Karen Gahm is one of those doting aunts. But this time, that doting will pay off for the rest of us who want to hear mostly Mozart played really well.
Gahm’s nephew is David Sogg. He’s the co-principal bassoonist at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and, as Gahm described, a “wonderful musician.”
Gahm, of Snohomish, wanted a chance to show off her nephew to her friends. So she wrote the Everett Symphony and asked whether they would like Sogg to play as a guest musician.
As Gahm put it, the rest is history.
Sogg will be joining the Everett Symphony Chamber Orchestra tonight for a concert entitled “The Mozart Effect” at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Everett. Sogg will be the featured player for Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto.
The concert also features Mozart’s Symphony No. 25, the first movement of which has become well known as the score for the opening of the movie “Amadeus.”
Sogg, 49, is the son of Gahm’s sister. Sogg’s father is a fine pianist and that’s where Sogg began his musical career before switching to the bassoon.
“He’s my nephew and he’s a good guy and he does have an amazing gift,” Gahm said.
Jody Matthews, the symphony’s executive director, would agree.
“He’s nationally and actually internationally acclaimed and has attracted students from Bulgaria and Venezuela and so he’s got quite a following internationally,” Matthews said. “And he seems to (be) just a lovely man. So I’m excited to have him here.”
Gahm says it’s the way her nephew plays the bassoon that makes him special.
“It’s just beautiful and just gorgeous,” Gahm said. “The bassoon is just a mysterious instrument and he brings the mystery out of it.”
Gahm recalled that when her father died in 1998, there was quite a memorial in his honor. Her dad loved music and Sogg was there to play some of his favorites: The fight song from MIT, where her dad went to school, some classical stuff and a very moving version of “Taps,” to honor Gahm’s father’s time in the Army Reserves.
“And at the end there was that note of ‘Taps,’ and it was the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever heard in my life and we asked him how he could do it (and not cry) and he said: ‘I’m a professional, so I just shut my eyes and did my job,’” Gahm said. “That had to be hard for him. He just loved his grandfather and they were very close.”
On a brighter note, the family has a fun-filled weekend planned while Sogg is in town: dinners out, a party on Saturday and an open house at Gahm’s on Sunday.
“It’s his first Everett performance and hopefully not his last,” Gahm said.
According to his biography on the Pittsburgh Symphony Web site, Sogg joined the orchestra in 1989. Before that, he served as principal bassoon of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Omaha Symphony and Chamber Orchestra. He has appeared on numerous occasions with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Chamber performances: Members of the Cascade Symphony Orchestra will perform two chamber ensembles this month: Sunday and Feb. 16.
The program includes works by Doppler, Martinu, Piazzolla, Vaughan-McMorrow, Schubert, Britten and Beethoven.
Arts writer Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424 or goffredo@heraldnet.com.
David Sogg, co-principal bassoonist at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, performs tonight with the Everett Symphony Chamber Orchestra.
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