Here he's performing and singing as conductor John Pritchard explains <v Host>some operas. <v John Pritchard>There's a beautiful and very lyrical passage from Ellen accompanied by a harp and low <v John Pritchard>strings, very soft. And this is rudely interrupted by Peter. <v Speaker>[Calvin Simmons performs a section from Benjamin Britten's "Peter Grimes"] <v Speaker>Cavin's doing very well with singing about 4 part chorus go off in a martial rhythm. <v Speaker>[performance continues]. <v Host>Calvin is sitting at the piano, playing it, singing and pounding on the piano bench

<v Host>[laughs]. <v John Pritchard>Enjoying everything. <v Host>What else do you do? [laughs] <v John Pritchard>Just like in rehearsals, goes on the whole time. <v John Pritchard>The desolation of this scene must, I think, have been suggested to Britten by many a <v John Pritchard>misty night on the old host. <v John Pritchard>We hear the distant moan of the fog horn. <v Speaker>[music plays] <v John Pritchard>I'm literally amazed Calvin has played piano and bench and turned pages <v John Pritchard>and now he's a foghorn. <v Conductor>It's his San Francisco training. [laughs] <v Host>For Calvin, it seemed that music and youth went together and he would go out of his way <v Host>to see that young performers had a chance to play. <v Host>He went out of his way to see that they were auditioned, and he went out of his way to <v Host>see that people who didn't know about music, especially if they were young, had a chance <v Host>to hear it and were introduced to it in a way that was fresh, that was new, that

<v Host>was non-pompous, non-traditional. <v Host>And so he considered many projects that could convey his love for music to other <v Host>people through whatever metaphor that could be arranged. <v Host>He talked with producers in New York about an animated Wagner series that would be <v Host>simplified and explained by him. <v Host>He was thinking about collaborative projects with jazz musicians Herbie Mann and Stevie <v Host>Wonder. And there was 1 project that Calvin embraced last April. <v Host>He was called by CBS in New York and asked if he wanted to participate in a <v Host>film production called "An Orchestra Is a Team, Too!" Tom Megdall <v Host>was the writer and associate producer. <v Host>You came up with a script showing the relationship between a football team and a- and an <v Host>orchestra together and to put together the show called "An Orchestra Is a Team, Too!" <v Tom Megdall>Right. <v Host>I don't think you could have picked a better person to have a rapport with kids. <v Tom Megdall>Uh that you- you know, it was- it was so strange how it all came about, uh um sort of- <v Tom Megdall>it was like God's gift to us was Calvin uh through Columbia Artist and

<v Tom Megdall>a gal there by the name of Judy ?inaudible? was his agent said, "I- I think the person <v Tom Megdall>you want," when we told Judy about the kind of show, that it was for kids, was <v Tom Megdall>a new kind of concept, um Joe Namath was the host of the show and we were using Ricky <v Tom Megdall>Schroder as the kid and we were comparing football- playin' on a team in football to <v Tom Megdall>playing on a team in orchestra, and she said, "The perfect person for you is Calvin <v Tom Megdall>Simmons." And we said, "Who is he?" And she says, "You'll love him. <v Tom Megdall>I'll send over a bio and a picture and all that." And uh we were able to get Calvin. <v Tom Megdall>And uh we didn't meet him until after <v Tom Megdall>uh he was hired to do the show. He came into New York uh to rehearse 1 or 2 days <v Tom Megdall>of rehearsal or whatever. And he was- he was just so totally, totally different <v Tom Megdall>than anyone we could have imagined because he <v Tom Megdall>uh he- he just was not staid or, you know, any way <v Tom Megdall>associated with- with- with serious, heavy classical music. <v Tom Megdall>I mean, he is- he's a great talent and he was able to do wonders with the orchestra, but

<v Tom Megdall>he had a great sense of humor and he had a rapport with the kids. <v Tom Megdall>And he was just so different, and he was so youthful. <v Tom Megdall>And that was what made the show. <v Tom Megdall>Without Calvin, it just would not have worked. <v Tom Megdall>Just would not have worked at all. And uh he- he was terrific in the show. <v Tom Megdall>He related to the kids. He related even to- he related to Joe Namath. <v Tom Megdall>He related to you know the football and the- he was a good sport about it, too, because <v Tom Megdall>he was not a, you know, a football player in any way. <v Tom Megdall>And he had a sort of play um a football player in the beginning where it <v Tom Megdall>was sort of a- uh we used Calvin as sort of a- a red <v Tom Megdall>herring so that the viewer at home didn't know that Calvin was a quarterback <v Tom Megdall>on a- in an orchestra, we thought he was a quarterback on a football team. <v Tom Megdall>So he had to get out there in Central Park and play- play like a <v Tom Megdall>football player for the first- the first couple of scenes, and he was so funny about it. <v Speaker>[orchestral music intro] <v Announcer>Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Joe Namath.

