The first in a series of articles featuring AZOOMA musicians. Revised 1/11/08.
"All married couples should learn the art of battle as they should learn the art of making love. Good battle is objective and honest--never vicious or cruel. Good battle is healthy and constructive, and brings to a marriage the principle of equal partnership."Ann Landers Says Truth Is Stranger..., 1968
Through collective bargaining, the Arizona Opera and the Arizona Opera Orchestra are currently negotiating a master contract that is the foundation for their working relationship. This agreement "trickles down" to individual contracts for each musician and it covers the finer details of wages, hours of work, working conditions and hiring/firing procedures, among many other things.
As implied in the quote above, contracts drawn through this collective bargaining process are similar to marriage agreements. Both have their "ups and downs," both are legal arrangements, and both are founded on good faith, promises and commitments.
Because of this, AZOOMA musicians have a vested interest in the Opera. This is reflected not only in our contracts and our history, but also in the actual makeup of our personnel.
The Tatmans
Principal oboist Neil Tatman is the Associate Professor of Oboe at the University of Arizona where he maintains an active studio of students and is actively performing with the Arizona Wind Quintet. During the past two seasons of the Music in the Mountains Festival (Nevada City, CA), he has performed oboe concertos by Albinoni, Bach, Handel, Marcello, and Vaughan-Williams with the Festival Solisti. In addition to his regular membership in the Arizona Music Festival and the Carmel Bach Festival, he frequently performs with the Reno Philarmonic Orchestra and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra.
His wife, violinist Mutsuko Ikenouchi Tatman, also engaged with the opera, freelances with various ensembles including the Arizona Music Festival Orchestra. She has been the string instruments teacher at St. Gregory College Preparatory School in Tucson since 2000. The couple occasionally performs chamber music together in the Agave Trio and the Arizona Music Festival.
Neil Tatman adds a personal aside:
"Mutsuko and I flew into Phoenix in May, 1999 (while we were still residing in Sacramento, CA, but knew that we would be moving to Tucson for my U of A teaching job that was scheduled to begin in August, 1999) to audition for our individual positions with the AZ Opera Orchestra. Mutsuko performed her audition on Friday night and was immediately awarded a section chair with the first violins. Believe me, "the pressure was on" for me to do well during my audition the following day. Fortunately for me, I won the principal oboe position, allowing Mutsuko and me to perform with the opera orchestra (and commute from Tucson) together!"
Marty and Melanie
The Tatmans aren't the only married couple in the Arizona Opera Orchestra. Principal bassoon Melanie Sanguinetti and principal trombone Martin Demos performed together in the Florida Symphony Orchestra before moving to Phoenix about 20 years ago. Currently, Melanie teaches music lessons, is an adjunct instructor at Mesa Community Colleges and freelances throughout the Valley. She applies her meticulous reed-making skills to design and sell custom jewelry.
Her husband Marty Demos is the Assistant District Counsel with the Maricopa Integrated Health System. Before joining the Florida Symphony, he was Principal Trombone of the Colorado Philharmonic and Second Trombone with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.
Marty and Melanie will be married for 25 years this coming May. They spend their summers together at the Bear Valley Music Festival.
The Benitez Clan
Before playing with the opera orchestra, co-principal trumpet James Benitez was a member of the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed as a principal trumpet with orchestras in Sweden and Mexico. He is a native Arizonan and maintains a large studio of private students.
James met his (future) wife while a student at Arizona State University. Priscilla Benitez - who plays in the second violin section in the Opera Orchestra - is an educator at Connolly Middle School in Tempe and is an active freelancer.
James and Priscilla are the proud parents of ten children .... that's right ... TEN!
Recently they have become grandparents.
Equal partnership
These married AZOOMA couples illustrate just one aspect of our interest in the future of Arizona Opera. (Our Outreach Committee is another good example.)
Without exception, all AZOOMA musicians feel like one big family. Thanks to our years of training, practice and experience, we are fortunate to not only have jobs, but jobs that we love to do. This love is what draws us together.
Yet, as the famed German philosopher Goethe once stated, "love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing." Contracts make our passion for music real and tangible as wage-earning jobs. They bind our passion into a bona-fide "marriage" and a viable way to make a living.
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