Major: Today is March 2, 2006. I’m talking with Eleanor Marshall about the Virginia Symphony and the Symphony League. Can you start by telling me how your involvement with the Symphony began?
Marshall: Well I suppose because I’ve always loved music and I had once-- I had played a cello on and off in my life. And so when we moved to… actually Virginia Beach, it just seemed very natural to want to go to hear the Symphony. And that was in 1957, so I’ve been hearing the Symphony since then.
Major: And how long have you been involved with the board or the Symphony League? Are you involved with the Symphony League? I know you’re on the board now.
Marshall: No, I’m really not very involved with the Symphony League, and I never have been. Partly because I was doing some work and busy, and I couldn’t go to their daytime meetings. And I’ve been on the board I guess fifteen years… about fifteen years.
Major: Fifteen years on the Symphony board. Well, that would be the beginning of about 1990.
Marshall: I think so.
Major: In working with the Symphony, what is your particular area of interest or what is your expertise on the board?
Marshall: I’m not sure I have any expertise. I’m on the education committee and the nominating committee for new board members. And I’ve helped with other things, but those are the two main ones.
Major: I don’t really know what the education committee does.
Marshall: Well, the education committee, under Minette Cooper, who’s the head of it, we’re in charge of all the young people’s concerts that are held throughout the area, which there are many thousands of students here come to hear the Symphony. And also any… well, the children’s concerts – what we call “Peanut Butter and Jam” concerts; anything to do with and giving educational emphasis. There’s some master classes when different artists come. We arrange those.
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Major: Really?
Marshall: Mmm-hmm. There’s lots of education – musical education available and produced by Virginia Symphony.
Major: Mmm-hmm. And are those typically grant-funded programs?
Marshall: Well, I think the cities-- some are grant-funded – we apply for, but each individual city: Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, and the other. I’m sure they… they don’t go over into the Peninsula that much, but Chesapeake has a big music program. The school boards of the cities fund those for our players for the most part.
Major: And is it the job of the education committee to make the actual arrangements?
Marshall: Oh, yes. Mmm-hmm. The head of it, at least. Remember we have an education person on the staff, but the Symphony-- that person would really be the main one.
Major: So you work with the staff person who’s…
Marshall: Yes. She’s always at our committee meetings.
Major: Mmm-hmm. And that has been… I can’t say her name now…
Marshall: Well, Ernestine…
Major: Ernestine, yes.
Marshall: … has been. And then we have a brand new person to help in a different-- I mean the job got too big for one person.
Major: I see.
Marshall: And I’m not exactly sure what the split is. Ernestine has had a health problem, and she wasn’t at the last meeting, but I’m sure that she will-- I know she’s going to continue to work with the Young People’s Concerts, and I’m not sure what else. And the new man is-- has an overall view, I think. I should have brought those. I should have brought my committee meeting reports. [laughing] I didn’t know we were going to get into this quite so much.
Major: I would guess that that program has grown over time.
Marshall: A great deal. A great deal.
Major: So that now there are thousands of students who hear.
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Marshall: Yes, there are, and the education office can give you those figures. And I could have brought some along, but I didn’t think to do so.
Major: Just for background information, how long have you lived in this area?
Marshall: Since 1957.
Major: Okay. And you spoke of work; did you have a career?
Marshall: Well, I had a career of four children. [laughing] But I have always been able to keep up some music work. I was a church organist. And then I went back to playing a cello… actually through ODU when they had a string program about 25 years ago, I guess. I hadn’t played one since I was in college, and I’d done orchestra work mainly, and I took some lessons under Janet Kreiner, and I got interested, and I still play one, still do chamber music _________. I played with the Virginia Beach Symphony, which is more of a volunteer group, for eighteen years. I retired from that a few years ago.
Major: I’m interested in the Symphony’s history about recruiting musicians. The records show that musicians were put on salary at the Symphony in 1985, and that was the first time there was a full-time salaried orchestra. Was that before your time? Or can you tell…
Marshall: That was before my time on the board, and I don’t know that much about it – about how it was done. I thought they were paid--some of them were surely paid before 1985.
Major: They were paid, but not salaried.
Marshall: By the job?
Major: I think so.
Marshall: I’m sure of that. You mentioned the… my quote profession or career. I also taught music out at Norfolk Academy three years, and that was one thing that I really stressed was they had children’s concerts on Sunday afternoon under Russell Stanger in those days. And I went over all the music and prepared the children to listen, and I think that helped. Some of those that were children then are now, you know, on-- I see them at concerts and things and hope I had a little to do with their enjoying it.
