Violinist and vocalist Rosemary Siemens has returned from a trip to her alma mater the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. The visit was to receive a special award alongside dozens of others who have attended the school. Both institutions are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year, and recognized that by presenting one hundred accomplished former students with Centennial Medals during an event last week.
Siemens studied at the school in the early 2000s, receiving her Masters in Violin Performance.
"I was so honoured to be one of the one hundred," she shared. "It was so cool, because I got to meet the most amazing people I would never normally get to meet."
Inspiring people met
Siemens admits, it took her husband Eli Bennett's encouragement for her to go, noting she wasn't initially sure she was going to attend, but is so thankful she did.
"I just really made a point of everyone I saw with the medal, I went up to them and said 'Hi, I'm Rosemary, where are you from?" she said. "When I was in school there I got to be Concert Master of the Jazz Ensemble when Will Lee, who's a very, very famous bass player, came to town. He was the bass player for David Letterman for the whole show with Paul Shaffer's band. He came and he got a special award, and I got to have pictures with him."
Siemens noted there were people in attendance from every walk of life, and she never thought she would ever be in a room full of those at the top of their portion of the music industry. Frost School of Music alumni include singer-songwriters Bruce Hornsby and Ben Folds, as well as Miami raised singer Jon Secada.
"Everyone was so nice and so warm, and you got to kind of pick each other's brains," she said. "I can't imagine not having gone, now. It was very, very special to see all these people had gone to the same school, and we all had this thing in common. I know I will keep in touch with so many of these people, and I'm sure it will help me in my journey along the way."
Part of those conversations included Siemens and Bennett's work on the Bring Back the Hymns and Sunday Hymn Serenade YouTube channel, something that was of great interest to many of the people she spoke with.
"There was no other YouTuber there, and their eyes kind of lit up, and they said, 'How do you do this?'" she explained. "I met so many professors that were teaching, and they all begged me to come to a class with Eli to teach their students on how to do this, because they all teach it, but they don't actually practically know how to do it. It's very difficult to actually figure out how to do it."
Attending school opened doors
"While I was there, I was actually working at a church doing piano and violin and I worked for Candace Wicke," explained Siemens. "She had finished her Doctorate in Conducting there, at the time, in choral music, and I remember when she left Miami and when I left Miami, she just said, 'Whatever I'm doing in music, I'm going to take you along and I'm going to call you.' When I left, I went back to Vancouver. I was actually supposed to start a doctorate at the University of Miami, but I helped my violin teacher from there get a job in Vancouver, so I followed him to Vancouver. So, she called me one day and said, 'Do you want to come play Carnegie Hall? I'm working for Carnegie Hall now,.' Subsequently, I played there many times with her, and all my tours to the Vatican have been through this woman. To me it was the people I met there, and the doors that were opened because of that."
Siemens added it was an inspiring time returning to her alma mater. Being around people who want to network and want to succeed is something she loved.
"I crave being in that kind of environment, so for me it was just very fulfilling and very cool to connect with so many people."
You can listen to our entire conversation with Rosemary Siemens, below.
