My Story
Started playing violin at the age of 4 years old.
Wanting to be like Dad.
Hello, my name is Richard Amoroso. I have been playing the violin for as long as I can remember. My earliest memories were intently watching my dad play and practice his cello. I dearly loved him and still do. Wanting to be like him, I have pictures of me playing a toy violin like a cello when I was 2 or 3. But one day when I was 4, my dad while doing his coursework in being certified to teach music, brought home a violin! I remember it like it was yesterday. My eyes popped out. I had no idea they made real “cellos” that were smaller than me. I immediately wanted to try the instrument. Unfortunately, it was too big for me, and I begged him to get me a smaller one. Finally on the third try, my dad brought one home that I could hold and play. (I still have and cherish that very same instrument.) My dad showed me a few things and within a short time that day, I successfully played Twinkle Twinkle. My parents immediately were very excited, and I remember playing the song over the phone for my grandparents and great aunts. Little did I know that I would be performing on the violin for the rest of my life.
In a very short time, I started taking lessons with Chuck Parker. Things seemed to go quickly at this point, and I don’t remember that much about those early lessons. But I do remember my first performance in first grade playing a Christmas Concert. I knew it would be in front of a lot of people, and I was nervous, but also excited. I would say that it is no different now when I have to perform. As time went on, I would practice and perform in my grandfather’s barber shop while my mother was helping out in my grandmother’s card and gift shop that was right alongside. I really treasure those memories. I had no idea how much I learned about performing and interacting with the public.
When I was at home, my dad did me a huge favor unknowingly. Because he was an audiophile, he constantly had all kinds of music playing so as to test his audio components. Most of the time it was symphonic music playing. So just by living in my house, I received a great musical education. There were normal father/son arguments about my practice or lack thereof… Or my bad practice habits. Good news is that it was what I would call normal healthy conflict. What was also healthy was performing and playing all kinds of music. We would also play and perform my fathers arrangements of church and Christmas music. This was all in addition to the music I was performing at Settlement Music School while studying with Jean Shook then Lee Snyder.
To learn more about my father please go to http://richardamorosocello.com/
As a child, I led a very normal life. I spent lots of time with friends playing sports, primarily baseball. I can’t say that I was consumed with practicing the violin. I did practice every day, but only for 45 minutes a day on average until I was 11. At that age, I seemed to have progressed significantly and practiced longer and was very efficient with my time even though it only was 60 minutes at most. My greatest accomplishment in my youth came at the age of 12 when I won the prestigious Greenfield Competition. The prize for this competition was the opportunity to perform a solo with the Philadelphia Orchestra. The following year I played the first movement of Mozart Concerto No. 4 with the Orchestra at the Academy of Music.
After entering High School, I started taking lessons with Norman Carol. In addition to my lessons, I started playing in some small chamber ensembles and Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. Even though I was very busy musically (also taking piano lessons), I still would not consider myself dedicated and passionate about practicing the violin. I did love music. I always listened to all kinds of music and enjoyed it immensely. I also went to all kinds of concerts. This here is where my story becomes unusual. At the end of high school, I truly did not know what to do. I had the ability and definitely could have gone to music school, but for whatever reason I chose not to. What’s also very important to note is that neither Norman Carol or my father pushed me or tried to persuade me into trying. But to this day, I can’t explain why I was so unsure of what to do next for college.
After graduating high school, I decided to attend Villanova University for two years. I initially started with my major being Electrical Engineering. LOL. I nearly failed Calculus. My next major was Accounting. OMG! Then after two years, I transferred to Dickinson College. I’m not exactly sure how I was able to do that with just average grades. That being said. I graduated with a degree in Economics only because I could finish college in total in four years and not cost my parents any extra money.
After graduating Dickinson, I still really was not sure of what I wanted to do. I had no real passion for the jobs I interviewed for. My lowest point was when I took a job as a telemarketer. During summers in college, I worked at a local golf course and became a half decent golfer. So I did a little part time work at the golf course as well, but it soon became cold in the winter months, and that wasn’t really a great option.
So the next thing I did was go back to school and follow my father’s footsteps and get certified to teach music in the public school. I attended Immaculata College and did my student teaching in Lower Merion HS in Ardmore, PA. One thing that I was able to do in addition was do some freelance gigs on the violin. I played a solo with my dad with the Philly Pops Orchestra in my senior year of HS, and the conductor and personnel manager hired me to play in the second violin section. Here’s where it gets interesting. I got to know someone in the Pops who somewhat recently graduated Curtis and was a member of the Concerto Soloists what is now the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. I played golf with him and asked to take a violin lesson with him, and then all of sudden I got the bug to practice my violin.
But the most important day for me was when I was subbing as a band teacher in a Middle School, and a student overheard me practicing my violin during a break. She mentioned that I was talented, and that’s when the direction of my life really started to change. I asked my dad if it was too late to pursue playing the violin as a profession now that I was 23 years old without a music degree, and he encouraged me to go for it.
So for the next few years I did my own version of music school. I studied with several different violin instructors including William DePasquale, Rafael Druian, and David Arben to name a few. Shortly I realized that I had so much work to do given that I played the violin on the side the last five years and had gone backwards in some ways. At the time, I don’t think I even realized how much work was ahead of me. What I will say is that my greatest strength was my perseverance and optimism. I practiced in amounts and ways I never had in my whole life! In two years with many hours practiced, I was able to get a position in Concerto Soloists and get on the B sub list of the Philadelphia Orchestra. I felt like a major underdog in getting those positions. But getting a big full-time job was still many hours of practice in the making. I did take auditions early on, but I wasn’t ready and learned that pretty quickly.
My audition for the LA Phil was the first audition where all of a sudden thing started to click. I didn’t win the job, but I played well and got all the way to the end of the finals and gained some real confidence. I took several auditions after that. My attitude was to not worry about the outcome of the audition but to just focus on getting better. Let me add one interesting variable to this. I never owned a great violin, and I had very little money to purchase one. I wound up buying a very ugly, inexpensive violin that I felt I could perform well on.
In the summer of 1997 at the age of 27, I realized I had a tough decision to make. I knew that I was close to winning a job, but if I didn’t really spend enough time practicing and wore myself out by taking too many gigs, I would have less of a chance of reaching my goal. I took a calculated gamble and quit being a member of Concerto Soloist. That September I got in the finals of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for the third time. But my efforts were mostly put toward the job with The Philadelphia Orchestra. My first round felt horrible, but given how prepared I was, I made it to the next round. I then had a day to think about it and realized that I should really just let go and be myself. With each round I gained confidence and ultimately won a position in the First Violin Section of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
I am so grateful to be a part of one of the greatest orchestras in the world. My uncle who was also a musician told me soon after I got in the Orchestra how fortunate I was to do what I was doing and to never lose sight of that. He was so right. I truly love music and what I get to do day in and day out. I am truly blessed.
