Departments
Arts
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Week of 24 September 1999 |
Vol. III, No. 7 |
Arts
World-class trumpeter, teacher, composer
A 20th-century Gabriel blows into town at SFA and Tsai Center
By Judith Sandler
Terry Everson's recent arrival on the faculty of the School for the Arts has pleased just about everyone -- except New York Philharmonic Principal Trumpet Phil Smith.
"I really think it stinks," he says.
But Smith is speaking selfishly and with tongue in muscular cheek. "Kudos to BU for getting an incredibly talented trumpet player and teacher," he explains. "But I'm sorry Terry's there. He ought to be in the Philharmonic."
Everson was in the seventh grade when he found a trumpet in the back of a closet, and aided by years of piano study and his musical parents, his tentative explorations of the instrument quickly turned towards mastery. "My parents always said they wouldn't push me into music," Everson recalls, "but I never really thought of doing anything else."
The new SFA assistant professor will be joined on September 30 by Shiela Kibbe for his first New England area recital. Everson and Kibbe, assistant professor and chairman of the collaborative piano department, will perform music of Shchedrin, Ewazen, Turrin, Lovelock, and Pascuzzi at 8 p.m. at the Tsai Performance Center.
"Terry is a treat to collaborate with," says Kibbe, one of Boston's most sought-after collaborators. "He's a top-notch musician with a great sound and an engaging personality."
Other SFA faculty members are no less enthusiastic. "What tipped me off about Terry," says Gary Ofenloch, professor of music and chair of brass, woodwinds, and percussion, "was a call from the New York Philharmonic's Phil Smith, arguably the greatest orchestral trumpet player around. When we invited him to audition, it was clear that Terry is a world-class soloist and a top-shelf pedagogue."
"Music has been my life -- for all my life," says Everson, who grew up turning pages for his pianist mother and listening to the big band albums of his percussionist/arranger/composer father.
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Terry Everson (right) works with
music major Peter Auricchio (SFA'03).
Photo by Vernon Doucette
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In addition to his busy performing and teaching schedule, Everson continues to compose and arrange. And he has recently become fascinated with publishing. Sensing that "access to the Web has eliminated the need for a big publisher," he began investigating the possibilities of marketing his own musical works on the Internet. "I was soon convinced I could put out music that would look and sound as good as anything out there." He has already self-published several of his own compositions, which he will soon market on his own Web site.
Humble, not a crass act
Everson, who began his teaching career as an undergraduate,
is a dedicated and respected teacher, according to his
pupils. "If there's one thing I truly want to impart to my
students," says Everson, "it's how to become a musician
before becoming a trumpet player, because a lot of players
go through careers just learning how to play the trumpet,
and that has given trumpet players a bad rap. They're
wonderful technicians but they have nothing to say."
Carl Lindquist (SFA'01), who transferred to SFA this fall to study with Everson, grew up in Everson's hometown of Sandusky, Ohio. Hearing Everson play for the first time when Lindquist was in the eighth grade "redefined what I thought was possible on the trumpet both technically and musically," Lindquist recalls. "As a player he's very versatile and takes a lot of chances -- he doesn't play it safe. As a teacher he's very exciting and inspiring. He's also very patient and a humble musician. Trumpet players have the reputation for being egoists, and he's on the other end of that spectrum."
In his 15 years of professional trumpet playing, Everson has also won much admiration of his fellow musicians. "What you have is a major treasure," says George Zack, conductor of Lexington Philharmonic, where Everson has played for the past five years, progressing from substitute to second, and finally to principal trumpet. "He is the nicest, friendliest, most intelligent fellow. He's easy to work with and is a superior musician. I don't know of a better musician operating anywhere." Although sorry to lose Everson, Zack says that "he's in the right place at BU and he's probably going to make his mark very quickly."
On Thursday, September 30, at 8 p.m. in the Tsai Performance Center, trumpet player Terry Everson and pianist Shiela Kibbe will perform Rodion Shchedrin's In the Style of Albéniz, Eric Ewazen's Sonata, Joseph Turrin's Elegy and Intrada, William Lovelock's Concerto, and Gregory Pascuzzi's Meditation on a Scottish Hymn Tune.