Major: How interesting. In the time that you’ve been on the board, what is your sense about how difficult it has been to recruit musicians? Because the records show that in earlier times, it was very difficult to recruit.
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Marshall: No, I don’t think its difficult now because so many symphonies have folded all over the country, and there are excellent musicians looking for jobs. And our only concern is that we cannot pay… we don’t have the funds to pay as much as some of the bigger orchestras, though our quality is as high…we’ve been told. We’ve been put on a list of, I think, the top twenty in the country, but it’s-- we just-- and we’ve still been able to get very good musicians. And they-- I know that they… I think they come for a hearing and all this ________, but I’ve not been involved with that.
Major: So are auditions very competitive now?
Marshall: I think they are… because people have come here from all over the country. And I think they wouldn’t be doing that if they were not having trouble finding a spot.
Major: That’s right. Are you aware of a time when the Symphony made a partnership with Norfolk State to recruit performers both for the Symphony and for the faculty at Norfolk State?
Marshall: No, I really wasn’t on the board or didn’t really have anything to do with that.
Major: I’m aware that that’s how Steve and Patti Carlson came here, but I wondered--I’ll save that question for somebody who has been involved.
Marshall: …more than I certainly. Because that’s been a while back. They’ve been here a long time.
Major: Yes they have. They’ve been here since the mid-70s, I think. When you first started coming to the Symphony, who was the director? Was it Russell Stanger or was it Edgar Schenkman?
Marshall: It was Edgar Schenkman for just a few years.
Major: What can you tell me about the Edgar Schenkman period?
Marshall: Well, I just remember it, that I enjoyed hearing a full orchestra again. It was not what I’d call top professional at that time and that when Stanger took it over, that he made a big improvement.
Major: Really?
Marshall: Mmm-hmm. I did find that – from Schenkman.
Major: A big improvement in?
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Marshall: Well, I guess in just the quality of the playing. And then also, he put in, as I said, the children’s afternoon concerts on Sundays, and I don’t remember all the things. He was there quite a while, though.
Major: Right. He was there for fifteen years.
Marshall: Yeah. And I went to a lot of his concerts.
Major: Mmm-hmm. How about the programming? Was there a big difference in the programming?
Marshall: I don’t remember that much I’m afraid, but he had a pretty enthusiastic following for quite a long while. And he had come here from working with Leonard Bernstein in New York. I know that. And he was enthusiastic, so that always helps.
Major: He’s a very enthusiastic man.
Marshall: Yes. He is.
Major: Right. There were two conductors who followed Russell Stanger: Winston Dan Vogel and Richard Williams. Both of them served short terms, and I’ve wondered why that was.
Marshall: I honestly don’t know enough why they were cut off, or they changed – whether they got-- I think I-- well I remember both of them, but I don’t know. The orchestra was going through, I think, some upheavals with trying to-- There was, you know, Walter Noona had a pops orchestra that first, he was the director for the Symphony Pops, but then he started his own orchestra. That was all during that period, I think. And I don’t know if that had anything to do with it, you know the competitiveness of the two groups or not. I really-- I don’t know. I better not say. I don’t have any facts because I was not on the board at that time.
Major: According to things I have read, for a long time – in fact the time for all of these conductors – there was a feeling on the board that they really wanted the Symphony conductor to make his primary residence in this area, settle locally, and that the Virginia Symphony would be that person’s primary association. Can you explain that perspective?
Marshall: I’m not-- I mean, I can see why it would be desirable, of course, because that would-- they would get to know people in the community and be more a part of it, but beyond that I’m not sure. I know that conductors have trouble keeping their positions now. Too many orchestras have not been able to
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keep going, and if they do, the very top ones have two or three orchestras that they work with.
Major: There must have been a change in the perspective at the time when JoAnn Falletta was recruited to permit her to be recruited because this is not her – has never been – her only…
Marshall: … has never been her home, right. And never been her only venue, you’re right. She was in Long Beach, California and I think another one, but she never had, I guess, more than one other orchestra. To me, ___ _____ she has lots of guest conducting spots.
Major: Mmm-hmm. But at this point, that is never a matter of discussion on the board?
Marshall: No. It hasn’t been brought up.
Major: In all the time you’ve been there?
Marshall: [No.] I’m not on the executive committee, so they may bring it up. And I’m sure-- she does own a condo here and all. And she and her husband, you know, they do stay part of the time here.
Major: I know. From the perspective of a board member, can you give me some sense of the role that the Symphony League plays? What does it contribute to the whole picture of the viability of the Symphony?
