Born in Henderson, Nevada, Muffy Lewing was used to Southern charm and hospitality.

She moved near Arlington, Texas, with her family when she was only two years old. Then her college experience took her to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. By 1998, she had earned a bachelor’s degree in music performance on piano and horn and a master’s degree in horn performance.

 

In 2001, she and her husband took the plunge and moved up north to Frederick to raise their two daughters, Molly, 16, and Abby, 10.

 

A couple years later, she joined the FSO as a French hornist and occasional pianist. She also writes the program notes and plays with the Kokopelli Winds, a woodwind quintet that actively performs in the local area.

“For a ‘dream duet,’ I would love to play again with any of my former teachers. I’m nostalgic, and I’d much rather play with friends than strangers.”

What was your first musical instrument?

“I started playing piano when I was [seven years old]. When my parents would go out of town, I would stay with an elderly couple. Mr. Amos played piano by ear. He’d always play for me, and then I would doodle around on their piano. I think that’s what piqued my interest.

Thank goodness my parents said yes when I asked to take lessons! I started playing horn when I was 11 [years old]. Being a lefty, I picked it because you played it with your left hand. I suppose I liked how it sounded, too, but I really just remember picking it for the left-handed reason.”

When and where was your most memorable concert?

“My most memorable concert that I attended was actually an open dress rehearsal for the Boston Symphony. Molly was four years old, and we had tagged along to Boston with my husband. He had to go to a training class up there for work.

They ended up getting [more than] three feet of snow, and everything was a mess! Molly and I bundled up and took the train into the city. I think tickets were $5 to get into the rehearsal. The rehearsal was really a concert. They didn’t stop and rehearse anything at all. They did a new composition, a [Bela] Bartok piano concerto, and [Modest] Mussorgsky’s Pictures At An Exhibition. It was fantastic. The hall there is so beautiful!

Molly fell asleep across a couple of seats. I’d always put on classical music when she would go to bed, so she was well trained to fall asleep any time she heard it. It was many years before she could stay awake through an entire FSO concert!” 

Why do you love music?

“It gives me goosebumps.” 

How has music changed your life?

“I can’t really say how music has changed my life because it’s always been there. I definitely can’t imagine my life without it!”

Catch Muffy and the rest of the FSO in our next concert, Romanian Rainbow, on May, 6 2017, at 7:30 p.m.