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m u s i c Variation on a Classical Theme D'Andrea by Ben Everton was N licola k 13 years old when her father took her to the Orphcum for a Benny Goodman concert. Listening to the jazz clarinetist was nothing new lo her: jazz was the music of choice in her North Shore home. Bui at that concert. Goodman's rendition of "Send in the Clowns" left the young Everton spellbound. "Goodman played solo, just sitting on a stool, in a spotlight." Everton recalls, raising her hands in the air to convey the magic of Goodman's clarinet. A n d she remembers thinking to herself. "Wow! This is really a neat instrument." Currently in her seventh season playing clarinet for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra ( V S O ) . the 31year-old Everton first performed with an ensemble about 20 years ago, as a member of the North Vancouver Youth Band. "The band conductor at the time. Arthur Smith, really inspired me." Everton says. "I started practising quite hard for a kid who was 10 or 11 years old." It wasn't until Everton was in high school, however, that she had to prove her commitment to music by giving up one of her other interests. She was a member of the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra and also of Sutherland Secondary's track-andfield team. One hectic year, she had tryouts for the B . C . Summer Games that conflicted with a Youth Orchestra dress rehearsal. "It was a big panic trying to go from one to the other," Everton says. The orchestra's conductor urged her to choose between music and athletics. Not surprisingly, she decided to quit running. Everton went on to study at the Vancouver Academy of Music, and in addition to playing with the Youth Orchestra, joined her high school band. Everton's life obviously centred around playing the clarinet, and after high school, her dedication paid off with a full music scholarship at Nicola Everton, VSO clarinet player, demonstrates her talents as a rock climber at the The Edge Climbing Centre in North Vancouver. Photo: Heather Ramsay. Arizona State University. A year later, she was accepted into the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, also on full scholarship. Everton's four years at Curtis were momentous ones. "It was really, really important to me to work with musicians from all over the world, really fine musicians," she says. One of those musicians was Riccardo Muti, who, as principal conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, also worked with the orchestra of the Curtis Institute. Asked what it was like to play under Muti's baton, Everton says, "It was incredible. He didn't have to say much, but his presence was so powerful, and he seemed to be able to say everything he wanted musically through his eyes and his arms." In 1988. Everton graduated from the Curtis Institute with a bachelor of music and spent the following winter at the Banff School of Fine Arts practising for auditions. She was glad to be back in the mountains. "Banff was the perfect place to focus all my energy. I was able to figure out what I wanted to do musically, take all the knowledge that I'd gathered at Curtis and put it together." Everton auditioned in 1989 for a rare opening in the Vancouver Symphony and became the orchestra's youngest member. Her homecoming to assume the Resident VSO conductor Clyde Mitchell looks a little perplexed when Everton is conducting the show. Photo: Heather Ramsay.