Marshall: Well, of course it gives financially. It contributes quite a lot. There are car raffles and over the years they have-- they used to have style shows. And I think just in generating interest in the Symphony. And while it’s been mostly ladies, I’m sure there are some gentlemen who get involved, and they do help out in various ways. You know, with the children’s concerts, they come and help. They have what they call “petting zoos.” There are instruments that are set up for the children to come and try out…
Major: Oh really!!
Marshall: … ahead of the concerts, and they find that very much fun. I’ve taken a granddaughter there. And so they have to have people to help with, you know, to get the children in _______. And then they help in other ways with, I think, is just help with some paperwork – collating and what have you. I’ve not been very active in the Symphony so-- I mean in the League, so that’s why I can’t tell you all about it. But they’re a very viable part of the whole organization.
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Major: According to some things that I have read, historical things, these subscription campaigns started with the Symphony League or its antecedents, and I wonder now, what is the balance? The subscription campaigns… the…
Marshall: They’re all-- They’re really run by marketing department at the Symphony office.
Major: During the time you’ve been on the board, have you seen that shift or was that in place?
Marshall: No, that was in place when I came on the board.
Major: So that at this point the Symphony League is not involved at all in subscriptions.
Marshall: Well, I wouldn’t say they’re not involved at all because they always try to encourage everybody to “Ask your neighbor,” and that kind of thing. But I don’t think they-- they don’t do any mailings or anything like that that I know of for subscriptions. They have a newsletter that they send out regularly because I get that.
Major: Yes, I do too.
Marshall: You may know more about the meetings than I do. One of the things that we used to have, speaking of history, I have always lived in Virginia Beach, and when I first started coming to the Symphony, they had a regular Symphony bus that we all rode in to a concert at night. And somewhere along the line, I don’t know whether I dropped out first or they quit the bus, but my husband decided he wanted-- was able to go regularly, and he didn’t mind driving. And so it’s more-- you know ______ use our automobile if we always took a carload, but the Symphony bus was a big asset for lots of people, but I have brought it up to the board, but apparently they don’t think it would go now. I don’t know. Virginia Beach is so wide… so spread out for one thing.
Major: Well, there is a Symphony bus from Williamsburg.
Marshall: Yes, I know there is. So that’s nice.
Major: Overall, do you have a sense of how important the contributions of women have been to the continued viability of the Symphony?
Marshall: Well, I think they’ve been very important because not only is JoAnn Falletta a woman conductor, but I think we’ve had,-- I know we’ve had women board presidents. We’ve had-- the League is mostly women, and they have definitely put the Symphony to the forefront. I’m sure it’s been a big help. They have been a big help, I should say.
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Major: What can you tell me about the Symphony Foundation?
Marshall: Well, I know it’s a separate entity set up to try to build up an endowment fund, but I don’t know as much about that either. I’ve never been on that particular-- They have a-- you know, it’s a set group of people from the board who work on that, and I’m not on it.
Major: The membership of the board of the foundation is all drawn from the board of the Symphony?
Marshall: Yes, I think it is, but it’s not a very big group.
Major: No, a half a dozen people or so, and their job is to maintain and grow an endowment.
Marshall: Yeah, I think that’s the idea.
Major: What kind of progress have they made?
Marshall: Well, I don’t even know all that because I’m not on the-- I mean I hear financial reports, but they don’t necessarily report on that but once a year. I know they try not to draw out of it for shortages and other funds.
Major: No, but they probably use the income…
Marshall: Yes.
Major: So that anybody who… there are people who probably give gifts designated for the Foundation, for the Endowment...
Marshall: I think so.
Major: … as well as all the people who give annual gifts.
Marshall: The annual fund is that’s of course more operating funds. Then there are people who endow a certain what they call chairs – violin, cello, whatever, trumpet – and that certain set amount assures that that-- they’ll be able to pay a musician a good salary for that chair. That’s what that’s all about, I think.
Major: Mmm-hmm. How did you come to decide to be a part of that program?
Marshall: Oh, I don’t know. I guess just because I’ve been so, always involved with music and happened to have some-- my husband also was very fond of--he never played an instrument, but he had gone to the Norfolk Symphony way back. He grew up in Norfolk.
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Major: Really?
Marshall: Yeah, he had gone as a young person, a young man, while he was in the Navy four years. He wasn’t always here, but he had it in his background so as soon as he felt it--business-wise he could get to the Symphony on a Monday night, which they used to have. That’s when the bus would go from Virginia Beach-- while he got into it and so after his death, and I had received some funds, I just thought that would be a good place to put some help for the Symphony. That’s, I guess, how I got involved. I was already on the board and could see the need of it.
Major: Mmm-hmm. Can you tell me anything about the merger of the several local ensembles that resulted in the current organization – the Virginia Orchestra Group?
