“The performance will begin something like this: The ‘A’ note of an oboe will sound out on stage at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall,” writes Mary Carole McCauley in Saturday’s (7/2) Baltimore Sun. “This year marks the first time since 2018 that the BSO Academy—essentially an adult fantasy camp for classical music nerds—has held its weeklong series of workshops, lessons, lectures and rehearsals, during which 76 amateur musicians perform alongside professionals from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The program culminates … in a pair of free public concerts…. For [oboist] Christine Scott, 72, the academy was a chance to submerge herself … in a profession that had little room for women or Black musicians when she was growing up…. ‘Playing here is an emotional experience for me,’ said Scott…. During a recent rehearsal of the Shostakovich [Symphony No. 9], the orchestra was at full throttle. [Assistant Conductor Jonathan Taylor] Rush extended one arm and held up his index finger. Little by little, the music began to fade away. The dying sound was so haunting. [Participating flutist] Christina Vermeulen, 58, said, … ‘Being able to sit on stage with this orchestra has been a life-changing moment.’ ”
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