By Bob Shullman
At the Retired Men’s Association of Greenwich’s meeting on Wednesday, April 6, Steve Boies spoke with Ransom Wilson via a recorded Zoom interview, as Ransom was in California because he had covid and could not travel to Greenwich in time for the interview. They engaged in a very interesting and informative discussion of Ransom’s musical background and his thinking about his potentially becoming the musical director and conductor of the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra. Ransom Wilson is our fifth in a series of five discussions about music and the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra by candidates for the position of conductor,
Mr. Wilson is a world-renowned flutist, chamber musician, music educator and conductor. He is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Juilliard School in New York City, where he met and studied with the world-famous flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal. Mr. Wilson then studied conducting with several well-known maestros. He has served as a professor of flute at the Yale School of Music since 1991. He is currently in his sixth season as music director of the Redlands Symphony in Redlands, California. While he is continually in transit from coast to coast and around the world, Mr. Wilson’s home base is in Palm Springs, California.
When asked about his musical background, Ransom responded that he started to play the flute while growing up in Alabama, when he was in either the third or fourth grade. He was totally captivated by the sounds that the flute could produce. As his capabilities with the flute grew, he went to school at the North Carolina School of the Arts for about three years. He then applied to and was accepted by Julliard School in New York where he met and was instructed by the world-famous flutist, Jean-Pierre Rampal. After Ransom finished his studies at Julliard, he spent a year studying the flute with Mr. Rampal in Nice and then in Paris as an Atlantique Scholar. One of Ransom’s fond memories of Jean-Pierre, who spent most of his time travelling around the world giving recitals, was his telling Ransom that he saw “fire” and “desire” in him and how he played the flute. Due to his feelings about Ransom’s talents, Rampal agreed to be guest artist at Wilson’s debut recital.
When Wilson concluded that he did not want to travel as much as Rampal, giving recitals, he began to focus on all of music and in particular the strings, which in turn led him to move on to becoming a conductor. He studied under Leonard Bernstein and other well-known maestros. Since 1973 he has recorded over 35 albums as flutist or conductor and has three times been nominated for a Grammy Award. He spent 10 years as the assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera working with James Levine, whom Wilson recalls as one of the best instructors he ever knew. Ransom is also the founder and conductor of Le Train Bleu in New York City, an ensemble of exciting young musicians who perform the work of contemporary classical music composers.
Ransom continues to serve as a professor of flute at the Yale School of Music while also being the Director of the Redlands Symphony in Redlands, California. Those interested in listening to the entire presentation should go to https://vimeo.com/user9053619/videos to view the full presentation.
The RMA’s next presentation will be on April 20 with David Richards, retired New York City lawyer and Kipling scholar and collector. His informative presentation title is: “Kipling’s Kim, The Great Game, and Real Spies”. It will be a Zoom Presentation as there will be no meeting at First Presbyterian Church that day. To stream this informative presentation at 11AM on Wednesday, April 20, click https://bit.ly/30IBj21 . This presentation will also be available on the local public access TV Channels, VerizonFIOS channel 24 and Optimum (Cablevision) channel 79.
RMA speaker presentations are presented as a community service at no cost to in-person or Zoom attendees. The RMA does request that all eligible individuals consider becoming a member of our great organization, and thereby enjoy all the available fellowship, volunteer and community service opportunities that the RMA offers to its members. For further information, visit www.greenwichrma.org or contact Michael Ambrosino (mailto:brooklynoil@yahoo.com) or Peter Stern (mailto:members@greenwichrma.org)
