David DePeters, percussionist and Executive Director of IRIS Orchestra

David DePeters is percussionist and Executive Director of IRIS Orchestra, and frequently appears with leading orchestras throughout the United States, including The Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music. 

So you’ve been a member of the IRIS Orchestra for 9 years. How did you also become Executive Director? 

IRIS has been around for 13 years, but I was not involved when it first started. I didn’t know anything about it. It was created by Michael Stern, who I went to Curtis with, and the Executive Director of the performing arts center in Germantown, Tennessee, which is the big suburb east of Memphis. So it’s technically not in Memphis, although most of our donors and subscribers are from Memphis.

When I first went down to IRIS, I had been playing full-time in the Baltimore Symphony but was never given the job permanently. I kept doing well at the audition, but it was just never going to happen. My wife’s in the Philly Orchestra, so I left Baltimore and came back to Philly.

I ran into Michael Stern at a festival, and he said, “Oh, you’ve got to come down and hear my orchestra in Memphis. It’s really good.” And I said, “Why would I want to go to Memphis? What are you doing in Memphis? What’s going on in Memphis?” And he said, “No, really. Come once. You’ll really get it.” So I did, and after the first rehearsal, I said, “Call me anytime, and I will come.”

The idea was for the orchestra to be the anchor of this performing arts center, so the patrons would have something to rally around and come to the center multiple times, instead of just a bunch of touring one-off shows that come and go. So they created IRIS, and it’s a fantastic thing.

Jacob Smith: Bassoonist, Arts Administrator, Tech Entrepreneur, and Father

Readers, I am very excited to share with you this interview from 2011 with someone I consider a friend, role model -- and inspired me to start this project. I think Jacob must have a Time-Turner to do everything he does. Enjoy!  --AM

Jacob Smith is principal bassoonist with the Academy of Vocal Arts Orchestra and plays frequently with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Ballet, and is a substitute with The Philadelphia Orchestra. He is a former member of The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. He studied with Nancy Goeres at Carnegie Mellon University and Danny Matsukawa at Temple University. 

Jacob is also Director of Development and Marketing for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society (PCMS) and Marlboro Music Festival and School. He also owns a web company, Dinkum Interactive. He resides in Philadelphia with his wife Meghan and two sons, Rory and Duncan.

Jonathan Fink, cellist and Realtor®

Jonathan Fink is a cellist with the Philly Pops, Reading Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, and Rittenhouse String Quartet. He is also a Realtor® with Keller Williams in Philadelphia. 

He is a graduate of Philadelphia College for the Performing Arts (University of the Arts) and resides in Fishtown with his wife Marjorie and children Ben and Hannah. Email or call Jon at (215) 805-5276. He would love to hear from you!

Dawn Webster, trumpeter and acupuncture student

Dawn Webster is a freelance trumpeter and an acupuncture student at Yo San University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Los Angeles. 

Dawn studied music and environmental geology in her undergrad at Rutgers University and earned a Master of Music from Temple University studying with David Bilger.

Interviewees' Shared Characteristics

Last week, I did three interviews in three days, so I am busy transcribing a lot of new exciting content that will be posted in the coming weeks.

I've now done more than a dozen interviews, and I'm even more amazed at the level of talent and passion of these people. I am honored that they took time out of their busy schedules to talk to me. Some common themes are starting to emerge:

What's My Motivation Again?

I’ve chosen today’s topic based on a reader comment. (Yes, I do take your feedback into consideration -- please keep it coming.)

This non-oboist reader said: “I don't know how you manage to have a full-time day job with the reeds. I would stab myself with the knife (intentionally) after about 3 weeks, let alone if I had to do it with something else full-time.”

Dan McDougall, Double Bass

Big thanks to Dan, my colleague at Curtis and the Bach Choir and our first non-double reed interviewee! Dan has lived a "double life" for pretty much his entire career, and he teaches the Curtis students' career development class, so he is an expert. Enjoy!  --AM

Dan McDougall, double bassist, freelances along the East Coast playing with ensembles including the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra, Philly Pops, Northeast Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Bach Choir of Bethlehem, and Delaware Symphony, to name a few.

Dan is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Roger Scott. Dan has worked at Curtis for nearly twenty years in various administrative roles; he is currently Human Resources Assistant. He has also served on Curtis faculty for ten years and teaches the "21st Century Musician" course to all instrumental undergrads. (Photo by L. C. Kelley)

  When did you start with your other work outside of performing?

I always had another job, even when I was a student. I’ve always been a doer and I say yes to everything. So even as a Curtis student, I performed in operas as an actor, or playing keyboard. I tried to stretch what I was doing because I knew that if I just played bass all day that I’d be bored to tears. You know what bass parts are like, and I knew that wouldn’t be enough for me early on, so I always diversified what I did.