Houston Symphony Magazine spoke with Christian Schubert, clarinet, in December 2010. This conversation is reprinted from the January 2011 issue.
Birthplace: Burbank, CA
Education: Northwestern University – BM and MM degrees in clarinet performance, including private study with Robert Marcellus and Larry Combs.
Joined the Houston Symphony: 1996
Discovering my vocation: I began studying clarinet in 5th grade band after studying piano for five years. The piano study only lasted two more years after I picked up the clarinet. Once I hit 7th grade and had begun studying with Kalman Bloch (who had recently retired from playing principal clarinet with the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 1938), I knew that I wanted to pursue playing the clarinet professionally.
All in the family: I’ve heard music often skips generations. My great-grandfather studied piano in Germany and moved to Chicago to start a successful music conservatory there. He was very influential in directing and planning all of the musical events for the 1893 World Columbian Exhibition in Chicago. His son (my grandfather) disliked music so much he ran away from home to California to avoid studying music with his father. My parents didn’t possess many musical talents, but both my sister and I attended music school in college.
Alternative reality: My strongest interests are anything related to food; I love finding and cooking with the best ingredients. My good friend Jim Vassallo (principal trumpet of Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet) and I just bought and split half a hog from a hog farmer in Beasley, TX. The quality and taste are outstanding, which is why most of that farmer’s clients are restaurant chefs here in town. My wife, Cynthia, and two daughters, Anna and Sarah, come home frequently to see me doing something interesting like rendering lard or brining a ham.
Favorite performance repertoire: I don’t think anything can beat the Mahler symphonic experience. The most memorable performances I’ve had here since 1996 would have to be those times we performed Mahler symphonies with Christoph Eschenbach both here and abroad.
Musical inspiration: Working with Christoph Eschenbach and this orchestra my first four years here has by far been the highlight of my career to date. Prior to that, other highlights have been a Wagner Ring Cycle with Zubin Mehta/Lyric Opera of Chicago and touring in Europe with the Schlesswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra performing, among other things, The Rite of Spring with Leonard Bernstein conducting.
Pastime and good company: Since 1987, I have owned and operated a small recording engineering company, Schubert Recording Services, specializing in the quality digital recording of classical music. My most recent major CD releases have been the Cantata Project with the Bach Society here in Houston and a release of spoken word tracks and jazz combo tracks titled The Gift by Chicago writer Jack Zimmerman and saxophonist/composer Andrew Zimmerman.
