This years Texas Tech University School of Music Scholarship Concert will incorporate a number of acts. Director Kim Walker shares more about this event on The Front Row.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you plan to do with the program.
As far as I can tell, the school of music here is one of the best kept secrets on the planet. I call it the diamonds in our backyard, because every day I go into that concert hall and I hear something incredible, or a piece of scholarship that’s become a concert that’s explained to people as an experience, a discovery. And everyday I witness incredible artistry, academic research that’s taking us to new perspectives.
Every single day, I’ve had a surprise, a real gem and I would like more people to know about it and join us for the concerts. There are something like 209 more events this semester, but there are 23 major events—those are the ones you don’t want to miss. Nothing will thrill you half as much on a Friday night as getting into Hemmle Hall, I’m sure of that.
You’ve had an enormous career as a musician, tell us about that.
I have been lucky. Female bassoonists were not the mold at the time when I was a child, so the thought of being in the Chicago Symphony or The London Symphony was sort of off the radar, but in fact I had both those opportunities in my lifetime. One of the first women to join the London Symphony in 1985, I was still in my teens. They didn’t have a ladies toilet in the backstage.
It was really a different era. My students today would look at me like I’m some kind of relic, because they can’t believe it. But the point is is that you can’t even know the opportunities out there that you might enjoy if you just keep focused on the music.
Listen to the full interview at the top of the article.
