Love songs at the Symphony

News

by Kent Jennings Brockwell

Staff Writer

While many businesses and companies have strict rules prohibiting inner-office dating, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra seems to be giving the act a standing ovation.

With 12 married couples out of about 100 full- and part-time musicians, the JSO surely has one of the highest percentages of inner-company marriages in Jacksonville, if not Northeast Florida. The JSO is also above average regarding inner-office marriages when compared to other orchestras.

In a recent survey of different orchestras around the country and in Canada, no other symphony orchestra surpassed Jacksonville’s high number of marriages among musicians. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra came closest to the JSO’s numbers with nine married couples out of 95 musicians.

So why is Jacksonville’s symphony boiling over with inner-company marriages?

“Jacksonville is a friendly town, I guess,” said JSO cellist Laurie Casseday, who is married to JSO double bassist Kevin Casseday. “What can I say? A lot of us came into the orchestra 20 years ago and we just kind of got hitched to each other. It is kind of fun and makes life interesting.”

Besides her own relationship that bloomed out of the JSO, Laurie said she thinks many symphony musicians, especially those in the JSO, are inclined to find a spouse within their group due to the demands and unique circumstances of their jobs.

“I think it is because we have such specific training and work such irregular hours,” she said. “We work a lot of hours and weekends. Since we almost always work on Friday and Saturday nights, we are working when most people are out doing other things. We don’t get to go to things that most people do on the weekends.”

While having similar interests and schedules is important in any romantic relationship, JSO violinist Glynda Newton, married to JSO principal trumpeter Cliff Newton, said symphony musicians tend to have more similarities than most.

“There are some people that actually can’t stand the thought of living with another musician,” Newton said. “But in the orchestra, at least you have something in common and you do have the same work schedule. That makes it easier. It is very difficult for musicians in orchestras with our schedules to meet other non-musicians.

“Because we spend so much time with our colleges in the orchestra, it is pretty much the best place for musicians to meet other people.”

The Cassedays were one such couple who got married after meeting in the JSO, but the Newtons were already married.

After taking their grueling schedules into consideration, getting married to someone in the orchestra might seem convenient to some, but Newton said inner-orchestra marriages are hard and only get harder as the relationship grows. She said raising a family is one area of concern that many symphony couples struggle with later in their relationships.

“With the younger people in the orchestra, their children are younger and it is more difficult for them,” she said.

Casseday can attest to that. She and husband Kevin have two young boys and their performance schedules often interfere with family time.

“There is an incredible amount of babysitting,” she said. “When you are both in the orchestra and have kids, there is a lot of financial planning and outlay with all of the time that we have to be gone.”

Luckily for the Cassedays, both Kevin and Laurie are in the strings section of the JSO. When the orchestra has double services or multiple practices on a single day, she and Kevin can trade off to take care of the kids, especially when one of their children is sick like one was this week.

Career moves are also a problem with couples in the orchestra, especially for couples that meet and get married while they are working for the same orchestra like Ellen and Eric Olson did.

Ellen Olson is a part-time JSO violist and wife of JSO principal oboist Eric Olson. Being that Eric is currently auditioning with larger orchestras around the country, Ellen said she is preparing for a possible career move herself. If Eric lands a position with a larger orchestra, Ellen said she would be happy but she would also have to audition and be accepted with the same orchestra if she wanted to continue playing.

“It is going to be hard for me if we move,” she said. “If I go to a new place it will be hard but if I have to do it I will do it.”

Casseday said while she and Kevin don’t plan on leaving Jacksonville any time soon, she understands the difficulty that such a career move would have on a relationship. She said landing a top spot at one of the larger orchestras is “somewhat like winning the lottery” and is hard to pass up.

“For even one of the pair to get a job and to have the other of the pair slide into a position with the same orchestra, that is very difficult,” Casseday said.

But problems aside, Newton said the orchestral marriage can be a wonderful thing. Besides the JSO’s astounding numbers regarding inner-office marriages, she and husband Cliff have been married for 32 years, which she said “is also a pretty astounding number.”

“You have kindred spirits in the orchestra,” she said. “If you can find a compatible soul mate there, that’s great...but it’s hard.”

......The couples......

Philip Pan (concertmaster, violin) and Rhonda Cassano (flute)

Eric (principal oboe) and Ellen Olson (viola)

Andrew Bruck (violin) and Cynthia Kempf (viola)

Kevin (double bass) and Laurie Casseday (cello)

Cliff (principal trumpet) and Glynda Newton (violin)

Michael Butterman (associate conductor) and Jennifer Carsillo (violin)

Jorge (viola) and Jin Kim Pena (cello)

Ken (principal timpanist) and Sofia Every (cello)

Anna Genest (violin) and Simon Shiao (violin)

Dale (double bass) and Lois Gosa (violin)