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Kaitlin
Wolfberg - Rising Star |
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Kaitlin Wolfberg may not yet be a household name, but the people in the
Los Angeles music community know who she is and she is highly respected.
She appeared on stage playing violin with H.E.R at the 2019 Grammy
Awards. It is Wolfberg’s versatility and her ability to shine that have
seen her garner praise for her playing (violin and viola), as a
conductor, arranger and composer. Oh and did we happen to mention
recently she donned the producer’s hat and she also sings. Could there
be drums or an electric guitar in her future? We do not know, but
Kaitlin Wolfberg did have this to say about her appearance on the Grammy
Awards stage.
“Working with H.E.R. and her team on her Grammy Performance was a real
treat. Everyone wanted to make the performance perfect and we were all
on the same page. So much positive energy swirling around that
performance, it was a very special, inspiring and memorable moment for
me that I will treasure forever. Also, being on that stage, in front of
The Academy and so many legends was certainly a humbling experience.”
Perfect is not a word that you hear
very often when Kaitlin Wolfberg describes one of her musical endeavors,
as she continually seems to be pushing herself to achieve a higher
level.
One of the music collaborations that has been another factor in Kaitlin
Wolfberg’s star rising in recent years is the work that she has done
with the Wild Honey Orchestra a collective of very gifted musicians in
the Los Angeles area. In fact, Wolfberg says that she is really proud of
being a part of the 2018 Wild Honey Orchestra’s tribute to the music of
Buffalo Springfield.
“We did it as a team and I really pushed myself. I decided to conduct it
and I got some pushback from other people. I stood my ground and it came
out about where I wanted it to be and how I had envisioned it. That was
a really cool experience for me,” she says.
She continues, “The Wild Honey Orchestra is a collective of musicians
who are like minded and handpicked musicians who have played with
everybody. They love The Beach Boys and that was the original concept.
We did the music of Big Star and the first two shows that I did with
them we did The Beatles. We did
Abbey Road and Revolver,
which I am still proud of, but I know I could have been better (There’s
that always pushing herself to a higher level again). After that we did
The White Album, which went
great. We did certain years of The Beach Boys, the latter years. They do
these cool shows with people like The Bangles’ Debbi and Vicki Peterson
and the Cowsills. I got to see Laurence Juber (In
addition to his solo career, Laurence Juber is also noted for being an
original member of the band Wings.) perform and now I have performed
with him a couple of times. Last year we did the music of Jack Nitzsche,
which was really interesting. He was the composer on the Buffalo
Springfield records. He did the string arrangements and he did some
movie film scores (Editor’s Note:
Jack Nitzche was nominated for an Academy Award for his original score
for the film Officer and a Gentleman and he received a Grammy Award
nomination for his musical contributions to the movie One Flew Over the
Cuckoo’s Nest.)”
As for her approach to conducting, Kaitlin Wolfberg says, “It is a lot
more responsibility, but you also have a lot more control. I feel like
the pressure is on for me to know what is going on and to lead
everybody. It feels good, but sometimes I get jealous and wish that I
was playing the part (she laughs).
(I will think) oh I love that juicy string line and I wish I was playing
it right now. I am in charge and I am going to make sure that they do it
right (she laughs again). It
was fun and it was really a highlight of my life. I couldn’t believe
that I did it. Am I really going to do this? Yes, wow I am going to do
this (she giggles).”
“I learn from everyone. One of the reasons I wanted to play with Calico
(now disbanded) was, so I could really hone in on my vocal stuff. That
was super good for me working with those ladies and getting it tight.
From the beginning I said, we’re going to have to rehearse every day for
a week, if I’m really going to get this right. They were like okay and I
was okay. They were onboard with me. It was really cool to do that,” she
says, before turning her attention to another artist, “One of the women
that I have learned the most from is Ruthann Friedman who wrote the song
“Windy,” (Recorded by the
Association and a # 1 hit in America in 1967) and that is one of the
songs from my childhood, so when I met her I was oh my goodness and then
I got to play with her and we really developed the mind meld technique,
as I call it. I learned how important spontaniety is in music,” she
says.
Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, Wolfberg says, “I came from a lot of
visual artists. My grandmother was a visual artist. She was a painter
and a sculptor. She still takes lessons as a portrait artist. My
grandmother started taking me to the orchestra when I was a baby. She
took me to the art museum and to art class. She was the biggest cultural
influence. My grandmother gave me art. I definitely love the visual
arts. I have never been great at it, but I am a big appreciator of it.
When I was really young I sang in the choir at my temple. My first real
instrument was the violin when I was nine and in the fifth grade. I
wanted to play the violin since I was really little. My mom said no, but
she said if you still want to (when you get older) you can take it in
school. The minute it was offered in public school I was there. I was I
love this and I want to do this forever. That is how I started.
I think (school programs) are extremely important. I would never have
been able to start with the violin if it had not been for public school
and the music program. Even in elementary school we had an amazing music
teacher, Mrs. Tuttle, with whom I am still friends. She taught us a
specific method of music. It involved a lot of clapping and a lot of
rhythmic oriented musical endeavors. I think that is a really neat way
to learn.
When I started
playing the violin I immediately wanted to do this all of the time. I
took it home and I did a lot of practicing. They gave me a book to take
home. I breezed through the book way faster than anybody else. Then my
mom said it is time to get you a private teacher. She found a teacher
for me. My mom is not a musician and she didn’t know. She found a
student of one of the violin teachers from the Cleveland Institute of
Music, Linda Cerone. I had a direct student of Linda Cerone. He helped
me to progress further. (Editor’s
note: The highly revered Linda Cerone made her debut as a violinist when
she was eight years old and performed with the Dayton Philharmonic. She
toured extensively for the next fourteen years, before shifting her
focus to teaching.) In middle school I was in the orchestra and I was the principal violinist for two years. Cleveland has a really good Classical world, so once I got to high school I was no longer the first violinist. We had a lot of competition, which was good for me. If I had gone to a smaller school, I probably would have been first, but I am grateful that I wasn’t.
When I was in high school I wanted to play out and I joined a Jazz band,
but I couldn’t figure out how to amplify myself live, so it sounded
terrible and I only did it a couple of times.
I was in the Contemporary Youth Orchestra, which is an amazing
orchestra. When I was a part of them they only did music of the
twentieth century. We played a lot of cool contemporary Classical stuff,
like Joan Tower. Having a woman composer was pretty rare. She came to
our concert and it was pretty neat to meet her. We did music by The
Doors. We did The Doors Concerto
at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That blew my mom away. Mark Wood came
and played with us once. We ran the gamut from Bernstein and
West Side Story and all of
the way to Led Zeppelin. That was a cool experience. The lady who heads
up the orchestra is Liza Grossman.
I wanted to go to Berklee since I was a sophomore in high school. I had
my sights on it. I majored in Professional Music. I know that (sounds
like) a weird major. I
wanted to be a violin player. I didn’t want to be a performance major,
because I was scared.”
We first met Kaitlin Wolfberg when she was embarked on a North American
tour, as part of the band Calico and we found her to be very personable.
Watching her perform on stage we were struck by how emotive she is as a
violinist, so during our recent conversation we decided to ask her about
that.
“Well, I like to say it is from my roots. I am Jewish on both sides of
my family. I feel like the Jewish suffering of my ancestors comes
through my instrument. I try to play like I am singing. It is my voice
and it took me a long time to develop that voice and to accept it,” she
says.
Our conversation shifts to the renaissance of string sections during the
past ten to fifteen years, “I feel that strings have always been there
and that they are always changing and evolving with the music. In the
nineties Nirvana had a cello player. Lori Goldston was playing cello on
the unplugged series. Oasis had strings. I think in the last ten to
fifteen years strings have changed. A lot more dissonance and
contemporary Classical techniques are being used in our Pop and Rock
genres. It has been a really interesting shift,” says Wolfberg.
Considering her immense talent and her vast musical palette we could not
resist asking Kaitlin Wolfberg one final question, would you like to get
into creating film scores someday? “I play on other people’s film scores, but I haven’t done one of my own. Now that I have a good studio happening in my house, I think it is a possibility. I would have to actively seek it out unless someone said I really want you to do my movie,” she replied
We think somebody should ask her to score their movie.
Top photo by
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