Marjorie Stinespring
Marjorie Stinespring has been a member of the MOB Board of Directors since it was first formed in 1975, but she first encountered the group in 1972 when she spotted a poster in a Hyde Park butcher shop. As Marjorie remembers,
"The program featured soprano Barbara Pierson, who we had heard the year before at Rockefeller Chapel in the Brahms Requiem, among other things. The harpsichordist was Edward Mondello, who was my piano teacher and the organist at Rockefeller. Naturally, we went and were charmed.
We had never heard of Thomas Wikman, but soon realized this was a very talented conductor, voice teacher, and choirmaster. Dramatic is a word which succinctly describes a Wikman performance, and the first St. Matthew Passion (in 1974) truly felt like a tragedy. The same year, Sir Georg Solti did the St. Matthew in Orchestra Hall. As we were leaving the concert, my husband saw Thomas Wikman in the audience. He went right over and said, ‘Frankly, yours was more dramatic.’ He didn’t quite say it was better, but in many ways, it was. It certainly was more effective.
Two events led to my joining the board of directors: meeting chorus member Clarise Strauch on the bus, and sending in the first subscription order. The first time I saw her on the bus, I did not speak (she had no idea who I was), but the second time I boldly introduced myself and made appreciative comments. At the time, I did not realize that she was what could probably be called general manager of the operation. When she received the subscription order, she called and asked if either I or my husband would like to be a member of the board of directors. I, naively, said yes.
I would be remiss not to mention memorable experiences with Jane Glover conducting. One of the most memorable was her first performance of Haydn's Creation in 2004. (The second was also good, but it was the second, and the first was a little more exciting.) When we left the hall, my husband said 'That was the best performance I have ever been to.'”
Marjorie has attended nearly every Music of the Baroque concert since encountering that poster so many years ago, and she is known particularly for her encyclopedic knowledge—musical and otherwise. "One time, right before the late concertmaster emeritus Elliott Golub was due to come out to begin tuning the orchestra,” Marjorie recalled. “There was a huge crash, followed by a long delay. It turns out he had tripped. His violin was unscathed, fortunately, but I can’t say the same for his pants. They stapled him into presentability right before he went out on stage!”