Marshall: Not as much as I’m sure someone else can because it was really done before I got that involved in it. I knew something about it because I was playing in the Virginia Beach Symphony. And while we were never a part of that whole group, it was going on. We were aware of it.
Major: Did the process go on for several years before it finally came?
Marshall: I… I’m not sure enough about that either. I knew there used to be a Peninsula orchestra, and that was a merger with the one in Norfolk. And then they changed the name somewhere along the line to the Virginia Orchestra Group – the Virginia Symphony.
Major: Mmm-hmm. Also in,-- I read in 1989 there was a serious investigation or some investigation of a possible merger with the Richmond Symphony. What can you tell me about that?
Marshall: I don’t know anything about it, I’m afraid, because I was surprised to hear that there had been serious talk of it. So you’ll just have to find someone else. I don’t know that.
Major: How strong do you think the Symphony has been in the past ten years?
Marshall: Well, I think it’s gotten definitely stronger in its quality, and also I think the subscriptions and all have continued to grow. We’ve been lucky: we’ve been not lucky, we’ve worked hard, but some orchestras that have folded have just gone in reverse.
Major: That’s right.
Marshall: So, give credit to board leadership and a good conductor, I guess.
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Major: Mmm-hmm. Those are the main contributing factors – board leadership and the good conductor.
Marshall: I think that’s it. Trying to grow an interest among the younger people because you still have more mature audiences than we do the really young people, but they’re working on it.
Major: I’m noticing some different kinds of concerts that must be intended to appeal to younger audiences.
Marshall: Yeah, that’s the idea.
Major: When the Symphony talks about appealing to younger audiences, what do they mean by younger?
Marshall: Well, I suppose they mean 30 and under. I don’t-- I’m not really sure – 40 and under maybe, middle aged to older who have had more classical music, perhaps, all their lives than the younger group.
Major: That’s right. The… do you mean that the people younger haven’t had as much exposure in schools, for example?
Marshall: Yeah, I think that’s true. Yeah, in schools music programs have been cut back a lot. They’re the first things, that and art, you know, when budgets get tight. They think they’re not necessary in many schools and just in general. The concerts that draw the young people are the more popular musicians. I won’t say rock and roll. That’s passé, I think, but along those lines. So they’ve had lots of that, but not too much of symphonies and classical music.
Major: What additional things do you think need to happen to ensure the Symphony’s viability?
Marshall: Well, I suppose you have to always consider programming because what one person likes in music another doesn’t, and that always has to be a compromise, I think, between audience and players. The musicians don’t always want to play the Beethoven Ninth Symphony or the ones that ______ Tchaikovsky six, one that people really we all love and know, but that’s one thing that I think has to be kept in balance. And a good conductor continuing. You have to have one. And I suppose again, good leadership and financial backing. We have to keep that going.
Major: Mmm-hmm. Good financial backing from the community.
Marshall: Yes, that’s… and it would be great if we could get if we could get a new hall [inaudible]
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Major: … ask you that.
Marshall: I guess I should not bring that up.
Major: Oh, please bring it up.
Marshall: All right, I’ll bring it up. We definitely need a new hall. The Ferguson Center, I went to a concert there recently, and it’s so much better than Chrysler Hall.
Major: It’s enviable, isn’t it?
Marshall: It is enviable, and we might not have to have one quite like that, but it would be great to have a Symphony-- that would be its home base instead of always having to be moved around. When Chrysler Hall can make more money on something else, the Symphony gets moved to a different slot.
Major: That’s right. Chrysler Hall was designed to be an all-purpose hall, wasn’t it?
Marshall: Yes it was. Mmm-hmm. And it still is.
Major: It certainly is.
Marshall: Mmm-hmm. I guess we’re lucky to have had it, but I think we’ve sort of out--the Symphony has outgrown its … well usefulness. It would like to have a home base that would be designed just for a symphony – good music, good acoustics. We…
Major: The good acoustics… that I gather is the main issue in the minds of the musicians.
Marshall: Yes, I’m sure it is. And the Norfolk State auditorium, it has good acoustics.
Major: It does.
Marshall: We had some places, but it is not as central, that’s all.
Major: That’s right. Are there any other things that you thought that you might like to talk about when you were coming?
Marshall: No, I really didn’t know what you were going to ask about. I should have brought some board notes or something. Minutes, I could have maybe contributed a little more. I don’t think I… you’ve done very well. I don’t think I have any more comments, except to wish you good luck.
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Major: Well, thank you. Thanks very much for agreeing to do this interview. It’s been very interesting.
END OF INTERVIEW
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