Earlier this season our Assistant Principal Oboist and English Hornist, Carole Libelo, noticed an audience member in the front row that was obviously one of our biggest fans. Carole observed that he was always clapping not only for the singers and dancers, but also very enthusiastically for the orchestra. She approached him during a show and found that Brian Marlsberger is indeed a big fan of ours! Recently she interviewed him about his life, career and passion for the arts.
Carole: Would you like to tell us a little about yourself, e.g. where you’re from; how long you’ve lived in the area; a little about your career. (It seems multi-faceted!)
Brian: I was raised in Pennsylvania and came to Washington to
attend law school at George Washington University, and I’ve lived here since
then. I work for Bloomberg
BNA. I research and write four
substantial law books on competitive employment, published for Bloomberg BNA in
conjunction with the American bar Association, every year; it is fascinating work,
but it is also rather demanding work and keeps me quite busy. I was
inducted as one of only four honorary fellows of the College of Labor and
Employment Lawyers this year (I was the only one not a judge!), but my
publication schedules kept me so close to home that the College very kindly
offered to have me inducted in absentia.
Carole: What is your artistic background, i.e.
did you grow up playing an instrument, dancing, etc?
Brian: My mother sang around the house all
day long, mostly show tunes, my father played the clarinet for pleasure, and my
brother played piano, but I was asked, not very kindly, by my junior high band
conductor to SIT OUT an entire year's worth of classes: I never could
bang the cymbals quite on time in The Star Spangled Banner!
Carole: How long have you been coming to the
Opera House? How often do you come?
Brian: While in law school I interned for a
senator and met people in his office who were interested in the opera and the
symphony. I've been coming to the Kennedy Center since then, with
increasing frequency as the years have gone by, and I am sometimes there twice
a day!
Carole: What Opera House productions have been
the highlights for you?
Brian: I delighted to see Madame Butterfly at
the Kennedy Center many years ago and now, under the direction of law school
classmate Leslie Swackhammer, it is coming back this season, with Leslie's very
personal stamp, and I'm so excited I've got tickets for three separate
performances!
Carole: You’re obviously passionate about the
arts. How did you develop your love for opera and ballet?
Brian: It has been a great delight --
and often quite cathartic -- to come so often. Being able to zip over to
the Kennedy Center and listen to some very stirring music provides a great
delight - a great respite from the work I do, and I am very grateful to the
musicians of the House Orchestra for the skill and the passion they bring to
the pit -- and for the stirring, swelling sounds they produce there! The story about the patron speaking in
Danish is hilarious, but it very memorably underscores one of the many
misconceptions about the House orchestra.