<v Announcer>[applause] <v Joe Namath>Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. <v Joe Namath>Um in case you're wondering today, this is not a Super Bowl game, but- <v Audience>Aw! <v Joe Namath>it- we do have a super team here to play for you. <v Joe Namath>Would you like to meet them? <v Joe Namath>[applause] All right. Please say hello to the ladies and gentlemen of the American <v Joe Namath>Symphony Orchestra. <v Joe Namath>[applause] And here is the super leader, Maestro Calvin Simmons. <v Joe Namath>[applause and background chatter] <v Calvin Simmons>Well Joe uh, I thought you were gonna introduce me as the team quarterback. <v Joe Namath>Oh, uh, should we start all over?

<v Calvin Simmons>No, no, this team's ready to play. <v Joe Namath>All right. <v Calvin Simmons>All right. <v Joe Namath>The music you're about to hear tells the story of a young musician who dreams of all <v Joe Namath>sorts of sorcerers, witches, and monsters. <v Joe Namath>Calvin Simmons and the American Symphony Orchestra will conjure up all these spirits <v Joe Namath>as they play "The Dream of a Witches' Sabbath." From the "Symphonie Fantastique" <v Joe Namath>by Berlioz. [applause] ["The Dream of a Witches' Sabbath" starts playing] <v Tom Megdall>In rehearsal, when we had to stop 1 time, 1 of the many times we had to <v Tom Megdall>stop, uh go over some technical problems or whatever, <v Tom Megdall>Calvin uh reached in his pocket, pulled out his wallet <v Tom Megdall>and on a little card in his wallet he had jokes.

<v Tom Megdall>'Cause that he said, "You know, I- I can never remember jokes. <v Tom Megdall>At all." And he said, "The only way I can remember is if I write them down." And he <v Tom Megdall>had everybody in hysterics, but he would pull the cards out of his wallet, and 1 after <v Tom Megdall>another he would lay us out with these jokes. <v Host>I remember, Calvin had a terrific time making that show. <v Host>He was a little- he wondered about the project, but I think that he found also in the <v Host>time he spent with you, um sort of a wonderful rapport and a- and <v Host>a sort of a similarity of idea, the idea that you <v Host>could make a metaphor like this, you could reach other people. <v Host>For this kind of project. <v Tom Megdall>Exactly. He believed in it. Which was important. <v Tom Megdall>It wasn't someone who was just walking through it just to- for a job. <v Tom Megdall>He- he believed in the project. And I think that's why he did it all, I think. <v Tom Megdall>You're right. He might have had some hesitation about it at first because he didn't know <v Tom Megdall>us at all. And uh about when he arrived in New York <v Tom Megdall>to do the show, he- he was all for it a hundred percent. <v Tom Megdall>And as you know, too, he- we had to bring him back <v Tom Megdall>in uh while he was still here in New York to- to do some uh some voiceovers, which we

<v Tom Megdall>hadn't done, which we thought we needed later. <v Tom Megdall>He was willing to come back in and do that. <v Tom Megdall>And he- he was willing to do everything that he did believe in the project. <v Tom Megdall>[music continues] <v Host>Tom Megdall's "An Orchestra Is a Team, too!" aired on CBS in the Lively Arts <v Host>for Young People series in early October. <v Host>And by then, Calvin was leading the San Francisco Opera production of Shostakovich's <v Host>"Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk." It was a triumph for him and it was a score that he'd <v Host>prepared for all year long, including listening to excerpts of punk <v Host>rock music for studying the score for a particular flavor and twist he could add <v Host>to it. <v Host>Calvin was honored to be asked by his mentor, Kurt Herbert Adler, to conduct <v Host>Shostakovich's "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" in Kurt Herbert Adler's final year as director <v Host>of the San Francisco Opera. <v Host>Mr. Adler, your association with Calvin Simmons has become legendary and- <v Host>and goes back many, many years.

