{ Impromptu
48 O v ertur e |
L aura Farmer
Jonathan Jensen
BSO bass player
An unsung talent gets its due.
What do the Ravens, former BSO music director
Yuri Temirkanov, and former Baltimore mayor and
Maryland governor William Donald Schaefer all
have in common? They have all served as fodder
for the musical compositions of BSO bass player
Jonathan Jensen. “As a kid, I was well-known for
making up songs,” says Jensen. “I put this love of
composing aside for years as I studied bass.”
In 1987, Jensen found a good reason to pick
songwriting back up. “An Italian BSO violist,
who happened to be quite a character, was
retiring. I got the idea to write a musical ‘roast’
for him to the tune of ‘Funiculì, Funiculà.’ This
jumpstarted my unofficial role as musical tribute
writer for the BSO.”
Since that debut musical roast, Jensen has written
more than 20 song parodies to mark the retirements and birthdays of his BSO colleagues.
“I’ll never forget the goodbye song I composed
for [former BSO music director] Yuri Temirkanov.
It was written to the tune of I’ve Got Rhythm and
was sung in both English and Russian. People from
the orchestra even got up to sing and dance.”
Recently, Jensen has applied his talents to eulogizing political luminary William Donald Schaefer.
“I had an idea that Schaefer’s mayoral years would
make a great subject for a musical. He is a largerthan-life character who has had a huge impact on
the city of Baltimore and beyond.”
With the help of Baltimore playwright Rich Espey,
Do It Now began to take shape. The musical
includes the hard-hitting title song, inspired by
Schaefer’s well-known mantra, and also features
big production numbers that spotlight historic
moments, such as the seal pool swim, as well as
more intimate scenes, like a torch song sung by his
longtime companion Hilda Mae Snoops.
M itro H o o d
“So many Baltimoreans have fond memories of
Schaefer. I think this musical could really be a
hit. I didn’t know I had it in me to write this,” says
Jensen. “I guess all the songs I’ve created to celebrate unique individuals over the years have
prepared me to take on this project.”
www. bsomusic .org