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Ex-governor’s nephew playing with SSO

The young violinist will make his U.S. debut Saturday at Kuss

Violinist Virgil Boutellis-Taft, former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft's nephew, will make his U.S. orchestral debut on Saturday with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra.

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By Andrew McGinn, Staff Writer 9:08 AM Friday, October 7, 2011

SPRINGFIELD — Former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft used to be known as the guy who was related to that guy who got stuck in a bathtub.

But we soon could be talking about another Taft relative.

Violinist Virgil Boutellis-Taft — the former governor’s nephew — will be making his U.S. debut as a concert soloist Saturday night at Kuss Auditorium with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra as part of its 2011-12 season opener.

Boutellis-Taft, 25, will perform Felix Mendelssohn’s one and only violin concerto, written in 1844.

The fact that Boutellis-Taft was born and raised in France is perfectly in keeping with Taft family history.

A century ago, William Howard Taft — the governor’s great-grandfather and the nation’s rotund 27th president — forged a landmark peace treaty with the French.

Boutellis-Taft recently took some time to tell us a little more about himself.

Q: You’ll be making your U.S. orchestral debut right here in Springfield. That’s a big step in your career.

A: It is a great pleasure to play with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and I am excited about it, and I am honored to make my U.S. orchestral debut here in Ohio.

Q: Do you have any pre-concert rituals to help calm nerves?

A: Most musicians have rituals, and I’m no different. But if I tell you, that would take away their supposed power and I would have to invent new ones!

Q: Where will you go from here? Is this the start of, hopefully, a long career in this country as a concert soloist?

A: I am “at the school of what’s coming.” I have several international projects and I would very much like to play regularly for the American public.

I hope to play in Cincinnati one day in memory of my grandfather, Robert Taft Jr., who so liked to listen to me when I was a child.

Q: There would seem to be an awful lot of competition among concert soloists, especially with the dwindling number of orchestras. Is it a high pressure occupation?

A: Quite a question, and, of course, competition exists. But competition has always been stimulating for me and I really do admire talented violinists.

Q: You’ll be playing the Mendelssohn concerto here. Is this a favorite of yours?

A: Yes, it is certainly one of my favorite concertos, and one of those so well composed that removing a single note, wherever that might be, would distort the whole piece.

Q: Given that his music had so much in common with the expressiveness of Romanticism, is there room in a piece like this to express your own feelings?

A: Romantic music, and particularly Mendelssohn’s concerto, is for me the most propitious for expressing my own feelings, and at the same time I try my best to come as close as possible to the expression of Mendelssohn.

Q: You’ve been performing since the age of 9 and entered the Paris Conservatory at 16. Do you come from a musical family?

And, what was it about the violin that you latched onto?

A: I started studying the violin when I was 7, and at 9 began to perform, and I have always loved playing for an audience.

My father is a sculptor, and there have always been musicians in the family.

His grandfather was a professional violinist, his father was a doctor and also an excellent violinist, and his mother was a doctor as well and an excellent pianist.

All of my brothers play an instrument, but I am the only one to have renewed with the soloist profession.

Also, as I am sure you know, there is a Stradivarius that has the name Taft.

My story is that one day I found a violin in its case under a bed in our house, and I was fascinated by this instrument.

So if you want one of your children to become a violinist, just leave a violin around under a bed.

Contact this reporter at amcginn@coxohio.com.

How to go

What: The Springfield Symphony Orchestra’s 2011-12 season opener, featuring violinist Virgil Boutellis-Taft and Rachmaninoff’s “Symphony No. 2”

When: 8 p.m. Saturday

Where: Kuss Auditorium

Tickets: $24 to $48; $12 to $36 students; a limited number of $15 adult tickets and $10 student tickets are available.

To order: Visit springfieldsym.org or call (937) 328-3874.

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