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Classical music is a transformative experience, and I'm honored to be a small part of making that transformation happen for our listeners.
- James David Jacobs, WCRB FM radio
Background: I was born in New York, and moved to California when I was five. My older brother played the bassoon and the recorder. He taught me how to play recorder and when I was 11 the two of us would earn money by going out and playing recorder duets on the street -- we did well playing arrangements of Mozart's horn duets. I started cello in public school and ended up moving in with my cello teacher, Millie Rosner, when I was 13. While living with her I met lots of great cellists and learned most of what I know. I was a working musician through my 20s and early 30s, playing in orchestras, chamber groups, rock and Klezmer bands, Shakespeare festivals, and lots and lots and lots of weddings. I moved back to New York in 1993, composed and played music for theater, film and dance, and it was in 1999 that I got both my first steady teaching job (at the Brooklyn Conservatory) and my first radio job (at WNYE).
Nickname(s): I'm pretty much James. I was Jimmy as a child. I was once in a band where I was known as Kenmore, but that's a long story.
First album I ever owned: I think it was Karl Leister playing the Mozart Clarinet Concerto on DG.
Five desert island albums: Pablo Casals playing the Bach Cello Suites, Carlo Maria Giulini conducting Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Yale Quartet playing Beethoven's String Quartet in A minor op. 132, Pierre Boulez conducting Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Tallis Scholars singing Josquin's L'homme Arme masses...and can I sneak in the complete Robert Johnson delta blues recordings? .
Favorite podcast: Um...not there yet. I still listen to actual broadcast radio, static and all.
Greatest place to see live music: If you want to hear an orchestra, you can't beat Symphony Hall, and I say this as someone who used to live in Carnegie Hall (it's a long story.)
Most memorable concert: Seeing the Juilliard String Quartet perform the Beethoven C sharp minor quartet when I was 11 was a formative experience.
Favorite movie about music/musician: Does Bergman's film version of Mozart's Magic Flute count? Tamino and Papageno are musicians...
Favorite book about music/musician: Don't get me started. Pablo Casals' Joys and Sorrows. John Cage's Silence. Maynard Solomon's Beethoven. Bernstein's Unanswered Question. Alfred Einstein's Mozart. Woody Guthrie's Bound for Glory.
When not listening to classical music, I listen to Alan Lomax's field recordings. John Coltrane. Tibetan monks. I enjoy listening to pretty much any student who's studying any kind of music.
Finest moment on the air: When I'm not having my most embarrassing moment on the air, I'm happy.
Most embarrassing moment on the air: It's a long story.
If I weren’t a radio host I’d be a cello teacher, or conducting a youth orchestra.
The best part of my job is when I've heard that the music I've presented has transformed someone's day.
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Sunday, February 09, 2014
James David Jacobs
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3 comments:
I guess it's been a while since I googled myself (I was looking for information on an album I played on twenty years ago) and I discovered that you put my WGBH bio on your blog. I am very touched by this even if seemingly no one else cared. Thank you and now I will read the far more interesting stuff you have posted. (And by the way, I have since moved to the DC area and am now working for WETA.)
love, James
I just found you here!
"James Jacobs can be heard Tuesday through Friday evenings on Classical WETA; he is also one of the announcers for their online channel VivalLaVoce and does audio production of both on air and online content for the station. He has worked as a radio host and producer since 1999, when the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, where he had just joined the faculty as a cello teacher and choral director, was approached by WNYE with a proposal to co-produce an educational radio show about music. This led to his hosting their station’s morning show, which then led to his being the overnight host on WNYC, which in turn led to his being a full-time host and producer for WGBH in Boston, and then finally here to WETA."
James has had a long career as a musician in many genres; he has been conducted by Gustav Leonhardt and Mstislav Rostropovich, written scores for documentaries produced by HBO and PBS, and has appeared on Prairie Home Companion, Saturday Night Live and BBC Radio Four’s Soul Music. He has produced holiday radio specials that have been heard throughout the country on Public Radio International (including Passover and Hanukkah specials featuring Itzhak Perlman), and his writing has appeared in The Washington Post and Moment Magazine. He continues to teach and compose, and his recent projects include designing the sound for a dance piece performed at Jadavpur University in Kolkata, India, and conducting his own English-language adaptation and chamber arrangement of Mozart’s Così fan tutte for Act Too Studio, a opera program for teenagers in Western Massachusetts.
Thanks so much Emily! (or is it Ms. Mermaid?)
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