FGM Turns 200! with Laura Reynolds

For Good Measure, by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT)
Episode 212: FGM Turns 200! with Laura Reynolds

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In this week's episode, we continue FGM Turns 200!, a mini-series where we talk to Ensemble for These Times' members and past guest artists. Today, we are joined by E4TT’s guest English hornist Laura Reynolds, who we spoke to in April 2025. If you enjoyed today’s conversation and want to know more about Laura Reynolds, check her out here: https://sfcm.edu/discover/student-resources/library/archives/oral-history-project/student-resources/library/archives/oral-history-project/laura-reynolds.

This podcast is made possible by grants from the California Arts Council, SF Arts Commission, Grants for the Arts, and generous donors like you. Want to support For Good Measure and E4TT? Make a tax-deductible donation or sign up for our newsletter, and subscribe to the podcast!

Intro music: “Trifolium” by Gabriela Ortiz, performed by E4TT (Ilana Blumberg, violin; Abigail Monroe, cello; Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Below the Surface: Music by Women Composers,” January 29, 2022
Outro music: “Lake Turkana” by Marcus Norris, performed by E4TT (Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Alchemy,” October 15, 2021

Transcription courtesy of Otter.ai.
Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1903729/episodes/19375977

Co-Producer, Host, and E4TT co-founder: Nanette McGuinness
Co-Producer and Audio Engineer: Stephanie M. Neumann
Podcast Cover Art: Brennan Stokes
Interns: Renata Volchinskaya, Sam Mason, Christy Xu

Transcript

Nanette McGuinness  00:00

[INTRO MUSIC] Welcome to For Good Measure, an interview series celebrating diverse composers and other creative artists. I'm Nanette McGuinness, Artistic Executive Director of Ensemble for These Times. In this week's episode, we are joined by guest oboist Laura Reynolds. [INTRO MUSIC ENDS]

Nanette McGuinness  00:26

Thank you so much for agreeing to join us.

Laura Reynolds  00:30

My pleasure.

Nanette McGuinness  00:32

Could you tell us a bit about your musical path, please?

Laura Reynolds  00:35

Sure, I started the oboe when I was a kid in fourth grade at the encouragement of my father, who was a music band director, and by the time I got to high school, I knew that orchestra was one of my favorite things, and I thought, well, if I could make a living doing this, I would try. So I went to music school and did my undergrad at the University of Michigan, and then I came to the conservatory to study with Bill Bennett, who was recommended to me by my teacher at Michigan, and I finished my master's degree, and right away got a job with the Santa Rosa Symphony, so I decided to stay in the Bay Area to enjoy that position, and I continued working at the Conservatory as a staff member, and then I picked up some other orchestra jobs along the way. So now I'm also in the Marin Symphony and the California Symphony, and I've been teaching for a long time, I was at UC Davis as the oboe teacher there, and now I'm at Sonoma State University, and I also teach in the pre-college at the Conservatory, where I serve as associate director for pre-college and summer programs.

Nanette McGuinness  01:56

Wonderful, a lovely path, actually. [laughs] Obviously, he was right, but do you know what persuaded your dad to suggest the oboe?

Laura Reynolds  02:08

It's not very.. I mean, he, he learned when he was in college a particular method of assigning instruments to students, and by his estimation, the oboe was a good match for me and I was not really allowed to...

Nanette McGuinness  02:27

[laughs]

Laura Reynolds  02:28

[laughs] ...play the flute, which I asked for, and he said, well, actually, no, you don't have the right facial structure for the flute, but secretly I think it was he didn't want me to compete with so many flute players.

Nanette McGuinness  02:43

That makes a lot of sense, actually.

Laura Reynolds  02:44

Yeah.

Nanette McGuinness  02:44

There are a lot more flute players than oboe players.

Laura Reynolds  02:47

Yeah.

Nanette McGuinness  02:47

And I should say, for the people listening, you are a very fine oboe player.

Laura Reynolds  02:52

[laughs] Thank you. He might have been on to something. It did seem to take.

Nanette McGuinness  02:58

[laughs] I'd be curious to know about this method that he learned, to be honest, it sounds fascinating.