<v Host>What was it in Calvin as a- as a little boy that you saw that at first <v Host>entranced you? <v Kurt Adler>Calvin was an enormous talent. <v Kurt Adler>He was a musical wonder child, although I <v Kurt Adler>hate to use this term but his talent was so obvious <v Kurt Adler>in those boys chorus talent. <v Kurt Adler>Madi Bacon let him conduct the chorus on occasions. <v Kurt Adler>Later on, when he coached here for me and our association <v Kurt Adler>was both artistically and person- personally <v Kurt Adler>a very, very close one in which I'm glad to say <v Kurt Adler>my wife, Nancy also participated. <v Kurt Adler>I used to call Calvin my grandson. <v Kurt Adler>I noticed artistically his very <v Kurt Adler>rapid development in the last year and a half. <v Kurt Adler>Uh he always was talented, as I said, but it became much

<v Kurt Adler>his- his interest and his dedication and <v Kurt Adler>his talent to reproduce became, <v Kurt Adler>in my opinion, much deeper. <v Kurt Adler>I went also over to- to some of his concerts with the Oakland Symphony, <v Kurt Adler>and there were- was the same, the development. <v Kurt Adler>There were concerts where I thought something was left <v Kurt Adler>to desire. And then it grew and uh the <v Kurt Adler>orchestra certainly improved and although the people, the audience <v Kurt Adler>in Oakland loved them and came to symphony, which is very important. <v Kurt Adler>And I only hope that this will continue, that his <v Kurt Adler>work was not in vain. <v Host>Inviting him to conduct "Lady Macbeth." What are your recollections <v Host>of the time that he was preparing for that and the actual performance of that

<v Host>opera, an extraordinarily complex work? <v Kurt Adler>He was extremely well prepared to direct this work. <v Kurt Adler>And not only did he enjoy it, but <v Kurt Adler>everybody enjoyed his participation <v Kurt Adler>in the company, including the players in the orchestra, then <v Kurt Adler>the public and the press. <v Kurt Adler>As we know, it was a major success for him and for <v Kurt Adler>Shostakovich. He had done this work under the title "Katerina Izmailova" <v Kurt Adler>years ago. <v Kurt Adler>But it was by no means a success that I think <v Kurt Adler>we owed very much to Calvin's interpretation ?inaudible?. <v Speaker>[audio from "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" plays] <v Host>Shortly after he was appointed music director and conductor of the Oakland Symphony,

<v Host>Calvin sat down with Jay Baltazar and told him stories about his sense of humor and <v Host>people's perceptions of him as a black man. <v Calvin Simmons>Interesting case was England, it was the first year I conducted in England. <v Calvin Simmons>I was 24 and uh it was very <v Calvin Simmons>strange because English are very friendly people and I think they're wonderful but <v Calvin Simmons>they're very strange. And they- I basically was a novelty, you know. <v Calvin Simmons>I was the colored conductor, haha, and it was wonderfu, and you know, <v Calvin Simmons>they took it as a novelty and it upset me maybe for the first 6 months. <v Calvin Simmons>And I got over that [laughs]. I got over that very easily after <v Calvin Simmons>realizing that this is the way they are. <v Calvin Simmons>Uh they don't mean any harm. So there would be the occasional uh <v Calvin Simmons>well, I would get a question at some point that would says, do you think it's possible <v Calvin Simmons>that you could wear white gloves in the performance, 'cause we're having a little bit of <v Calvin Simmons>difficulty seeing you? That not only happen in England. <v Calvin Simmons>I don't think it happened in England at all. That happened here.

