Violinist takes new roles on stage, behind scenes for Wichita Symphony

The beginning of the 2019-2020 season for the Wichita Symphony Orchestra means not one but two new jobs for Holly Mulcahy.

She’ll make her debut as concertmaster next weekend, as well as joining associate concertmaster Timothy Jones for Bach’s “Concerto for Two Violins” and Bruckner’s “Symphony No. 6.”

But Mulcahy will be equally busy behind the scenes, in a new role of partner for audience engagement for the symphony.

“It’s kind of like a liaison to the audience, basically,” Mulcahy said from her home in Chicago.

She wants to listen to what the audience thinks of the performances, either in the lobby of Century II or in what she envisions as “post-concert hangs” at a restaurant or watering hole.

“That’s one of the things I really enjoy in my career, working with audience members and building kind of a trust that this industry is not really known for,” she said. “Classical music seems to be offish sometimes. People are intimidated by it. They don’t feel welcome. One of the things I love to do is tear down the walls, open the doors and invite everybody in – and remind people over and over again that classical music is for and about them.

“It’s not really about the orchestra so much as their experience, and making it relevant,” Mulcahy added.

She said she wants to focus on the shared experience of the concert, whether it be from performers or audience members.

“The concert doesn’t really end when the last note decays and the last applause ends,” Mulcahy said. “The concert ends when the people digest it together, and that’s one of the many things I want to do is create an experience together and talk about it afterwards. It gives it meaning.”

Mulcahy has first-hand experience in being around those intimidated by classical music. The Denver native’s parents were not musicians, and she fell in love with the violin after choosing to play it in fourth grade.

“I like tearing away the barriers,” said Mulcahy, who is also the concert master for the symphony in Chattanooga, Tenn.

But Mulcahy’s side project tears away at physical and emotional barriers.

She is the founder of Arts Capacity, a nonprofit organization that brings live chamber music, arts and artists to prisons.

“Music has helped be a grounding mechanism for me, and it’s a grounding mechanism for so many people,” she said. “So I thought I should be sharing this with people who are working themselves back into society.”

Mulcahy has several stories about how bringing classical music to prison gives inmates a better sense of self-worth, even connecting one convict to his daughter, who had begun violin lessons after he sent her a printed program of the performance he saw.

“Prisons train people to be carpet layers or welders or skilled craftsmen, basically, but they don’t really work on the emotional aspect,” Mulcahy said. “When you have an outlet, a coping mechanism that music can offer and art can offer, that helps create a human being that comes back out in society and is more likely to be successful staying in society rather than reoffending.”

Mulcahy and Jones, a Wichita native who returned to Kansas last year, are each playing the “Bach double” for the second time – the first together – but have contrasting histories with the piece.

She played it for the first time this summer, at a music festival in Idaho.

Jones played it when he was 11 years old, at a violin recital with his sister, a junior music major at Wichita State and his strings teacher.

“It’s very full circle,” said Jones, who played with the symphony from 2005-2010 before getting his masters and doctorate degrees in California and Brazil.

Jones, now visiting assistant professor of strings at Wichita State, said he “definitely had to come at it with fresh eyes” after many years away from the piece.

“I wouldn’t say there’s a lot of my physical technique that’s the same. If you learn something well the first time, to a certain extent it does stay with you forever,” he said. “At least on a musical level, it’s always been in my head and always accessible.

“It’s a lot more fun now,” he said. “I can relax more and really get into it.”

Mulcahy and Jones rehearsed the piece together a few weeks ago in her Chicago apartment, and feel like they have good chemistry with each other, as well as the Wichita Symphony.

“It’s a beautiful piece,” she said, “and it’s a lot of fun.”

WICHITA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: BACH DOUBLE AND BRUCKNER 6

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21 and 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22

Where: Century II concert hall, 225 W. Douglas

Program: Besides Bach’s “Concerto for Two Violins” and Bruckner’s “Symphony No. 6,” the symphony will begin its season-long salute to living female composers, with Jessie Montgomery’s “Starburst” opening the performance

Tickets: $25-$70, from wichitasymphony.org, by phone at 316-267-7658 or at the symphony box office at Century II. Discounts available for students, seniors and military.

This story was originally published September 16, 2019 at 12:52 PM.