Laura Reynolds  03:04

Yeah, I think it was like the cut and dried, you know, like manual for picking the path of least resistance for certain students, you know, like if you had, he said I had a little dip in the... in my lip, so that would make making a sound on the flute less easy, so I shouldn't play the flute because of that, but I know plenty of professional successful flute players who learn to make the embouchure just slightly to the side of that dip in their lips, so like you know...

Nanette McGuinness  03:33

[laughs]

Laura Reynolds  03:34

[laughs]

Nanette McGuinness  03:36

Who knows, right?

Laura Reynolds  03:37

Yep.

Nanette McGuinness  03:38

So, maybe it was the competition part?

Laura Reynolds  03:42

You got to ask the Fredonia University Music faculty from the 60s.

Nanette McGuinness  03:47

[laughs] Should they be willing to come out of retirement...

Laura Reynolds  03:52

Right. [laughing]

Nanette McGuinness  03:53

...and still around. Well, it worked for you, so I'm certainly grateful having worked with you.

Laura Reynolds  04:00

[laughs]

Nanette McGuinness  04:00

Yeah, so tell me about the performing you've done with E4TT or performing with E4TT.

Laura Reynolds  04:07

Yeah, it's been great. I love E4TT. Thanks for inviting me the many times that you have. I know the connection through David Garner was partially how I came to play with you guys, and I've been a big fan of his music since I was a student at the conservatory, and getting the chance to like shine as a chamber musician on English horn, particularly, is not that often that you get that opportunity, so I really appreciate that, and to know that... that sound, particularly, was what he wanted, was like, particularly my style of playing the English horn was very flattering, and then we have such a great rehearsal cycle, like there's a plenty of time for addressing the details.

Nanette McGuinness  05:01

[laughs]

Laura Reynolds  05:01

[laughs] ...and learning music, learning new music, and bringing it to the world like that. That's been great. I appreciate working with you when you're singing and working with just the instrumentalists for the other pieces that we've done. It's been really wonderful.

Nanette McGuinness  05:18

Oh, well, thank you. We've loved working with you, and yeah, what happened was David was going to write... I'm trying to remember, I think it's maybe the third song cycle, he was writing for me and the group...

Laura Reynolds  05:30

mmhmm

Nanette McGuinness  05:30

...and we were talking about instrumentation, and as I recall, he said English horn would be great for this, and I know the perfect person, I'll introduce you to her, and that's that's how it happened, and then after we worked with you once, so we were always, or at least I was, but everybody agreed, looking for opportunities to work with you again, because you're, you're so nice to work with. So...

Laura Reynolds  05:52

Thank you.

Nanette McGuinness  05:53

You're welcome. Yeah, no, it's a pleasure. Is there anything you have coming up that you'd like to share with us?

Laura Reynolds  06:00

Well, I'll say we're recording this in the middle of April, and the end of the concert season is upon us, and I've got two opportunities to play Holst's The Planets...

Nanette McGuinness  06:14

ooo...

Laura Reynolds  06:15

...where one week I'm doing it with Santa Rosa Symphony, and a few weeks later I'm doing it with San Jose Symphony as a guest musician there, so that's a very dramatic piece that we don't often get to play, so I'm looking forward to that. Yeah, and then we're also doing Santa Rosa Symphony, is doing this great Beethoven Symphony cycle on our road to our 100th anniversary of the orchestra, so this is the second year of that five year cycle, and we're doing, I think, it's symphonies two and five the first week of June, and that's like leading up towards Beethoven No. 9 on our 100th anniversary in 2028. So that's a long range goal. I'm looking forward to playing every one of those concerts...

Nanette McGuinness  07:04

mmhmm

Laura Reynolds  07:04

...and yeah, all of next season is just coming into focus. I know there's a Mahler Symphony in Santa Rosa. I'm really looking forward. I am hired as a soloist with the Ukiah Symphony. I'm going to play Barber's Canzonetta and a double oboe concerto with one of my adult students with that orchestra by Albinoni, so that'll be fun. And in between this summer, I'm running all the summer camps at the Conservatory...

Nanette McGuinness  07:04

[laughs]

Laura Reynolds  07:04

...so that's always fun to meet a lot of young musicians who are excited to be at camp, doing nothing but their music passion for that week.

Nanette McGuinness  07:04

Yeah.

