Tufts junior and music major Andrew Wolinsky has a childhood biography seemingly ripe for wannabe status in the world of classical music: private cello studies since age eight, Manhattan School of Music preparatory division at 14, paid youth orchestra conductor by 18.
For Wolinsky's peers, many of whom now study at conservatories across the country, this preparation is only the first of many steps to achieving the elusive fame and fortune that beckons from the classical music world. While many of these young hopefuls dream of futures in the New York Philharmonic, Wolinsky won't claim to have the prodigious talent required, but he continues to study, perform and teach music out of his matter-of-fact love for the art.
Continually sharpening his ever-present lens for musical exploration (his own high standards) Wolinsky now shares his discriminating intellect for classical music with high school students as the volunteer conductor of the Strings Honors Program at Somerville High School.
Last year, upon learning that the school's string program would be cut due to budget constraints, Wolinsky saw an opportunity to share his knowledge of the classical music tradition with students who would otherwise go without a music education. As the independent leader of the ensemble, Wolinsky is responsible for selecting the repertoire, running rehearsal and teaching students the stories behind the notes on the page.
"You're not just playing music, you're talking about it and learning about it," he says. When the ensemble played selections from Handel's "Messiah" last semester, Wolinsky led class discussions on topics ranging from the fugue form of the piece to the fact that Handel wrote his masterwork in a mere three weeks. "It gives them a context," Wolinsky says. "Give them a little egg and they nurture it."
While Wolinsky doesn't consider himself an ambassador for classical music in public education, he cites arts education as integral to students' intellectual development. "Learning how to read is probably more important than learning who Mozart is. But after a while, who are you going to read and write about?" Wolinsky says. "Art is probably the first source of inspiration. If you keep on cutting it out of people's lives, what are they going to reflect on?"
Wolinsky has plenty to reflect on, yet he doesn't plan on a professional career despite his promising start. For someone who professes to have decorated his room entirely with pictures of famous classical composers -"dead white men," he notes -Wolinsky is practical about the realities of trying to make it as a classical musician. He states, "Even when I was 15, I knew I wasn't going to be a professional musician. I know I can never be that good."
Despite his confidence in that adolescent realization, Wolinsky's start in music, by all appearances, would seem advantageous. At the age of 13, Wolinsky won his first competition, playing a Haydn trio for the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society's Young Musicians Competition. His trio went on to win that competition four more times, performing at Alice Tully Hall at New York's Lincoln Center.
By his last two years of high school - Wolinsky's self-described "peak" - he was practicing three hours a day, sitting principal cello for the top orchestra at the Manhattan School of Music preparatory division, and independently conducting the pit orchestra of his high school's musical production.
Yet even during his peak hours of practice and performance, Wolinsky maintains that he never harbored fantasies for a career as a classical musician. For many skilled young musicians who only begin to realize their potential in their late teenage years, the self-awareness required for making that career decision is untenable at best. How did Wolinsky know, at such a relatively young age, that he wouldn't - or "couldn't" - be a professional classical musician?
"Well, you know, talking to Sarah Chang," Wolinsky says, speaking of the renowned violinist. "I can't say what it is. It's the way they play things, the way they sound. It's just different, and at a higher level than I will be able to do."
"It doesn't mean that I can't love music," Wolinsky adds.
Wolinsky has chosen his own path. He may never achieve the sought-after fame and fortune of his peers, but his musical exploration continues under the direction of an acute and exceptional musical intellect.
