Klarinet Archive - Posting 000247.txt from 1996/08

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Paris ClarinetFest
Date: Fri, 9 Aug 1996 01:00:58 -0400

Claudia,

Your comments about the Paris ClarinetFest were very interesting and very
enlightening. You mentioned something in passing which really piqued my
interest, and I'm sure a few others felt some curiosity as well - your
statement about OSHA closing down the Buffet factory. What ARE the
conditions over there? There are a number of members of the KLARINET
list who have been there, multiple times even, but it never occurred to
me to ask what the factory is like. What's the layout? Are there many
workers? Is it unsafe, as you imply?

I've attended only a single ClarinetFest, the one last year in Arizona.
Happily, there WERE a number of interactive events, one of the highlights
being the "Legends" lecture, where the audience met Clark Brody, Mitchell
Lurie, and Bernard Portnoy (am I leaving somebody out? I can't remember
if there was a fourth person...Ohhhh yes, Alfred Prinz too). It was very
entertaining and very informative, with a lengthy question and answer period.

In my mind, the festival was a success. The opportunities for
interaction were not confined to formally organized mixers. People
milling about in the lobbies, waiting for the next event, provided
terrific opportunities to meet many people and talk shop, as well as
simply to socialize. I seem to remember that there was even a clarinet
choir organized for those who desired to participate.

Perhaps what set the successful tone for the entire festival was its
opening recital. Ricardo Morales performed an all-French program and
literally brought the house down. I remember having breakfast with
him and his wife (what's her name again? Rachel, I think) that morning at
iHOP just before he was to perform, and I couldn't get over how youthful yet
mature he was. It was only the second time I'd spent time with him in a
couple of years, but it was a pretty solid impression. A remarkable
person, at all of 24 years old (*maybe* 25 by now). Nothing quite compared
to his performance during the remainder of the festival, but the performances
and lectures overall were of very high calibre and well worth the trek through
dry 115-degree heat to attend them.

Neil