This story was originally published by ArtsATL.
The world of classical music has fostered a substantial number of committed romantic couples throughout history. One immediately thinks of famous pairs like Gustav and Alma Mahler, Robert and Clara Schumann or Benjamin Britten and his lifelong muse and companion, Peter Pears. And patrons of Atlanta Symphony Orchestra who peruse their program before concerts may have spotted the names of Acting Principal Trumpet Michael Tiscione and Principal Oboe Elizabeth Koch Tiscione.
The two met when Liz jumped in as a substitute with the orchestra before formally joining the ASO in the 2007-2008 season.
Originally from Monroe, New York, Mike joined the ASO in 2002. He has played with leading orchestras across the United States, including the Chicago Symphony, the New York Philharmonic and the ensembles of Philadelphia, Toronto and many others.
Liz hails from Hamburg, New York. She has guested with the orchestras of Philadelphia, St. Louis, Baltimore, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and beyond. Fans of NPR might have also spotted her featured appearance on “From the Top.”
Credit: Courtesy of the Tisciones
Credit: Courtesy of the Tisciones
The Tisciones reside in Atlanta with their son, Elio. Anyone who imagines that symphony players are hothouse flowers will be surprised if they drop in on this family — these are crazy-busy people with real-world responsibilities. Errands must be run, the baby needs to be fed and the babysitter needs to be picked up. Suffice it to say that downtime is only a word inside the dictionary at the Tiscione household. “It’s not as sparkly as people think,” Mike said.
The Tisciones snatched a moment to speak with ArtsATL about their active lives.
Q: What were your first impressions of one another?
Mike: At that time, I was the youngest member of the ASO. So it was nice to see another young person who was beautiful and sounded so beautiful on her instrument. It was the combination of those things, for sure.
Liz: This is awful, but I don’t remember meeting Mike! It was my first time playing in a major orchestra. I was playing pieces I had never played before, and I met 100 people that day. But then he made an impression on me because I told my friend from back in college that there was a really cute guy who plays the trumpet in the orchestra.
Mike: I knew she was from around Buffalo, and I told her a joke: There’s a sentence of eight words that goes, “Buffalo, buffalo, Buffalo…” eight times. It’s actually a legitimate sentence in the English language. I don’t remember where I heard that, but apparently it was a great pickup line.
Q: Is there a particular satisfaction in playing music together?
Liz: Oh, absolutely. To just go through the same experiences with the beauty of the music is wonderful, but now we are both sitting in principal positions, so we have solos. To hear Mike really succeed at something is super satisfying because I would have heard it at home for weeks, and I know the struggle of playing that trumpet. Hearing his success is satisfying and cool. It’s something to celebrate when we get home.
Mike: Yes. Before I started playing principal, I was in a section role. It was inspiring for me to hear Liz, and it would push me to do better. Now that I’m doing solos, we sometimes get to play certain parts together, and that pushes me to be more creative and more expressive. Listening to her play makes me want to be better. When I hear Liz play something, it just sounds right. It sounds perfect, and once you hear her play something, you don’t want to hear it any differently. When I play now, I strive to have my listener feel about me the way she makes me feel.
Credit: Courtesy of the Tisciones
Credit: Courtesy of the Tisciones
Q: How does it work to negotiate things like child care when you both have the same schedule?
Mike: Honestly, we are still figuring that out.
Liz: It’s difficult. We have an au pair now that we can totally trust Elio with, and that is wonderful because when we go to work, we can concentrate on making music. But it’s challenging as a musician because I used to practice when inspiration struck or when I was feeling my most mentally alert. Now I don’t have that option. Managing time and responsibilities at home is definitely a new challenge that we are trying to figure out as a couple.
Q: So how do you reboot and keep things fresh?
Mike: We love to travel. Sometimes it’s for work, and it has become more difficult with Elio, but he’s turning out to be a good travel partner. We have taken him out West with us and to Italy. It can be a great way to unplug a little bit from the grind of practicing and playing concerts — though I always bring my trumpet. It goes where I go.
Liz: I love to cook. It can get hard sometimes with this parallel life we have because you can get stuck talking about work all the time at home or worrying about practicing. So I always try to make our dinnertime a nice moment for us. We sit at the table as a family and try not to talk about work.
Q: How does it feel to play for one of the best orchestras in the country?
Liz: Sometimes I still can’t believe that I do this for a living! I can’t believe I am so lucky to be playing in such a great orchestra with such great colleagues and to play music at such a high level. It’s been an incredible experience. We have gone through some tough times, but, now, things are great. It’s an exciting time now, with an exciting new music director, which has been really fun.
Credit: Courtesy of the Tisciones
Credit: Courtesy of the Tisciones
Q: And what is it like to work with music director Nathalie Stutzmann?
Mike: Incredible. Nathalie is incredibly demanding. You can’t be complacent or rest on how you’ve always played things. She encourages a sense of creativity and demands super high quality. It isn’t easy, but I find the process with her really rewarding. Every phrase must have meaning; it has to go somewhere. She is a fabulous musician.
Liz: She sings phrases for us. It’s wonderful to have a conductor sing exactly what they want. It can be difficult with some conductors; they will use metaphors or something to verbally describe what they need from a phrase. But she actually sings it, and it’s amazing. She speaks about creating characters with our sound. She has incredible imagination and can create a new sound world in a symphony you might have played 100 times. It’s really cool.
Q: Why is your work important?
Liz: As human beings we need to protect and preserve beauty. I think that is what we are trying to do here.
Q: Tell us something about yourselves that people might not know.
Liz: I want people to know that I am not just a musician. I am a mom and a person.
Mike: Often, when you think of a symphony, you think of a polished group of people who are wearing tails. What we do is a performance, and we try to perform at the highest level. But behind that we are real people who live normal lives. We have joy for what we do, but it is also a job. There are unglamorous parts to it. But we are lucky. I don’t think either of us would want to be doing anything else.
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Mark Thomas Ketterson is a Chicago-based arts critic and writer. He was the longtime Chicago correspondent for Opera News and has also written for Playbill, the Chicago Tribune and other publications.
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
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