Effron conducts 'Falstaff' with finesse

Tap, tap, tap. David Effron clicks his baton against the podium. The flowing melody abruptly breaks off mid-swell and 65 musicians' heads turn expectantly upward.\nEffron's features are accentuated with mysterious shadows from the light on the stand below him. Raised on a platform above the players, his gestures toward the woodwind section seem almost foreboding.\n"Sing more," he says. "You have to sing the music. Play out a little more." \nCorrection taken, the players raise their instruments and repeat the section. This time, Effron's voice is heard above the music. \n"Good, good, very good!" he says. \nThough Giuseppe Verdi's "Falstaff" is the 107th opera in Effron's repertoire, he's still as expectant as though it were his first.\n"I may be corny, but as many concerts and operas as I have conducted, I still get excited about every project," he said.\nPerched high on the podium, Effron seemed intimidating at first. His resumé could cause any music-hopeful to go weak in the knees.\nBut though he is entitled to all the haughty narcissism of the most brilliant maestros, Effron is full of unassuming charm. His sincerity of character differentiates him from the diva-like personality traditionally assumed of those in his profession. It is this genuineness that attracts the crowd of students that flock around him as he traverses IU's campus.\n"He's just a genuinely loveable man," said Darko Butorac, his student of three years.\nShort in stature, with wiry gray hair and keen eyes, Effron, 65, was essentially born into his profession. His father was the concertmaster of the Cincinnati Symphony, and his mother was a professional pianist. By the age of five, he had already decided he wanted to become a conductor. \n"In my household there wasn't really anything you could do except become a musician, because it was so music-oriented," he said. "I happened to have some gifts, but even if I hadn't, I probably would have migrated to music, because that's what I knew."\nThough he studied violin with his father for six years beginning at age five, Effron's main instrument was and is the piano, which he began "rather late" — at the age of 12. After receiving his undergraduate and master's degrees in piano, the latter from IU's School of Music, Effron left for Germany to pursue conducting. His education at the Cologne Hochschule didn't last more than a month, however. The conductor at the Cologne's opera house fell sick one day, and Effron was asked to conduct at the recommendation of his teacher. \n"That was the end of my studies," Effron said.\nAfter two and a half years in Germany, Effron was recommended again, this time to conduct the New York City Opera. He returned to the United States and held the position for 18 years, simultaneously teaching at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. \nIt was between this stint and his next post, as head of the orchestra program at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, that Effron held what he calls "the hardest job I ever had." In the transitional months between jobs, Effron worked as a taxi driver in Washington, D.C. One would expect that a musical virtuoso such as himself would be uncomfortable about this questionable career turn. But Effron thwarts assumptions.\n"I never had great expectations, really," he said. "I was always glad to make a living, to be breathing -- simply to be here."\nFortunately, Effron's grit and strong work ethic allowed him to make a living pursuing his unadulterated passion -- music. \n"Music touches me," he said. "It's a part of my soul, and I can't live without it." \nHe communicates a similar zeal to students and audiences at IU's School of Music, where he returned as a faculty member after teaching for 21 years at the Eastman School. \n"We're real lucky to have him here," said Carl Lenthe, professor of trombone. Lenthe played trombone in the mid-70s under Effron's direction in one of the Curtis Institute's orchestras. The two joined IU's faculty the same year in 1998. \n"He is certainly in the highest degree of professional conductors, and is just a wonderfully natural guy," Lenthe said. "His positive energy is inspiring; it was back then, and it is now."\nThree years of studying with Effron has shown doctoral conducting student Darko Butorac the same. Not only does Effron have an "almost sick level of musical talent" to aspire to, but he cares for students "both on the field and off." For instance, Butorac once celebrated Thanksgiving with Effron and his wife.\n"He's a wonderful teacher and also a wonderful friend," Butorac said. \nThese days, Effron is most likely found in the orchestra pit, rehearsing what he calls "perhaps the greatest opera ever written." And in this, as in everything, Effron's grounded nature is evident. \n"He's very down-to-earth," said Butorac of Effron. "He doesn't approach music as being something 'above and beyond' — he approaches it in human terms. That's why his concerts are very special."\n-- Contact staff writer Sonja Kuhnau at skuhnau@indiana.edu.