Organist Cherry Rhodes

Saturday, October 14, 2006 

Verizon Hall 

Philadelphia, PA 

Cherry Rhodes: There was some erroneous information in my bio.

PCM: Did you debut at seventeen with the Philadelphia Orchestra?

CR: That’s right.

PCM: Did you grow up in Philly?

CR: No, I was born in New York. I spent some early years in Connecticut and Massachusetts. I studied piano when I was five at the Westport School of Music in Connecticut and when I was fourteen I was accepted into Curtis and that is when we moved to Philadelphia. I went to Curtis for four years. I had one year of public high school in Gloucester, Massachusetts. I was in the tutoring department Curtis and I went to summer school to get a BA in music at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania for two summers.

PCM: Do you remember where in Philadelphia you lived?

CR: 3** South 24^th Street. I use to walk to Curtis. It’s such a great area.

PCM: At such a young age what made you want piano lessons or did you not have a choice?

CR: Here’s the thing. My mom and older sister were taking lessons, when they finished practicing I would go over to the piano and want to imitate them. My mom taught me a little bit and then saw how interested I was so she tried to get me into the Westport School of Music. They said they would not take children under six. My mom taught me for a year and when I was five she took me back to Margaret Maxwell who ran the school and she heard me play and said , "Ok I’ll take her even though she is under age".

PCM: Where did the interest in the organ come from?

CR: When we had been living in Gloucester I heard a recital by Berj Zamkochian, who was the organist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. My parents said, "Do you want to play the organ?" I said, "Sure why not". It was a very casual thing. We went backstage and they talked to him about me taking lesson and he said, "She’s only eleven she’s to young, and she can’t even reach the pedals". Of course I was able to reach the pedals! They said, "Can’t you just hear her play?" He reluctantly told them to bring me in. I played the piano for him and when he heard me play he said, "I’ll take her".

It seems to be the story in my life, it’s very interesting. I studied with Dr. Alexander McCurdy when I was at Curtis. There was a man named Charles Allen Romero who was the organist at the Church of the Advent who also studied with Dr. McCurdy years before. A friend of Charles Allen Romero heard me in recital in Boston and told him of me. Mr. Romero He wanted to hear me play so my mom drove me to play for him and I did. Without saying anything he excused himself and I didn’t know why. He made a personal call to Dr. McCurdy. I was fourteen, I didn’t know what Curtis was. My mom didn’t know. The auditions were over but Dr. McCurdy said he will hear me and it will be like an audition for the official audition that would be the following month.. My mom drove me to Philly and I played for Dr. McCurdy and he said I can enter the official audition. We drove back to Philadelphia, I played and I got into Curtis.

PCM: What music did you listen to growing up?

CR: Believe it or not my father would have this friend come over with different LP’s. I heard Bartok, I heard Messiaen, Stravinsky of course Bach, Mozart all the old masters. I was also realizing in recent years that some of that Messiaen music they put on was written not far away from when I was listening to it.

My sister was really into the pop music of the time and had the radio going all the time. We loved The Beatles. Oh, we loved Elvis! One Christmas my sister and I tried to call him to wish him a Merry Christmas. It was so cool of our mom to let us try that even though she knew we would never get through.

Pete Serkin was one of my best friends at Curtis. He was eleven I was fifteen we had the best times. I’ll never forget the time he came over with the song I Want to Hold Your Hand. He had written it out with crescendo marks diminuendo marks. He sat and started to play it. He sang it, he let it rip. I still have that copy.

PCM: Did you feel different from other kids growing up?

CR: When I was in public elementary, junior high and that one year of high school people didn’t really understand why I went home and practiced for three hours. I did have a group of friends and I did spend nights with my girlfriends we did things together so I’m glad I had some of both. When I got to Curtis it was like I didn’t have to explain it anymore. I felt like I was home.