Meet Our (Past) Staff—Naomi Rhodes

Meet Our (Past) Staff—Naomi Rhodes | Concert Series History | Travel Series History
| Hypnotizing Chickens | Ghosts in the Theater

Naomi Rhodes worked in the Wisconsin Union Theater from 1963-1967, under the legendary Fan Taylor. Rhodes was a student member of the Music Committee member and served as the Concert Manager for the last two years of her tenure here. She is now a lawyer in New York City.

She was interviewed by student intern Sarah Smogoleski during a visit to Madison in March 2007.

When were you a student here? What were you studying?
I came to Madison in September of 1963. I come from New York City, and I went to the high school of music and art. I wanted very much to get out of New York and experience life elsewhere. I was the youngest of three children. I was always somebody’s sister. I decided that going away from New York was a good thing for me to do.

My cousin who went here and was in the journalism school. She encouraged me to apply here--and come here when I was accepted. So I did. I came from a big city, of course, but the enormity of this place as a university was overwhelming to me. I particularly felt it when I first got here at freshman orientation. I think we were in Camp Randall—the field house, that’s what it was. We were being told about life here. One of the things they mentioned, which immediately struck me as comforting, because it was something I could grab onto in this immensity, was that the union had student programming committees.  I just knew that that was the place for me to go. And it was.

I interviewed for the committee and they invited me to join. And I was on the committee the four years I was here. I met Fan Taylor. I knew it was the right path to be on. She was just so striking, partially because she was a woman in the job that she had, and she had such a presence about here. She was doing what I had the ambition to do in my life. To meet somebody at that crucial time, and to find somebody who’s doing that, she lit a light for me. I would come down the hill and walk in the Park St. entrance. [Fan] would let me sit in her office. I was an usher—I was an usher all four years I was here. I subscribed to the Concert Series all that time and everything.

I was a history major here. My memories of those classes with some of those incredible historians- that was an incredibly special and privileged experience, although I never had contact face-to-face with those professors. I did have that kind of contact that I really wanted and needed with Fan Taylor. I never felt lost in the way some of my friends did about their future. I always knew what I wanted to do.

What are some of your fondest memories here?
The year was ‘65-‘66 when Victoria de los Angeles was here. For whatever reason the page-turner for the pianist, who always turned pages here, couldn’t turn pages. So I was asked if I would step in and turn pages. So I was fine about that. They brought me back stage. Ms. de los Angeles came out of her dressing room and looked at me from head to toe… and finally said okay. She obviously didn’t want anybody on stage who would upstage her. I passed the test very well. She seemed to be very concerned about it.

Who were some of the performers who visited while you worked here?
I remember Isaac Stern’s concert very well. Of course I heard him play in New York. One would hear him in Carnegie. There is something about hearing him here in this beautiful concert hall, which is so much more an intimate experience. It lets you enter into the musical experience in a way that’s difficult when you’re sitting miles away from someone. You hear the music, but you’re sort of at one with the whole experience. That was certainly a memorable concert for me.

Rudolph Serkin played here. I think it was a special concert [not part of the Concert Series]. I remember he played the Hammerklavier Sonata by Beethoven; that was an amazing experience. He was someone I know because I worked at the Marlboro festival that summer. It was very nice to see him here. I remember also that he played an encore, which was one of the bagatelles by Beethoven. It’s about a minute and a half, a very short piece, but very striking, very fast and energetic. I think the audience was shocked, because he came and sat down and played it and stood up.

Bill Dawson had a reception for him after the concert at his own house, so that was really wonderful.

What was it like to work with Fan Taylor?
I was on the music committee, and I explained to her that I grew up in a very musical family and my brother was a budding musician. So I told her that and that I was very interested in pursuing a career in this area. She made it clear that I was welcome. I think that maybe the first couple of times I came here after classes I was shy. I would put my head in and wave at her, and she would invite me into her office. I would come in and sit down and listen to her. I came to every concert; I came to a lot of events that the theater committee [sponsored]. This was such an important part of my life here.

Fan would occasionally have a seminar; I would go to everything she did. Her title was executive secretary of the ACUCM [Association of College and University Concert Managers], which is now Arts Presenters, and because I lived in New York she asked me to work at the registration desk at the annual conference. So I think she probably did that when I was a sophomore…so I probably did it my sophomore, junior and senior year as well. I would go home to my parents’ home, and every day I went to the Sheridan hotel where the conference was taking place. I got to [attend] certain sessions, and I went to all the social events. In those days the artist management companies entertained very lavishly. It exposed me to other concert managers from all around the country. So as a freshman I got to spend a lot of time with Fan and learn from her wisdom. She would speak of Lunt and Fontaine, [who performed on opening night at the theater]. She would talk about that. She would talk about people who’d been here.

Interviewer’s notes:
After graduating, Naomi spent some time traveling around Europe then returned to New York to work at a YMCA. She worked at several arts organizations in New York and one in Arizona. She eventually began her own artist management company but then decided to pursue law. She went back to school, passed the bar exam, and now works in document law.  Her trip back to Madison was with her brother, who was a special guest performer with the Pro Arte Quartet and who is the violist of the Juilliard String Quartet.