In Monday’s (11/22) Portland Press Herald (Maine), Ray Rothier profiles Portland Symphony Orchestra librarian Jon Poupore. “Jon Poupore grabs a stack of sheet music—Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5—and tells me he’s going to work on the bowing. … ‘What I’ve got to do is look through all the scores for all the string players, and make sure the bowing is the same,’ said Poupore. ‘That way, all the bows are going up at the same time, and they’re going down at the same time. It’s about the look for the audience, but it’s also about the sound.’ … Poupore has me grab a pencil and eraser and starts showing me the sheets of music, which have already been marked up somewhat. Some of the marks were made by PSO concert master Charles Dimmick, who is also first violin. Now, Poupore has to read through the sheet music to make sure the bowing—and any other changes—match Dimmick’s. … Much of Poupore’s job is administrative. He mails a lot of music back to rental companies, for instance. And he’s in charge of the PSO’s library, a depository of all the sheets of music the symphony actually owns. The PSO began buying music 60 years ago or more, and the collection has never been culled. One of Poupore’s ongoing projects is to cull the collection.”
Posted November 22, 2010
