Music from Moments

Acclimating to life as a musician takes a lot of moments that add up to something remarkable. Much like an orchestral ensemble, local horn player Daniel Kitchens’ self-proclaimed addiction to playing an instrument came from one such moment.

“I remember in sixth grade, playing our instruments for the first time, and we were all learning individually how to navigate our horns. We went onto the tiny stage of this middle school, and we all just played concert F at the same time,” he said. “I only played that note for one second before I was just smiling way too big and I could not play. I was just loving the sound around me, and it’s completely addicting.”

Of course, growing up in Plano, Texas, the son of a middle school band director, some might say Kitchens was destined for this addiction. Surrounded by music from a young age, he would often ride his bike to his dad’s school in his younger years, taking in what he did for a living.

“Right before we picked instruments in sixth grade, my dad took me to the music shop and put a horn in my hands and had me try to find notes he played on the piano,” Kitchens said. “And that was the first time I played. I just loved it immediately.”

The community that surrounds the concert setting is what hooked the young musician even more—the rare respite from the often social sorting of high school.

“Middle school and high school are really cliquey, and the band clique is really fascinating, because they’re all so different, but they all love to listen to and play music.”

But his obsession with his craft became untenable as he headed to college at Texas Christian University, pursuing music as a career for the first time.

“I just started practicing a ton—a really unhealthy amount,” Kitchens said. “I was practicing just stupid hours. I was getting injuries on my lips—just way overdoing it, not being healthy, doing as much as I could and working as hard as I could.”

Balance was achieved thanks to the support of his now-wife who spent her psychology schooling at Brunel in London while Kitchens attended graduate school at the Royal College of Music.

“Certainly in the beginning of my career, I was a little bit of a head case with trying to do my best but still have a balance,” he said. “I get really anxious and nervous, because I put a bunch of pressure on myself—and Pamela, having a background in psychology, can see that and just has the perfect way of talking to me, asking me the right questions and backing me up a little bit.

“I’m super lucky to have such a great partner—I know plenty of people who don’t have that support system and have to do it all themselves.”

Though the couple intended to continue working in Germany post-college, a chance change in visa allocations sent the two back stateside, where Kitchens spent time back in Texas and Omaha before landing his current position with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra.

“This is my seventh season up here, and I’m not even remotely used to the cold weather yet,” Kitchens said. “But I’ve lost all my tolerance for the hot weather, so when I got back to Texas to visit family in the summer it’s brutal.

“When I got the job here, I had no idea what to expect. I knew there would be a lot of chamber music, which I was excited about, because I hadn’t had that many opportunities to do smaller-scale chamber music stuff.”

Even more gratifying? The work the symphony does with the state’s reservations, particularly with young students, facilitated by principal oboist Jeff Paul and composer in residence Ted Wiprud.

“They’re basically facilitating these students’ composing,” Kitchens said. “They don’t have musical training or play instruments and might not know how to write music at all. And what these guys do with the students is facilitate—get the music into a form where we can read it and perform it.

“The really positive thing about it is that the subject matter we deal with varies. The bulk of what we perform is incredibly serious subject matters, of all of the issues plaguing so many of those communities out there—alcoholism, drug addiction, access to food and water and education, suicide. All of this is just stuck in these students’ minds, so with this outlet, you’d be amazed some of the music they’re able to pull out of themselves and present to us.”

It’s instances like these that Kitchens chalks up as some of those aforementioned moments that add up to a passion for playing. But he’s not done just yet. He is still seeking moments and plans to continue doing so in whatever his future career holds. 

“There have been a handful of moments that have gotten close to that moment in sixth grade—like playing Shostakovich 5, a piece that’s so dramatic and soul-sucking and then at the end it’s this glorious D-major chord that’s just ringing. I could barely play because I was overcome and giddy about this,” Kitchens said. “That’s the closest I’ve gotten back to that sixth-grade moment where I got to be in this column of sound all around me for the first time. I’m definitely chasing that feeling so that I can have it again.”