Gene Pokorny Interview (Part Two)

The Northshore Concert Band is beginning its 61st season with a special concert that includes guest soloist Gene Pokorny, Principal Tuba with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This is an excellent opportunity to see this outstanding musician outside of Orchestra Hall in downtown Chicago. Mr. Pokorny is widely considered the finest tuba player in the world today.

Before joining the Chicago Symphony Orchestra he was tuba player in the Israel Philharmonic, the Utah Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In addition to playing film scores in Hollywood such as Jurassic Park and The Fugitive, he is a member of the Union Pacific (Railroad) Historical Society and spends time as a “foamer” (watching and chasing trains) as well as a card-carrying member of The Three Stooges Fan Club.

Recently, Northshore Concert Band member Paul Bauer interviewed Gene Pokorny. Below is a portion of part two of this fascinating peek into the life of this remarkable musician.

Read part one of the interview on the Evanston Patch here

What advice do you have for aspiring musicians? It is hard to get a position in an orchestra but there is always room at the top if you work hard enough and if you’ve got enough raw talent. One caution, however. If you want to become a professional player and have opted to be a music education major for some type of job security, fine. But make sure you have the passion and interest for teaching. If you really don’t care that much about being an educator and cannot be effervescent in front of a bunch of young people to turn them on to music, please do not get into music education. The world does not need any more people in music education who are turning kids off to music. Do something else with your life. For everybody else, listen to as much music as you can and distill what you like or don’t like about the various music you hear.

Which composer/musician – past or present – would you most like to meet for a coffee and why? Gerald Finzi (1901 – 1956, British composer) was a friend with Ralph Vaughan Williams. He wrote some of the most heart-felt songs based on poems by Robert Bridges, Thomas Hardy and others. He was a remarkable musician who never received the proper accolades he rightfully deserved. He was a simple man but not a simplistic one. He seemed to have core values that kept him sane after having felt many hardships in his younger days. I could have learned a lot from him. A couple years ago I played his Five Bagatelles, originally for clarinet solo and piano, arranged for tuba solo and band by Joseph Kreines. That was very memorable for me.

What do you do to relax? I am a “foamer.” That is supposed to be a derogatory term given by railroad people to those of us who are railfans and hang out at railroad tracks and watch trains. I consider that term a badge of honor. While I am a member of the 20th Century Railroad Club and the Union Pacific Historical Society, I will spend time hanging out on the Union Pacific West line. Nothing like grabbing cinnamon rolls from Prairie Bread Kitchen in Oak Park and watch some heavy freights roll through. We watch the big trains on vacations as well. Our four basset hounds are perfect foils in case I am practicing or hanging out at the tracks too much. One place Beth, the pups and I enjoy is the Rochelle Railroad Park. It is a drive but there is plenty of railroad action as well as diesel and creosote smells. What could possibly go wrong?

If you weren’t a professional musician what would you be? I still have a passion for being a band director. I think I would be good at it, but I don’t know that I could do it as well as others who have less “baggage.” If I was not involved in music, I would probably do something involved with the railroad. That may be a more romantic than a realistic notion. I fantasize about being an engineer running a mile-long unit coal train with 18,000 tons behind me going up a 2.5% grade with my hands on the throttle of 24,000 horsepower. Maybe it is the transportation equivalent of being a tuba player in an orchestra. The contribution in terms of being a solo voice is minimal but if you provide smart, controlled, massive power, the tuba can elevate the level of the entire orchestra because of the reliable foundation it provides.

Gene Pokorny will appear with the Northshore Concert Band on November 6, 2016 at 3:00 pm at the Pick-Staiger concert hall on the Northwestern University campus in Evanston, Illinois. Individual concert tickets are $20 each, seniors $15, students/children $10. Tickets are available in advance or at the box office, beginning at 2:00 pm, on the day of the concert. www.northshoreband.org