- [Announcer] In partnership with the Curtis Institute of Music, WHYY presents the following program.

(gentle music) (people chatting) - My name is Simon Bakos and I play clarinet at the Curtis Institute of Music.

(lively music) I think when I first started listening to classical music, I remember in particular when I heard a recording of Schostakowitsch's 11th Symphony with the, I don't exactly remember which orchestra it was.

I believe it was the Slovak Radio Symphony.

I just remember how much I connected to that piece and how much I connected to classical music.

And I just knew that that was what I wanted to do and that's what I wanted to be.

I was first introduced to the clarinet when I was in the fourth grade.

I went to a, a rather small Catholic elementary school, and they started the band program in the fourth grade.

And I remember at first I wanted to play the saxophone, but there was another student, who I had found to be a little bit annoying, who was gonna play the saxophone.

And so I decided to play the clarinet instead because it was the most similar to that.

And after I switched schools into sixth grade, I took a break from the clarinet and actually played the trumpet for a year, which didn't go very well.

And then studying in seventh grade again, I played the clarinet.

So I sort of had an on and off relationship with the clarinet, you could say, but it was always something that I really enjoyed doing.

My parents were the ones who really wanted me to pursue music as a career.

I was very uncertain about the possibility of a career in music.

I actually wanted to be a dentist for quite a long time until about my junior year of high school.

But my parents knew that classical music was what I really loved and what I loved doing.

And so, I would say my parents were incredibly supportive and I would seriously not have realized my potential as a classical musician without them.

I feel like before I joined the music program at my school, I felt like I hadn't yet found the thing that I really loved doing.

Well.

I had friends who thought it was maybe a little weird that I practiced the clarinet for, you know, two hours a day, at that time.

I think once I started to make serious achievements, my friends were also incredibly supportive.

And even though they might not have fully understood why I was doing it or what I was doing, I think they found it interesting and they were, as I said, very supportive and they really helped me sort of weave my musical experiences into my academic experiences in school.

I first started actually practicing when I was, I would say in seventh grade, so that would be about age 12.

And honestly, I didn't really see it as practicing or as a chore to do.

I just found music that I liked to play, and I would play it for, you know, at first it would be 15 or 30 minutes a day, and then it became one hour, then it became two hours.

And I just saw it as doing something that I loved, not as really any type of chore or practice, something that I had to do.

(gentle music) (light music) (soft music) (singing in German) (singing in German) (lively music) (light music) (singing in German) (soft music) (singing in German) (singing in German) (gentle music) (gentle music) (singing in German) (singing in German) (gentle music) (lively music) (singing in German) (lively music) (singing in German) (singing in German) (lively music) (audience applauding) - I would have to say my least favorite part about being a classical musician is I feel like because it's a rather small market or a small niche, I feel like it's hard when I speak to a non-musician to really explain exactly what I do and exactly, I feel like it's always a challenge when the other person doesn't quite understand what I do.

But I think one of the most rewarding things about being a classical musician is that I get to do what I love every day.

And I feel very privileged to be able to do that.

The first time that I visited Curtis was actually for my audition a few years ago, and I remember just seeing the way that the students played and the way the students treated each other, and it just made me realize that that was the place where I wanted to be.

And so for my overall career, I think it means so much to be able to play with musicians of this caliber.

One particular moment, or one particular person who inspired me to do music.

I just remember really liking the bass clarinet as a young musician.

And honestly, I didn't even know what that instrument was until I saw it on a poster on the wall of one of my music programs.

But I think just listening to great orchestra recordings growing up and hearing great musicians was very inspiring.

(gentle music) (soft music) (lively music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (lively music) (soft music) (lively music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (soft music) (gentle music) (gentle music) Ideally, after I complete graduate studies, I would really like to have a career as an orchestral musician and perhaps have my own teaching studio, whether that be privately or at a university.

As a clarinet player, if you want to get a job, say in an orchestra, you have to prepare a lot because the auditions don't come up very often.

And when they do, it's extremely competitive.

I'm actually preparing for an audition right now, and the level of preparation is incredible.

You generally go and you play for a panel of the orchestra members and they listen to your playing, they'll listen to everyone else play, and at the end, there's usually one or two people.

And then you usually have to play a trial with the orchestra.

And upon completion of that trial, if you have passed all the rounds, then they award you the position.

I would love to play at the Concertgebouw one day in, actually, I don't know where that is.

That's so embarrassing.

I would like to play at the Concertgebouw one day and perhaps the Philharmonie Berlin, any of the great European halls.

And then in the United States, I've been fortunate enough to play in Carnegie Hall and the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.

One hall that I would like to play in one day is Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

A dream that I have is to retire to the Pacific Northwest, to live in Idaho or Montana or something like that in a house on a large property, just in what I consider to be the most beautiful part of the country.

That's probably my long-term dream.

I would tell my younger self to not doubt yourself so much.

That anything is possible.

Because when I was 12 or 13 or 14, I really thought that I couldn't make it in the classical music world.

And, you know, to see myself now at Curtis and I'm starting to move out into a career in classical music, I realized that it is possible.

I can get to the place that I want to be.

And to my future self, I would probably tell myself the same thing.

I think self-doubt is very common among classical musicians.

So I think I would need a little bit of that every now and then, even, you know, 10 years down the line.

(playful music)