Featuring Dileep Gangolli (Clarinet) and Janice MacDonald (Principal Flute)
Interview by Taylor Brown
How did you two meet?
We met through our musical activities quite early on in our careers here in Chicago. We both performed in orchestras that were contracted for individual engagements such as the early years of the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Joffrey Ballet Orchestra, and various educational concerts and “jingle” engagements for commercials. We’ve known each other since the early 90’s.
How did the CS community play a role in the development of your relationship?
The Chicago Sinfonietta has come to be our primary musical activity and for that we are very thankful. Running an orchestra is not an easy task but the CS has had the benefit of two wonderful music directors (our founder Dr. Freeman and Ms. Mei-Ann Chen), savvy management/staff with recently departed Jim Hirsch and recent hire Blake-Anthony Johnson, and a dedicated board of directors that has believed in our mission of diversity and inclusion from the very beginning before it became a “fad.” As a musician, when one is in the middle of a concert season, it’s often hard to remember what it takes to keep an organization like this afloat. But with the benefit of this year where we have all been relatively inactive, we’re forced to think about what is meaningful in our lives. For Janice and me, we’re truly appreciative of the CS and look forward to making music on stage with our wonderful colleagues and for our appreciative audiences once the Pandemic is behind us.
What is your favorite CS memory together?
Our most favorite memory is shortly after we started dating, we were able to perform the Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet and String Quartet which was written by Maurice Ravel in 1905. After the harp, the flute and clarinet are the most important musical voices and we have a good deal of dialogue. The harp soloist for the series was Ms. Faye Seeman, one of the orchestra’s original members.
How are you incorporating music in your life in the time of COVID-19?
Janice is active in the CS Audience Matters education program which is being taught online for the time being. She is also on the music faculty of Loyola University Chicago where she is the adjunct professor of flute. She is currently teaching these students using online platforms.
Dileep is in the first stages of starting a chamber orchestra (the Chicago Pocket Orchestra) which will perform in open public venues during the month of August on a moving van that has been converted into a portable concert hall. He is also starting a music festival in the Indiana Dunes National Park which will feature concerts at a small church in Beverly Shores IN. Of course, the big unknown in all this is where our communities will be if the Pandemic is still raging in the summer.
What’s your ideal Valentine’s Day date together?
Our dates are always focused on wine. Janice and I own a specialty grocery store in West Town (Green Grocer Chicago) that is very wine-centric. I also own a wine distribution business and do tours during the summer to vineyards around Chicago (yes…there is a wine industry in the Midwest!). But to be honest, we love staying at home with our dog, Isabel, cooking our own meals using organic ingredients from the store, and enjoying a nice wine that pairs with our meal. We love to binge-watch TV shows (we recently completed Ozark, Billions, and are in the middle of Money Heist). We spend a good deal of our life these days in Indiana where we share living space with Janice’s Mom and Aunt. It’s in the middle of the Indiana Dunes National Park and without traffic, only an hour from Millennium Park!