Fun Facts from the
2014 Academy Week
1 There were 113 participants
from all over the U.S.
2 They ranged in age from
mid-20s to late 80s.
3 There were 247
separate events during
the eight days.
4 BSO musicians were
involved not only in the
side-by-side rehearsals
and final performance,
but also served as faculty
throughout the week.
Ch r is tian Am o nso n
(left) Loren Kayfetz
Kristin Gomez
“On a logistical level, I think this will
make me a better conductor,” she says,
“and on an artistic level, I think the workshop will improve my ability to get artistry
out of my kids.”
Since the program, Gomez has auditioned for a local orchestra, but the Academy did more than inspire her personal
playing. “This really opened my eyes to
where kids can go,” she says of her students.
“Some kids maybe will just appreciate music for the rest of their lives, but I need to
make sure every child is set up to meet the
possibility of being in the BSO.”
If the Academy week sounds intense,
it is. Yet attendees come from all levels and
backgrounds. Loren Kayfetz, an investment advisor in Pleasant Hill, CA, has
played the flute and piccolo since he was
11. He attended Interlochen Center for the
Arts in Michigan and, though he decided
against a career as a professional musician,
he’s enjoyed playing in amateur and semipro groups for more than 45 years. For two
years, he’s participated in the Academy
programs, and this July participated in the
inaugural BSO Summer Side-by-Side program, an adjunct to the Academy. Kayfetz
was struck by the diversity of the musicians, explaining that it is not what you
bring to the Academy that matters so much
as what you take away.
“I think anyone who can pick up and
make notes on their instrument should
consider it,” he states. “There’s no reason
why everyone can’t get something out of
the experience, whether it is the opportunity to play music along with other people
or, more than anything else, the inspiration
to go home and take their love of musicianship to the next level.”
Registration for the 2015 BSO Academy opens in November!
5 The Academy campus
included the Symphony
Hall, Baltimore School
for the Arts and the
Engineer’s Club.
Kayfetz expects to return for the full
Academy program in 2015 and has reinvigorated his own education by connecting
with a private teacher.
“It was instructional if not inspiring for
me to realize I could pick up some of the
fundamentals that had fallen away over the
years for one reason or another,” he says.
The tips, techniques, advice, and lessons
open to Academy participants are invaluable. Swain, the Baltimore-based trombonist, has seen his range increase as a direct
result of the Academy. He, too, will be back
again next year, but not only for the instruction. “The reason I keep coming back is at
the end, when you finish playing, for a split
second, you get to see raw emotion,” he says.
“You get to see happiness, sadness, joy, awe.”
“I’m addicted to that split-second silence
before the applause. It’s the best feeling in
the world.”
For more info please visit www.bsomusic.org.
★ ★ ★★ ★ ★★ ★