<v Calvin Simmons>That happened right here in California, where I would occasionally get the comment: <v Calvin Simmons>could you wear white gloves? Or do you have a baton that lights up? <v Calvin Simmons>And I would always say there's absolutely no way I'm gonna get white gloves on my hands. <v Calvin Simmons>You're just gonna have to look a little bit harder [laughs] to find me. <v Host>When the 1981-82 season of the Oakland Symphony concluded, Calvin packed his bags <v Host>somewhat reluctantly and headed for a 2-month stay in St. Louis. <v Host>It was the combination of a 2-month collaboration with the British physician comedian <v Host>from "Beyond the Fringe," author of "Body in Question," and director of the BBC <v Host>Shakespeare plays, Dr. Jonathan Miller. <v Host>The two of them hit it off in a collaborative relationship that had not been seen in <v Host>opera circles anywhere, according to participants in St. Louis. <v Host>And they enchanted the city with their joint production of "Cosí fan tutte." <v Host>And the 2 of them were to collaborate on "Don Giovanni" next year. <v Host>And inspired by Jonathan Miller's enthusiasm for a diversity of projects, Calvin was

<v Host>thinking of taking on not only "Don Giovanni," but also a production of "Kiss Me, Kate." <v Host>He told people before he left for St. Louis that he was a little reluctant to go there, <v Host>the place was a question mark in his mind, and it turned out to be a visit <v Host>to a paradise. <v Host>The Opera Theatre of Saint Louis has provided everything that he needed. <v Host>He had the singers in the chorus and the support of the opera company and more than that, <v Host>this very special relationship with Jonathan Miller. <v Jonathan Miller>Every now and then, you do- when you're working in- in the- in the theater <v Jonathan Miller>or in the- in opera, you can come across someone with whom you- you suddenly realize <v Jonathan Miller>this will be an ideal partnership. <v Jonathan Miller>And that this is- this is the sort of thing which makes the work worthwhile. <v Host>That doesn't happen very often. <v Jonathan Miller>No, I mean, we were both discussing this, about a week ago um <v Jonathan Miller>um with some of the singers. We were talking about, really what made the life of the <v Jonathan Miller>theater and the life of music really worth going on with, quite apart from the fact you <v Jonathan Miller>simply have to earn your living by it and you sometimes get pleasure from the work. <v Jonathan Miller>But there's some other level at which uh something rather peculiar and transcendental

<v Jonathan Miller>happens when partnerships get struck up, where in fact, it's <v Jonathan Miller>the friendship and the work are inseparable. <v Jonathan Miller>And as a result of that, there's something peculiar about the work that you do so that <v Jonathan Miller>the audience coming to it is aware of the fact that some sort of charismatic <v Jonathan Miller>glow is present in- in the work, which is to do <v Jonathan Miller>with the with the uh um- with the sort <v Jonathan Miller>of warmth that friendship generates. <v Jonathan Miller>And you see, I think in- in the- in the best of the early days of Glyndebourne, really, <v Jonathan Miller>that the- that the Busch/Ebert- <v Host>Busch and Ebert. <v Jonathan Miller>- uh collaboration produced some- a peculiar sort of glow, <v Jonathan Miller>which was to do with the fact that they they liked and respected one another, enjoyed <v Jonathan Miller>each other's company, and enjoyed each other's work, and uh there was never any question <v Jonathan Miller>of competition or friction or anything of the sort. I mean, almost every time I worked <v Jonathan Miller>with conductors, in one way or another, there's been some sort of jostling for position <v Jonathan Miller>between conductor and uh and stage director. <v Jonathan Miller>In this particular case, I mean, it's never an issue at all.

<v Jonathan Miller>I- I would never spend social time with uh well, with- um um with <v Jonathan Miller>many of the conductors that I've- I've worked with, I mean, I wouldn't avoid them like <v Jonathan Miller>the plague, but it wouldn't be a pleasure to go out and- and spend evenings with them and <v Jonathan Miller>with the singers. But uh I mean, we spend just as much time socially together <v Jonathan Miller>as we have working together. <v Jonathan Miller>And that's what makes the work together, I think, successful. <v Calvin Simmons>On the whole, I'm not accustomed to really <v Calvin Simmons>spending any time at all with stage directors because I'm usually <v Calvin Simmons>having such an awful time with them in the theater that by the time I leave <v Calvin Simmons>the theater, it's I have to go home and rest, get my energy <v Calvin Simmons>back for tomorrow's bout. <v Jonathan Miller>We- we sit at restaurants tables uh for very long periods of time uh and <v Jonathan Miller>with the singers and we talk and we gossip and we laugh and we uh. <v Jonathan Miller>We also go to clothes shops quite a lot. <v Jonathan Miller>Quite a lot of intense shopping goes on [Calvin laughs] I think it has to be said. <v Jonathan Miller>And I think actually that's one of the best tests of close friendship, [Calvin laughs] is

