Dahlia Ghabour Staff Writer @DGhabour

The world of classical music is a small one. Even before they came to Sarasota, many of the longtime Sarasota Orchestra musicians already knew each other from various festivals and schools. By the time they began to play together, they already were old friends.

Somewhere along the way, their love of music turned to a love of each other. There are nine married couples performing in the orchestra, and there are others who are dating or engaged.

If it wasnt for the Sarasota Orchestra, none of us would be together, concertmaster Dan Jordan said. Having so many married couples in this orchestra just adds to the feeling that we are all one family.

Dan and C.Y.

It seems that concertmaster Dan Jordan knows everyone. Jordan and his wife, Chun-Yon Hong both violinists were introduced by Chris Takeda at the Aspen Music Festival in 1995. Jordan and Sean ONeil went to high school together. Jordan and Jennifer Best-Takeda are both New World Symphony alumni. Now, they all work together.

Jordan joined the orchestra in 1998. Hong arrived four years later. They were really good friends for a long time, said Hong, who is known to her friends by her initials "C.Y." Jordan added that they had a long journey to finally being married in 2011. They now have a 4-year-old son, Spencer. One of their greatest challenges has been providing a routine for their son when the orchestra doesnt really have one. Because the orchestra doesnt have its own hall, the musicians perform in different places and have varying rehearsal schedules each week.

If you look at my schedule with babysitting, some weeks we have five different people, Hong said. All the moms in the orchestra call each other asking for babysitters. And I will trust these people. I know I can call them in the middle of the night if anything happens.

Jordan said it makes sense that the orchestra is so close but also that this one is especially tight-knit.

When you sit down to play, thats the one escape from the stress of being a parent with a 4-year-old, and all the outside pressure of the world, he said. Theres a camaraderie that comes from making music together that spills over into friendships.

Sean and Lena

Sean ONeil moved to Sarasota cold, grabbed a job at Starbucks, worked for the Sarasota Opera when he could and hoped for a position in the Sarasota Orchestra. He met his future wife, Lena Cambis, at a party.

We met in the last two weeks of off-season from the opera, he said. She was just a girl at a party that I saw across the room ... .

For which he had an obsession about, Cambis interrupted, her French accent curling her words with amusement.

I fell in love instantly, said ONeil.

I did not, said Cambis.

Cambis had come to Sarasota from France for a vacation in 2002 and loved it enough to stay. The two married in 2003, and now have two children together: 5-year-old Balthazar and 2-year-old Celeste. Both violinists, the couple sits together in the orchestra when performing.

The way she says things can be rather blunt, ONeil said, And there are couples who dont see how I use that to my advantage. I take her advice. I play for her to better myself.

Cambis said that what keeps them close is not performing together, but sharing the same goals, and I know wed still be together even if we didnt work together.

Larry and Roxane

Co-principal horn Larry Solowey and violinist Roxane Frangie Solowey didnt plan to settle in Sarasota. Larry arrived in 1991, Roxane in 1992. Two years later, they were married, and they have been here ever since.

We always say we got stuck, but if you have to get stuck somewhere its a pretty amazing place to get stuck, Larry said. Every year, it gets better and better. Once you have kids, this is home.

The couple have two children: Michael, 19, and Daniel, 16. Both played instruments and sports. Daniel still plays clarinet. Things are easier now that the children are older, but Roxane still remembers how difficult it was.

I remember when we discovered that going to work was relaxing, she said. Work was the one place I felt like I knew what I was doing.

Every time they went to work, though, it would cost $50 in babysitting fees. Larry recalled one year they had hired babysitters for 150 nights of the year, an extraordinary amount of money.

Both of them said the juggling schedules was, without a doubt, worth it.

Giving kids an environment of having two artists as parents played well for them, I think, Larry said. We have beautiful, sensitive kids. I think what we do with our lives was really helpful in their development.

Fernando and Betsy

Principal bassoon Fernando Traba and principal flute Betsy Hudson Traba make it work by understanding pressures.

If Fernando has a killer bassoon part, I know to lay low and give him lots of space and time with his instrument, Hudson-Traba said. The pressure on the job ebbs and flows, and being married to someone who understands that in a deeply intimate way is hugely helpful. I cant imagine trying to explain it to someone who doesnt know what we do.

Married in 1998, now with two children, the Trabas experienced the same struggles with child care in the beginning but said that finding those trustworthy people to become babysitters is like making them part of the family.

Fernando said that having children at a later age helped them gain experience, and that some younger couples in the orchestra come to them for advice.

Its nice to see, he said. It has actually created better intergenerational relationships with members of the orchestra.

They both find great joy in teaching on the side, helping other kids learn how to do the things they do.

I find that after teaching a lesson, Ive been revived, Hudson-Traba said. Youre connecting with a young person who is coming with wide-eyed earnestness to an instrument you know a fair amount about. Theres so much that you learn from watching someone play one-on-one. Its really rewarding.

Bharat and Anne

Anne and Bharat Chandra, violin and principal clarinet, said that for them there is no line between their work and home lives. Several other of the couples agreed.

So much of our job is emotional, Anne said. Its not something that stops and starts when we get there; its all intertwined.

Bharat said the music was in his mind all the time, constantly, especially if there are pieces coming up that are difficult to play.

Any relationship has to find a language and an emotional, professional context that allows for communication about the jobs you guys have to do, he said. Youre friends, but you also have to create an excellent musical product, and you might have different ideas about that. You constantly have to learn how to talk to each other.

The two married in 2004 and have two daughters. They both recognized the need to relax by doing activities that didnt involve music dancing, yard work, driving.

Even when they first arrived in the area, Bharat said he could tell Sarasota was a community that loved the arts and the orchestra, and that it served as an inspiration and motivation for him.

If you ask any human being how music has made them feel, you get some amazing answers, Bharat said. To have the ability to create that for other people is an unbelievable high.

Chris and Jennifer

Violinists Chris and Jennifer Best Takeda met years ago at an audition in Washington, D.C., but really didnt get a chance to talk until Dan Jordans birthday party in 2005.

We talked the entire night and that was basically it, Chris said.

We were married in 2012, Jennifer added. Only took him six years to propose. Its fine.

Chris said he and Jordan have been friends for more than 20 years; now that they are all settled in Sarasota, theyre even more inseparable. Both couples have young children, too the Takedas have a 3-year-old son, Carter.

Were incredibly close to all the couples in the orchestra, Dan and C.Y. especially, Jennifer said. If theres a night we want a sitter we call them up and go, Do you want to go to that new sushi place? People look at the four of us together and are like, Are you never apart? Do you never do things alone?

Chris holds a position that was created for him when the late artistic directorPaul Wolfe retired: associate concertmaster. Jennifer is the assistant concertmaster.

Jennifer said that the orchestra being really young compared to most orchestras is another aspect of the quality of life she loves best about working in Sarasota.

Its more than about the status of your job, she said. We both have great jobs here, were both titled players in a great orchestra thats kind of an impossibility. And were living in a beautiful city, have great friends. I look at our job as all encompassing; its just a great reason to stay here.

More here:

Notes on love: Romance and marriages blossom over music - Sarasota Herald-Tribune