Laura Reynolds  07:11

So that will be very rejuvenating, even though it's also exhausting. [laughs]

Nanette McGuinness  07:12

[laughs] I imagine it is, but you're right, it's kind of seeing the future of the... of the field coming through. It must be kind of exciting.

Laura Reynolds  07:58

Yeah.

Nanette McGuinness  08:00

Yeah, I think it's Beethoven's 5th that has a prominent part for you, as I recall. If I'm hearing it in my ear correctly.

Laura Reynolds  08:06

Well, it definitely has that little cadenza in the first movements.

Nanette McGuinness  08:09

Yeah, that's what I'm hearing. [laughs]

Laura Reynolds  08:11

Yeah. [laughs]

Nanette McGuinness  08:13

Nice. This sounds like great plans. And right now, I have to admit, we don't have oboe or English horn in our next season, but I'm always looking for opportunities to throw you into our season, hopefully not under the bus, but... [laughs]

Laura Reynolds  08:30

[laughs] ...no, it's never under the bus. Can I share some of my favorite times... is when we went down to Los Angeles and did the recording project.

Nanette McGuinness  08:42

Yeah.

Laura Reynolds  08:42

Really fun. Was that the Open Door cycle?

Nanette McGuinness  08:46

Yeah Die eichne Tuer, exactly. That was, and gosh, was that it was either 2018 or 19? Is that right?

Laura Reynolds  08:46

Yeah, it was pre-pandemic for sure.

Nanette McGuinness  08:56

Yeah, and that recording, golly, that recording came out, I'm thinking in either 2020 or 2022 I can't remember...

Laura Reynolds  09:07

mmhmm

Nanette McGuinness  09:08

...at this point, maybe 2020. So, yeah.

Laura Reynolds  09:11

But that was... I particularly enjoyed that piece. And then last season I really enjoyed doing the Berg Seven Songs arrangements.

Nanette McGuinness  09:20

Oh yeah,.

Laura Reynolds  09:21

Because I was not that familiar with that piece, and then to get to know it in a chamber music setting was really, really great.

Nanette McGuinness  09:29

Yeah, you know, I really agree with you. I loved Die eichne Tuer, that... it's a great cycle, always hard to pick one's favorites, but possibly my favorite of the ones that David has written for me...

Laura Reynolds  09:41

Yeah.

Nanette McGuinness  09:41

...and it's, it's got such impact as well, and yeah, you're right, the recording sessions were fun. That was... it was part of our tour to Los Angeles that we were able to arrange to do that after we performed there. So, yeah, you're right, and the Berg, such a fabulous song cycle, had always been on my bucket list for us to do, for me to do, and of course there were family issues that made me have to bow out, but I was really happy to hear it in a, in a chamber arrangement, you know. So, and I'm glad you joined us for that. So, yeah, thank you for thinking of those. Those were both wonderful things.

Laura Reynolds  10:20

Yeah.

Nanette McGuinness  10:21

Is there anything else you'd like to talk about or share with the podcast audience?

Laura Reynolds  10:28

Please continue your work in...

Nanette McGuinness  10:30

[laughs]

Laura Reynolds  10:30

...championing women composers and women musicians who you know still are sometimes sidelined even in the 21st century, so I really appreciate the mission of E4TT, and I look forward to watching it continue to grow for hopefully many, many years.

Nanette McGuinness  10:52

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Nanette McGuinness  10:56

[OUTRO MUSIC] Thank you for listening to For Good Measure, and a special thank you to our guest, Laura Reynolds, for joining us today. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our podcast by clicking on the subscribe button and support us by sharing it with your friends, posting about it on social media and leaving us a rating and a review. To learn more about E4TT, our concert season online and in the Bay Area, or to make a tax-deductible donation, please visit us at www.E4TT.org. This podcast is made possible by grants from the California Arts Council, the San Francisco Arts Commission, Grants for the Arts, and generous donors like you. For Good Measure is produced by Nanette McGuinness and Ensemble for These Times, and design by Brennan Stokes, with special thanks to Co-producer and Audio Engineer Stephanie M. Neumann. Remember to keep supporting equity in the arts and tune in next week "for good measure." [OUTRO MUSIC ENDS]