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Chamber music group includes founder Amy Barlowe and concertmaster Alan Bodman
By Elaine Guregian
Beacon Journal arts and culture writer
Published on Thursday, May 15, 2008
The month was September. The setting was a Youngstown Symphony rehearsal, and Cupid was about to draw his bow.
Greg Fiocca just didn't know it yet.
Across the orchestra from the unknowing cellist sat a flutist named Diane. She was in her late 30s and, she remembers now, ''I was lonely. I had given up on meeting anyone.''
Till she spotted Greg.
Zing.
Diane asked her friend Janet, another flutist, ''Do you know who that cellist is?''
Turned out Janet and Greg were old friends. She asked him to join both flutists for dinner a few months later, when they had another rehearsal.
Greg kept the receipt from that fateful December dinner. Ah, romance. Greg and Diane were engaged by March.
Coming up on their 10th anniversary, they now play together as often as they can. One gig is the Akron Baroque's concert at 7:30 tonight at First Congregational Church in Akron, where the program includes music by J.S. Bach, Quantz, W.F. Bach and a new work by Amy Barlowe. Greg is principal cello of the group. Diane is a soloist tonight, along with flutist George Pope, in Wilhelm Friedemann Bach's Sinfonia in D minor, F. 65.
The Fioccas aren't the only couple playing in Akron Baroque, the chamber ensemble violinist Barlowe founded two years ago. Guess who associate concertmaster Barlowe sits next to? Her husband, concertmaster Alan Bodman.
They previously shared a stand at the Akron Symphony for 11 years. ''I told people that was the most fun I ever had, playing in orchestra,'' said Bodman, who remains concertmaster of the Akron Symphony. After Amy left the symphony about seven years ago, the two started thinking about how they could get back together.
Their love story started at Meadowmount, a summer music camp in New York where they were teaching. There wasn't much time for romance, but a mutual friend, Anne Epperson, ''pushed them along,'' Amy said. Doesn't sound like she had to try very hard; within three weeks, Alan and Amy were engaged. (Champagne, candlelight, poetry, flowers: perfection, Amy said.)
Not only was there mutual attraction, but there were also strange coincidences, they remember: How weird was it that the first five digits of Amy's Social Security number were on the parking sticker of Alan's yellow Toyota?
Nearly 20 years later, they're glad they listened to their intuition.
Cory Smith, a violinist, and Ann Smith, a violist, met while graduate students playing in the Akron Symphony, where they still perform. Their first date happened after the original Gospel Meets Symphony concert. They were both so energized that they wanted to share it with someone.
Now married 13 years, they both run teaching studios out of their home, among other jobs. Ann takes care of their three boys, who have their own ideas about practice time.
Agreeing on who will practice when isn't the issue for Cory and Ann. ''It's more like, who gets to have the 18-month-old in the room while you're practicing,'' Cory said. Their 4-year-old also likes to sit on Dad's lap while he practices.
Music-making was also a family affair at the Babich household. ''We had our instruments out all the time at home. We never put them away,'' said Julie (Babich) Carpenter, who plays violin and viola in the Akron Baroque. She has continued the tradition with her cello-playing sister Christina Babich Rosser and another violin-playing sister by opening their own studio, Camerata Musical Arts on Mull Avenue in West Akron.
''We played together all the time, so we prefer each other,'' Julie said. Christina agreed that there's a comfort level in knowing exactly how the other person will react in a musical situation.
Akron Baroque's conductor, Guy Bordo, and his wife, Debra Bordo — currently a graduate student in voice and the soprano soloist for tonight's concert — also have the security of having worked together since 1995, when she auditioned to solo with a group he directed in Wisconsin. Both were married to other people then. In 2005, after both had divorced, they married and moved to Akron, where Guy had taken a conducting job at the University of Akron.
Whenever possible, Deb is out in the audience at rehearsals, checking on how things sound.
''I bounce a lot of things off of her. It's good to have another pair of ears when you want to get an honest answer,'' Guy said.
''It's all business when we start working,'' he said. But here's guessing that when his wife is the soloist, there is plenty of love in the air.
