About Calvin Simmons; Part 3

<v Host>Kent Nagano is assistant conductor of the Oakland Symphony, and knew Calvin well as a <v Host>friend and a colleague, and he noticed the particular magic that Calvin was able <v Host>to bring to his performances of whatever music he chose to perform. <v Kent Nagano>I was able to see um the kind of magic that Calvin <v Kent Nagano>could work. It was born out of a natural, <v Kent Nagano>almost innocent curiosity with the power of music, <v Kent Nagano>which, of course, is a universal power. That's why we choose to communicate through <v Kent Nagano>music, because in some ways it can communicate emotions deeper <v Kent Nagano>and messages stronger than we can with normal words. <v Kent Nagano>And Calvin was very much in touch with this, and when a piece of music <v Kent Nagano>said something to him that he felt was um very important to get out or <v Kent Nagano>to release, he became so enthusiastic with this that <v Kent Nagano>uh just through his basic personality, it was like electricity. <v Kent Nagano>He could communicate it to large groups of people, small groups of people. <v Kent Nagano>Even when we were just sitting in a car and he wanted to be a protagonist for a certain

<v Kent Nagano>style of music or a composer, uh, inevitably we'd raise our voices <v Kent Nagano>to screaming level by the time the conversation finished. <v Kent Nagano>So I'd say that Calvin's magic <v Kent Nagano>with an orchestra was directly related to his ability to communicate <v Kent Nagano>through his personality the substance of a piece and the emotion of a piece. <v Kent Nagano>The job that Calvin had started <v Kent Nagano>when he came 3 years ago, I wasn't so much in touch because I <v Kent Nagano>came the second year that he was there. <v Kent Nagano>But even within the 2 years, I was able to see a change within the orchestra and within <v Kent Nagano>Calvin. He was trying, it seems, to develop a group <v Kent Nagano>to become an entity which could be strong <v Kent Nagano>no matter who happened to be in front of it. So in other words, enthusiasm and direction <v Kent Nagano>that he was giving the group was all directed towards, <v Kent Nagano>it seems to me, an inner growth within the orchestra so they could become strong

<v Kent Nagano>and not simply an appendage of a- of a personality. <v Host>One of the most thrilling concerts of the 1981 season was in early April, <v Host>when Calvin led the Oakland Symphony and soprano Jessye Norman. <v Host>The evening is visually memorable, too, for the contrast between the magnificent stature <v Host>of Miss Norman and the slender presence of Calvin seemed a balance as extraordinary as <v Host>their music. From April 9th last year, the final scene from <v Host>"Capriccio" by Richard Strauss. <v Speaker>[scene from "Capriccio" by Richard Strauss as performed by Jessye Norman and the Oakland Symphony plays]