Q&A with Concertmaster Karl Stobbe

We asked Concertmaster Karl Stobbe to share some reflections on his role, the orchestra’s place in the community, and what he hopes the WSO will mean to Winnipeg audiences in the years ahead.

1. You’ve said the music and the people who make it are inseparable. How do you see your role as Concertmaster in connecting what happens on stage with the wider Winnipeg community?

I think the Concertmaster role is a somewhat public one. I’m not always comfortable with that, but there’s no question that it comes with a public face. An enthusiastic audience is indicative of a strong connection, just as a supportive community is part of feeling valued. Brawl at the Hall was so incredibly fun because of the audience – because of the connection they had to that event. As I feel a somewhat more public role now, fostering that connection feels more personal than it did.

2. The orchestra now plays everything from core classics to films in concert and special events. How do you think this mix changes the way people here experience and think about the orchestra?

The orchestra has played different genres, styles, and types of music for as long as it has existed. We’ve always had a very large mix of music that we present over the course of a season. Included in that is film music. What’s different now is that we are playing film music live to the film. In this way, people can really see how much the film score adds to the film, and how integral it is to the success of the film.

I don’t think people realized previously how much music shapes the film, and how much films rely on a symphony orchestra to do that. This music is written for an orchestra, by orchestral composers, and features the sounds and styles of music that an orchestra does best. So even people who are not necessarily classical music fans and maybe think that a big symphony orchestra is not relevant to them can take a step back and understand the power in what we do, and what we add to their world. Essentially, if you’re a fan of movies and television, you’re a fan of symphony orchestras.

3. You’ve led been a leader ofthe violin section for many years and now you are the Concertmaster. How has that shift changed your musical conversations with colleagues about sound and interpretation?

It hasn’t really changed it that much. I’ve always had a voice in that, one that has increased with my experience and knowledge. What has changed is the number of those conversations I’m having, and the weight that I feel behind them. It’s easy to express an opinion when the final responsibility for the decision lies with somebody else. If I’m the one making those decisions, I feel a bit more cautious. Conversations are the same, but I feel them a bit differently.

4. Community support helps make concerts, education, and outreach possible. From inside the ensemble, what does that support mean to you?

The job of a musician is to practice, to learn notes, to organize them in a way that means more than a collection of sounds, and to express that to others. “Others” is the key here – we can’t do our jobs without them. It’s the old adage: If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it really make a sound?

Community support is what happens when our patrons and donors recognize that they have a role in making music, in helping us do our jobs, in providing an infrastructure for us to practice, and to bring the results of that to an audience. Nothing happens without it.

5. Looking ahead a few years, what kind of musical “home” do you hope the orchestra will be for Winnipeg audiences?

In a perfect world, a home is where we feel comfortable and, safe, and where we get all the things we need to exist, where we can think alone or be with friends, where we can figure out the rest of our lives. And interestingly, home is where we very often turn on some music, make music, and enjoy the beauty of sound.

As a society, music is important in our homes, and it has been since the dawn of civilization. I hope the WSO is all these things to Winnipeg and Manitoba – a musical place of reflection or to recover energy, to figure out the rest of our lives or maybe escape from it, to be alone or to socialize. The importance of music has been part of humanity for all its existence, and in Winnipeg, all of us at the WSO hope that we are your home for that.