Neil Spaulding
Q: When did you start playing?
A: In 1969 in grade 4 at Blythwood Public School in Toronto
Q: What made you choose your instrument?
A: Well, I originally wanted to play the trumpet because I found it moving when they played “The Last Post” on Remembrance Day. However, they already had enough trumpet players so they gave me a horn and I’ve been a happy man ever since!
Q: What is your most memorable HPO experience?
A: That’s really hard to say there have been so many since I started playing with the orchestra in 1992. The Masterworks concerts we have done with Jamie Sommerville have been fantastically memorable because of his unbelievable musicianship and passion. Playing in the schools with the HPO Brass Quintet for thousands of school kids has been very rewarding too. However, my most memorable HPO experience has to be the recent “What Next” contemporary music festival. I have never felt so much excitement from both the players and the audience. It really was a unique experience!
Q: What kind of things do you like to do when you’re not playing?
A: When I’m not playing I love to read, do long distance running and hang out with friends. I love traveling and hiking too.
Q: Who is your favourite composer to play or listen to?
A: That’s a tough one!! If I had to choose I would say that I like to play Brahms or Mahler the best. Beethoven and Brahms would be my favourites for listening but I’m also a total jazz fanatic and have also been known, for better or worse, to be utterly obsessed with the music of Brian Wilson.
Q: Favourite book? Movie?
A: Books, hmmm… so many; I really love “Atonement” by Ian McEwan and anything by Joseph Boyden, Kurt Vonnegut, Carl Sagan or Alice Munro. Movies, hmmm…Citizen Kane, Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz.
Q: Do you have a secret indulgence?
A: It would have to be aircraft and flying. In another life I must have been a pilot…
Q: Who was your hero when you were 10? Who is your hero now?
A: My hero was Jacques Plante, who, at that time, was playing goal for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now if I was going to pick a hero it might someone like Rosa Parks or Nelson Mandela or anyone who has humane values and, in their daily lives, stands by them.
