Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Paglialonga.
Hi Nicole, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in a tiny town in eastern Kentucky. There was no reason for me to want to play violin that I can remember – I didn’t see a concert somewhere, a violinist didn’t come to my school. The urge to perform just came out of nowhere. Divine intervention! I remember listening to recordings of Mozart and Mendelssohn symphonies that I found at a CD shop and was instantly drawn to the violin line. I wanted to do that too! My parents were not musicians – my dad was a retired Marine, and my mom an elementary special education teacher. So, they did their homework and found a teacher for me. It was really an intense time investment on their part. The nearest youth orchestra was two hours away, as was my private lesson teacher. But they were patient and willing to do whatever it took to give me opportunities.
Life eventually took me elsewhere. I went to school; I followed the work. I lived the freelance lifestyle and loved life on the road making music with new and interesting people every week. I met a clarinet player, who is as much an incredible musician as he is incredible person, fell in love, and got married. We moved to Virginia together, where we taught at Virginia Tech. Blacksburg was another very small town and reminded me a lot of where I had grown up. I became the Director of the Virginia Tech String Project and discovered how fulfilling it was to create opportunities for kids who grew up just like me. I realized this was what I was meant to do – make sure that kids with financial or geographical or any other limitations still had equal access to high-level musical opportunities.
Happily, I now take care of the education and community programs for The Cliburn. We serve tens of thousands of kids all over the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex each year, introducing them to the highest level of piano playing but in a way that is tailored to the unique needs of kids. We play games, we bring them up on stage, we clap and dance along, and we really get the kids drawn into the program so that they feel as invested in the performance as our pianists do! For many of them, it’s the first time they’ve ever seen a piano, and we do so much more than just play music for them. It’s such a special and unique program. I’ve played in tons of educational concerts or side-by-side programs as an orchestral musician, and I have never seen anything like the Cliburn programs. I genuinely look forward to going to work every day!
I am also a performing member of the McKinney Philharmonic, where I also serve as the Orchestra Manager. Our administration is really just a two-person team – myself and our Artistic Director, who is the founder of the organization. It’s truly a grassroots organization where all the musicians are stakeholders. Everyone invests their time and energies into the mission and expanding our reach. We are launching a new cultural series this year to celebrate the incredibly diverse populations of DFW, and I have the honor of performing as a soloist on the inaugural concert in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. I’ll be performing Miguel del Aguila’s Violin Concerto. It’s an honor to share the stage with such fine musicians and bring more representation into classical music in an organic way.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Music is definitely not a smooth road! The path to professional musicianship, whether in performance or education or administration, or anything else, is not linear. You try, you fail, repeat, repeat, repeat. You hear no more times than you ever hear yes. But in the end, you learn and get a little better every time. And with each failure or success comes a bit more clarity. You see the next step, and you muster up enough courage to take it. And you develop so much grit.
Auditions are a deeply personal investment of time and emotion, and money, as are interviews. Chasing funding for worthwhile creative projects is incredibly hard and often frustrating. You love your ideas one day, then wake up and hate them the next day and decide to start all over again. But all it takes is one success, even a tiny one, to make it all worth it.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am most proud of my students. I get the privilege of watching and celebrating their personal and professional successes, and that is really my greatest joy. There are lots of great teachers in the world, and of course so many incredible players. But not many people get to build a career in performance AND teaching AND administration all at the same time. It really gives me a unique perspective. Because I live in all of these worlds, I can better help my students navigate the music industry. There are so many opportunities to live and work in the arts that are beyond performance, and there are ways to participate in high-level music-making without turning it into a monetary endeavor. Everyone is born with an innate creative drive, and I get to help a lot of kids discover and develop that.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I’m really an open book. Not sure there are any surprises left for anyone that knows me!
