John F. Russell

Orchestra Member

Instrument

Timpani

Year Joined

1981

Most memorable performance with the ESO

The highly professional sound of Ravel’s Tombeau de Couperin

Favorite ESO soloist

Bella Hristova

Why I like playing with the ESO

Orchestral playing is one of the few experiences you can have where the resulting whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Favorite composer or piece

J.S. Bach. No other composer engages both the emotions and the intellect so completely.

When I’m not playing with the ESO, I’m…

Playing the recorder, piano, violin or mandolin. Performing on various instruments, even badly, is an enlightening experience. Otherwise I am the Special Collections cataloger for the Northwestern University Main Library.

Something most people don’t know about me

Compiler and editor of The Complete Musical Compositions and Arrangements of Robert Louis Stevenson, and author of the companion website The Music of Robert Louis Stevenson, https://sites.google.com/a/music-of-robert-louis-stevenson.org/introduct....