Elaine Guregian can be reached at 330-996-3574 or eguregian@thebeaconjournal.com.
The month was September. The setting was a Youngstown Symphony rehearsal, and Cupid was about to draw his bow.
Greg Fiocca just didn't know it yet.
Across the orchestra from the unknowing cellist sat a flutist named Diane. She was in her late 30s and, she remembers now, ''I was lonely. I had given up on meeting anyone.''
Till she spotted Greg.
Zing.
Diane asked her friend Janet, another flutist, ''Do you know who that cellist is?''
Turned out Janet and Greg were old friends. She asked him to join both flutists for dinner a few months later, when they had another rehearsal.
Greg kept the receipt from that fateful December dinner. Ah, romance. Greg and Diane were engaged by March.
Coming up on their 10th anniversary, they now play together as often as they can. One gig is the Akron Baroque's concert at 7:30 tonight at First Congregational Church in Akron, where the program includes music by J.S. Bach, Quantz, W.F. Bach and a new work by Amy Barlowe. Greg is principal cello of the group. Diane is a soloist tonight, along with flutist George Pope, in Wilhelm Friedemann Bach's Sinfonia in D minor, F. 65.
The Fioccas aren't the only couple playing in Akron Baroque, the chamber ensemble violinist Barlowe founded two years ago. Guess who associate concertmaster Barlowe sits next to? Her husband, concertmaster Alan Bodman.
They previously shared a stand at the Akron Symphony for 11 years. ''I told people that was the most fun I ever had, playing in orchestra,'' said Bodman, who remains concertmaster of the Akron Symphony. After Amy left the symphony about seven years ago, the two started thinking about how they could get back together.
Their love story started at Meadowmount, a summer music camp in New York where they were teaching. There wasn't much time for romance, but a mutual friend, Anne Epperson, ''pushed them along,'' Amy said. Doesn't sound like she had to try very hard; within three weeks, Alan and Amy were engaged. (Champagne, candlelight, poetry, flowers: perfection, Amy said.)
Not only was there mutual attraction, but there were also strange coincidences, they remember: How weird was it that the first five digits of Amy's Social Security number were on the parking sticker of Alan's yellow Toyota?
Nearly 20 years later, they're glad they listened to their intuition.
Cory Smith, a violinist, and Ann Smith, a violist, met while graduate students playing in the Akron Symphony, where they still perform. Their first date happened after the original Gospel Meets Symphony concert. They were both so energized that they wanted to share it with someone.
Now married 13 years, they both run teaching studios out of their home, among other jobs. Ann takes care of their three boys, who have their own ideas about practice time.
Agreeing on who will practice when isn't the issue for Cory and Ann. ''It's more like, who gets to have the 18-month-old in the room while you're practicing,'' Cory said. Their 4-year-old also likes to sit on Dad's lap while he practices.
Music-making was also a family affair at the Babich household. ''We had our instruments out all the time at home. We never put them away,'' said Julie (Babich) Carpenter, who plays violin and viola in the Akron Baroque. She has continued the tradition with her cello-playing sister Christina Babich Rosser and another violin-playing sister by opening their own studio, Camerata Musical Arts on Mull Avenue in West Akron.
''We played together all the time, so we prefer each other,'' Julie said. Christina agreed that there's a comfort level in knowing exactly how the other person will react in a musical situation.
Akron Baroque's conductor, Guy Bordo, and his wife, Debra Bordo — currently a graduate student in voice and the soprano soloist for tonight's concert — also have the security of having worked together since 1995, when she auditioned to solo with a group he directed in Wisconsin. Both were married to other people then. In 2005, after both had divorced, they married and moved to Akron, where Guy had taken a conducting job at the University of Akron.
Whenever possible, Deb is out in the audience at rehearsals, checking on how things sound.
''I bounce a lot of things off of her. It's good to have another pair of ears when you want to get an honest answer,'' Guy said.
''It's all business when we start working,'' he said. But here's guessing that when his wife is the soloist, there is plenty of love in the air.
Elaine Guregian can be reached at 330-996-3574 or eguregian@thebeaconjournal.com.
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