Longtime members of the Arcadia Players, Alice Robbins and Walter Denny as well as new Artistic Director, Andrew Arceci reminisce about the beginnings of their passion for music in this digital exclusive.
Watch our full interview with Andrew Arceci, Alice Robbins, and Walter Denny.
Read the full transcript:
Walter Denny, Arcadia Players: Well, I grew up in a household that was full of music because my mother was a professional musician, a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory in piano and voice, and I was introduced to music — And my father was fascinated with audio engineering. And so, we had one of the very first stereo Hi-Fi systems in the state of Iowa, when I grew up. And — and that — that’s where it all started.
When I went on to college, I became a singer at an early time, also played the flute, but I continued my my voice studies through most of my career until I stopped at the age of 65, which was 14 years ago.
But at any rate, the passion for music, as has always been sort of central to my existence. I’m a professional art historian, but for me, quite frankly, music is the — is the most emotional, the most…the most intense experience that I get from the arts.
Alice Robbins, Arcadia Players: I also had music in the household. My mother was a cellist. Of course, when I was little, I always wanted to do what she was doing.
But as I grew, I didn’t always want to do what she was doing. And I discovered…a beautiful instrument. When I was nine was when I first saw a viola da gamba…and it just caught my imagination.
I started — I got a chance to start playing when I was in college at Indiana University as a music student and I went on to Basel. And beyond that, I also went to summer programs, first in chamber music at Kenisel Hall. And it was there that I realized I really did want to do music because it was all small chamber music, and I just love playing music with other people.
Andrew Arceci, Arcadai Palyers: Like Walter and Alice, I mean, I grew up with the arts. I played piano when I was quite young, and then we moved and we couldn’t find a teacher.
The school district had a very strong strings program, and so I started playing bass. And when I was younger, I was doing both upright bass and electric bass. In fact, I was doing both classical and jazz bass for a long time, even into conservatory.
And then I became interested in the history of the double bass, which led to the Vallone, which naturally led to the Vila Gumbo. And those interests, combined with art history, of course, led to this idea of historical performance.
But I think, you know, I’m surrounded by — you know, I’m very lucky that I’m surrounded by, you know, art, music, and these interests have always been with me — anthropology, you know, et cetera. So, I’m very fortunate to work in a..in a world with, you know, these these passions.
