“It’s really special being back, and I’m going to be able to share with the students my path and how I managed things while I was here. It’s really nice,” said Richard Svoboda (B.M.E. 1978), who was on campus March 31-April 1 as part of the 2022 Alumni Masters Week.
Svoboda, who is the principal bassoonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, was one of eight alumni named to the 2022 class of Alumni Masters by the Nebraska Alumni Association and was honored April 1 at the Nebraska Medallion Dinner.
Since 1964, more than 400 alumni have participated in the Alumni Masters. Selection is competitive, and candidates are alumni who have shown great promise, success and leadership in their fields.
While at the Glenn Korff School of Music, Svoboda spoke to all music students during convocation, attended a UNL Symphony rehearsal and conducted a masterclass for bassoon students.
“The part of my job that involves working with young people has always appealed to me,” Svoboda said. “It’s just kind of the unselfish part of what I do. Playing in the orchestra to me seems selfish, in a way, because it’s so much fun and it’s what I’ve always wanted to do. But teaching is much more altruistic. It’s a way to share what I can and help people be what they can be.”
Glenn Korff School of Music Assistant Professor of Bassoon Nathan Koch said it was an honor to host him in the bassoon studio.
“We were honored and incredibly grateful to have Mr. Svoboda return to his alma mater to work with and speak to our students,” Koch said. “He brings with him such an immense wealth of expertise from being part of many of the top performing arts organizations in the country (Boston Symphony, Tanglewood, etc.), and I know the students really enjoyed working with him throughout his visit. This was an event that we’ll all be talking about fondly for years to come.”
At the Glenn Korff School of Music convocation, he told students that when he was at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, he practiced about three to four hours per day.
“I had these dreams that I wanted to see if I could do, first to be a college professor because that’s what I knew, and then later to play in an orchestra,” Svoboda said. “And I didn’t really see how I could possibly get there unless I worked as hard as I could. I didn’t know how much that would be, but I kind of settled on the three hour minimum my freshman year just by looking around to see what the outstanding students were doing. And it worked.”
One of his memories of his time at the university was when the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra came to Lincoln during his freshman year.
“That was an eye-opening experience,” Svoboda said. “I had no idea you do that for a living. Also, I was living in Cather Hall, and when the Principal Winds came, they gave a woodwind quintet concert in the lobby of Cather Hall. So just everything about [my UNL experience] was what I needed.”
While at UNL, Svoboda studied with Professor Emeritus Gary Echols.
“He was very sort of low key and nonchalant and laid back,” Svoboda said. “I remember once early freshman year, I was not really practicing enough my etudes. I was concentrated on the sonatas and concertos, and he told me the etudes are what are going to make you good, so that’s all I needed to hear. He never steered me wrong. He just sent me in the right direction.”
Svoboda took advantage of every opportunity he had in the School of Music.
“If there was an orchestra coming to town, I reached out and tried to get a lesson,” he said.
Svoboda has been principal bassoonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1989. He is also currently on the faculties of the New England Conservatory, the Tanglewood Music Center and the Sarasota Music Festival and has given masterclasses throughout the world. Prior to his appointment to the Boston Symphony, he performed for 10 seasons as principal bassoonist of the Jacksonville (Florida) Symphony.
Svoboda said the experience of playing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra is hard to describe.
“It’s the Shangri-La, nirvana, whatever you want to call it,” he said. “Especially in the last decade or so it seems like individually in the orchestra, there’s a very high-level work concept. Everyone comes prepared, and everyone is an amazing musician. There’s a tradition, almost a European tradition, of flexibility and nuance and music-making that I just find really rewarding. It’s fabulous.”
He still gets excited every time he walks out on stage to perform.
“I still get nervous,” he said. “I’m very comfortable on stage because I spent so many hours there, but it’s still a thrill.”
Svoboda began playing the bassoon in 8th grade after starting on clarinet. He started in Valentine, Nebraska, before moving to Lexington.
“I was just following the advice of my sister, who played French horn,” he said. “She understood the advantage of playing something that not everybody played. I played the clarinet, but I didn’t have any major love for the clarinet. I wasn’t drawn to the bassoon, but I thought it was kind of cool to play something that was known to be hard to learn and a bit of a challenge.”
He now likes the flexibility of the bassoon.
“I love the flexibility and its ability to be soulful and expressive,” he said. “It’s deservedly called the clown of the orchestra because of some of the parts that have been written for it. It’s very versatile. I really like occasionally that the first bassoon jumps right in on the bass one or as a supporting voice. All that stuff is fun for me.”
His advice to music students that are interested in playing in orchestras is to work as hard as they can.
“You’re in a university so you have all kinds of things pulling at you,” he said. “But just prioritize your instrument. Make sure you’re getting the time and focus on your instrument. Treasure your hour a week with your teacher, and listen. Your ears are the thing that will help you succeed. Go to recitals and if the recital is amazing, analyze why. What did this player do that made it special? Your teachers are there to help you, but you also have to help yourself.”
Svoboda says he feels very lucky to have the career he has had.
“I worked as hard as I could, but I will acknowledge that I didn’t know if it would be enough,” he said. “I would have loved being a band director. I think I would have been super happy and that would have been a rewarding experience. But I feel really lucky that the combination of things that I did somehow enabled me to be good enough to follow the path that I did. I feel lucky, but also grateful the good work I did led me here.”
He appreciates the Masters Week honor.
“It’s really fun to be back,” Svoboda said. “I really enjoy that kind of thing, and I’m really appreciative of what the school was able to do for me. I loved my time here.”