Kevin Cole Headlines With CHS Wind Symphony

By Wendy Hinman, Staff Writer, Carlsbad Magazine

Music has its own communion. Especially when it springs from our own culture, music resurrects memories and associations, such that Rhapsody in Blue conjures varied images for different people, but there is a collective allure. It was that power that drew many to hear Kevin Cole this past January. Though it was a fundraiser for two worthy causes, it was American music played by a master that opened the doors.

Kevin Cole has been called "America's Pianist." He is known as "the definitive" interpreter of Gershwin since Gershwin himself. Classically trained, his hands make our composers as exhilerating as anything Europe has offered. Not onoy does Cole play, he is a composer himself and a terrific tenor.

On Wednesday, January 11, Greg and Barbi Nelson, chief advocates for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad, hosted a fundraising reception in their home. There, Cole offered Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart, and Porter to eager listeners. But Friday was the zenith in Cole's Carlsbad sojourn. A large audience gathered early at Carlsbad Community Church to hear Cole. He shared the stage with the Carlsbad High School Wind Symphony, which is raising funds for an unprecedented April performance at the Kennedy Center. Carnegie Hall is an accomplishment, but a high school playing the Kennedy Center is rare indeed.

Cole did more than share the stage with the orchestra; he collaborated with them. "This was without a doubt one of the most exciting nights of music making I have had in a long time. The Carlsbad High School Wind Symphony knows how to turn on an audience. Each musician makes an investment into the music they play. The music flies off the page because it comes from the heart," Cole said.

It is easier to list the world-renowned symphonies Cole has not played with than who he has, but he has a special relationship with the musicians at CHS. Cole said, "One of the great attributes of the Carlsbad High School Wind Symphony is their amazing ability to take comments on performance style and apply them with immediate results. Of course, once you have witnessed a rehearsal session and not only see but feel the camaraderie and respect between musician and conductor, Ralph Ewell, you know why this group gets the results it does.

Ewell said of their time with Cole, "I found Kevin and his professionalism and modesty refreshing. We were inspired, and he had a comfortable manner with the students. He made us all feel as equals working toward a common goal. Very nice!"

Cole and the wind symphony served up a generous helping from the American songbook, but an extra indulgence was a song Cole wrote himself. Phil Hoyer, music pastor at Carlsbad Community Church, was in the audience and it was his birthday. Instead of singing that other song, Cole dedicated his own There Was A Boy to Hoyer.

Boys & Girls Club board member Dawn Hall Cauthen said, "Through the cultural arts, members of the community from varied socioeconomic, political and ethnic backgrounds come together and form a more cohesive and yet dynamic community." At the end of the electric evening with Cole, that goal had been achieved. Young and old lined up to get autographed CDs from a very approachable Cole. There was a community of music. And to describe Cole with an Ira Gershwin paraphrase, he's got what gets us, every time.

Kevin Cole with Carlsbad High School's Ralph Ewell.