Stockton Symphony Association

A lesson to learn from

Mar 11

David Requiro learned a valuable musical lesson as a child.

Teaching can be just as rewarding as performing.

So the 25-year-old cello phenom - who loved sports and initially hated practicing his instrument - will spend more time in Stockton this week tutoring young people than performing for audiences.

"I love teaching," said the Oakland-born Requiro, who performs with the Stockton Symphony tonight and Saturday at San Joaquin Delta College's Atherton Auditorium in Stockton. "I plan to continue performing solo and chamber music. In teaching, luckily, some people have wanted to hear what I have to say about the cello."

Before he plays Dmitri Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 tonight, Requiro will have shared his expertise with the Central Valley Youth Symphony on Tuesday and visited students at Kohl Open School this morning. He'll work with young musicians at Manlio Silva Elementary School on Friday and hold a 5 p.m. master class at University of the Pacific's Recital Hall.

Requiro - sounding modest and appreciative during a telephone conversation from Manhattan, New York City, where he lives - said demanding mentors struck the crucial chords when he was young and impressionable, starting in kindergarten on a tiny, one-16th-size cello.

"Basically speaking, I really have to think mainly of Milly Rosner," Requiro said, referring to the Berkeley cello teacher who also tutored James Jaffe, Stockton Symphony conductor Peter Jaffe's son. "She's the type of teacher who went way beyond routine weekly lessons.

"I literally practiced for an hour or two, four or five times a week. It was not baby-sitting. I call it mentoring. A teacher like her really got me started and really enthusiastic."

He remains that way. He's intrigued by playing - for the first time in public - the Shostakovich composition, written in 1959 for fellow Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.

"This was a composer working closely with one of the greatest cellists ever," Requiro said of the "technically very difficult piece" that includes a six-minute solo. "There are a lot of cellistic nuances. It's very well-written and fine-tuned."

Peter Jaffe also will conduct a world premiere of Paul Turok's "Fanfare for Brass Ensemble" and Peter Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 as part of the orchestra's "Fate & Triumph" program.

Requiro's "cellistic" fate also pointed him to guidance at Berkeley's Crowden School and an ongoing relationship with Rosner.

"I think she could tell I really, genuinely did love cello," said Requiro, who also enjoyed playing tennis and soccer and remains a serious sports fan. "But, boy, there was nothing I hated more than practicing. She could tell I had enough intelligence to get the most out of my practice time, though.

"Nobody had to mother or force me or yell at me. She got the ball rolling - 90 minutes a day. It was a lot."

Rosner would "assign very complex music to younger students," Requiro said, insisting they use a traditionalist (Pablo Casals) as a role model "when we could have been pushed toward" more of a modernist (Yo Yo Ma).

Requiro played the Dvorak concerto before Shostakovich: "Nowadays, when I have to play Dvorak, I'm so happy she got me started in sixth and seventh grade."

Requiro, being competitive, also entered Bay Area "living-room" competitions: "I would actually win and felt some satisfaction. I could tell I was working seriously and enjoyed the process."

In seventh grade, he had to "make a choice: the San Francisco Youth Orchestra vs. soccer." Not even close. He also played in the Marin Symphony Youth Orchestra, guided by Alisdair Neale, and attended Walnut Hill School in Natick, Mass.

At the University of Michigan (where James Jaffe is studying) and Cleveland Institute of Music, the intense tutoring continued.

"His teaching was at the highest level," Requiro said of Richard Aaron, his Michigan and Cleveland cello instructor. "He taught me the most well-rounded kind of cello experience. Not just how the performance experience should be, but how the business of music works and the things to prepare for in life after getting out of school."

He certainly has put that knowledge to effective use, winning numerous awards and competitions (including the Walter W. Naumburg International Violoncello Competition), performing at major venues - from San Francisco's Herbst Theatre to New York's Carnegie Hall - and with a wide variety of groups and orchestras, including New York's Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players.

Music's definitely in Requiro's genes. His mom, Janet Weinstein, is a pianist in the Bronx. His dad, Elis Felicisimo, a retired Wells Fargo Bank official, is a "very musical person. He has a very good ear."

So does his brother, Aaron Requiro, 28, who plays violin in the Vinca Quartet and, with David Requiro, in the Kashii String Quartet.

Requiro released his first CD ("Debut Album," with pianist Elizabeth Demio) this year and just completed new recordings of Beethoven's sonatas.

Then there's the teaching. He's been on the artist faculty of four festivals, including Innsbrook, Mo., and always is ready to share his cello knowledge.

"I had great teachers," said Requiro, whose goal is to join that profession. "I remember always having a good time with it. I never was locked up and forced to practice. It grew from a hobby to a strong interest to a career."

While working in a genuine cello and classical music corridor, he "remains faithful" to the Oakland A's, Raiders, Golden State Warriors and UC Berkeley football.

"I'm a little out of place in New York and in classical music," he said. "It's hard to find a lot of friends who want to go to a random bar and watch a Cal football game."

Contact Tony Sauro at (209) 546-8267 or tsauro@recordnet.com.