Janalene Simpson is known to her friends in the Everett Symphony as Jan.
But her conductor, Paul-Elliott Cobbs, knows when to use “Janalene.”
“Before our trip to Vienna, we were practicing and I was having a problem with one section. Dr. Cobbs said, ‘Janalene,’” as a parent would use a child’s first, middle and last names, she said.
“He was calling me to attention, that I needed to work on it,” Simpson said.
The rebuke was light and good-natured and spoke to the respect that musician and conductor have shared over many years. Cobbs has led the Everett Symphony since 1984. And Simpson, 75, has played in the second violin section for the symphony since she joined as a high school student in 1948, having been a student of Gene Nastri starting at the age of 5.
But following tonight’s pops performance at Everett Civic Auditorium, Simpson will retire as an active member of the symphony. Following medical problems in recent years, the demands of rehearsal and performance now take too much out of her, Simpson said.
She isn’t ruling out an occasional performance with the symphony as she feels she is able. But she said the time is right for her to leave.
“It’s been quite a ride, and I’m gonna end on a high note,” she said.
It wasn’t news that Cobbs wanted to hear.
“I did protest because she was one of the first to welcome me to the symphony. It won’t be the Everett Symphony without Jan Simpson,” he said.
Along with her place in the orchestra, Simpson also has helped behind the scenes, Cobbs said, assisting with auditions for new members and also finding musicians to fill in for symphony members who are ill or out of town.
“Jan is instrumental. She’s helped us build a fine orchestra,” he said.
Simpson very nearly had to stop playing a couple of years ago. In the fall of 2005, she suffered a stroke.
“It affected my left side, the side I hold my violin with,” she said. Early on, even her doctor was not optimistic about her chances for recovery.
“He later told me, ‘I left the room and I cried because she’s never going to play again,’” she said.
But Simpson knew something her doctor didn’t: She had a date with the symphony to play at New York City’s Carnegie Hall.
“I was going to play in Carnegie Hall, and I wasn’t going to miss that,” she said.
Ned Carrick, her seat mate in the orchestra, shared that determination.
“After her stroke, I worked with her to return to her violin. It became part of her rehab. We’d run through exercises and played duets,” said Carrick, who himself has played with the symphony since 1956.
Like any good physical therapist, Carrick didn’t let Simpson off easy.
“I made her play the first violin parts, but she was a hard worker,” he said.
In just two months, Simpson was again playing, rehearsing Christmas music for a quartet that Carrick had organized. One of their performances was for the other stroke patients and medical staff in the hospital.
“The nurses were flabbergasted that in two months she could play what she did,” Carrick said.
The Carnegie Hall performance followed that summer, with performances of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” and William Grant Still’s “Afro-American Symphony.”
“It was a pretty emotional night. I was so excited to be there,” Simpson said.
Along with Carnegie Hall, Simpson counts trips to Vienna and Italy as high points of her 60 years with the symphony, but she can’t pick favorites among the hundreds of pieces of music she has played.
“Each one has something I liked. That’s why I’ve been able to play this long,” she said.
Herald Writer Jon Bauer: 425-339-3425 or bauer@heraldnet.com
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