<v Jonathan Miller>whether you can tolerate each other's shopping. <v Host>I called Jonathan Miller in London the other day to ask him about this working <v Host>relationship and what he remembers, especially about Calvin. <v Jonathan Miller>I've never worked with a conductor who I've actually loved um and <v Jonathan Miller>uh uh um with whom I spent really almost every waking hour um <v Jonathan Miller>apart from the actual work. <v Jonathan Miller>I mean, we dined together and we used to go out uh with all the other ?inaudible? <v Jonathan Miller>members of the cast. <v Jonathan Miller>Um we drank and talked and uh and just had excursions <v Jonathan Miller>together with the other singers. <v Jonathan Miller>And uh he created a sort of series of fun and of <v Jonathan Miller>amusement, which was based on an absolutely <v Jonathan Miller>uh unspoken understanding that the work that we were all involved in was serious and <v Jonathan Miller>therefore we didn't need to be serious with each other about it. <v Host>That was just one of the givens, then.

<v Jonathan Miller>That's right. Well, it certainly was something- it was something to do with him, that he <v Jonathan Miller>um he was so serious about his work, that there was <v Jonathan Miller>absolutely no need to express how serious it was. <v Jonathan Miller>The result was that there was enormous amount of time left over for- for amusement, <v Jonathan Miller>for fun, for mimicry and frivolity. <v Jonathan Miller>I mean, going to ball games with him and going shopping and uh <v Jonathan Miller>breakfasting with him. He took me down to the uh uh to the stadium <v Jonathan Miller>and we watched his home team um playing the Cardinals. <v Jonathan Miller>And I can always remember the uh the way in which <v Jonathan Miller>uh about every half an hour he had uh he'd leave the stadium to go and phone his father, <v Jonathan Miller>who was obviously watching the game on TV to see how he was taking it. <v Jonathan Miller>And he'd come back filled with glee about his father's reaction to the game. <v Jonathan Miller>He was the most productive, entertaining and uh <v Jonathan Miller>and interesting man that I've ever worked with in the theater. <v Jonathan Miller>And I think he's- he's the only person actually who- who- who could have kept me in

<v Jonathan Miller>the uh in- in the theater. <v Jonathan Miller>I certainly uh looked forward to <v Jonathan Miller>um to several years of working. I mean, I was um- I'm- I'm hovering on the edge of <v Jonathan Miller>leaving the theater. <v Jonathan Miller>Uh and this, in fact, has really finally confirmed my decision to do that. <v Jonathan Miller>And the only thing which would- would have kept me, I think, in the opera world would <v Jonathan Miller>have been the possibility of a- of a sustained collaboration with Calvin. <v Jonathan Miller>We had complete agreement about what we ought to be doing together uh in- in doing <v Jonathan Miller>opera. <v Jonathan Miller>It's very hard to express what it was that um that he brought to <v Jonathan Miller>it, which I- which encouraged me to think that it was something really <v Jonathan Miller>worth going on with. Um I'm very often discouraged by the- by <v Jonathan Miller>competitiveness of the theater, by the triviality. <v Jonathan Miller>Um and then something coming from someone like Calvin, for whom in fact frivolity and <v Jonathan Miller>gaiety was- was compatible with a deep seriousness, really

<v Jonathan Miller>encouraged me to think that it was worth going on. <v Jonathan Miller>And also he had an absolutely impeccable sense of taste. <v Jonathan Miller>There was no- the- that he deplored any sort of vulgarity <v Jonathan Miller>or pleasure. <v Jonathan Miller>Um and he was willing to- he was willing to swim against the current to stop <v Jonathan Miller>uh in spite opinion thought about cliche and stereotype. <v Jonathan Miller>And it was that that really made me feel that- that together we would form <v Jonathan Miller>a um an almost impregnable team. <v Host>In late June, the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis held a gala and Calvin performed <v Host>at the piano for the gala, along with baritone David ?Evetts?. <v Host>They came out on stage wearing summer suits, both of them carrying straw hats <v Host>and began what seemed to be a serious evening of music. <v Speaker>[music plays]