Jennifer
Walker plays the ’cello because she was the tallest
kid in the fourth grade and the teacher happily thought it
to be “simply the perfect fit!” This was a difficult
time for Jennifer’s father, who anxiously pictured
his role as it would be in the capacity of father of a female
skyscraper. Jennifer reached her towering height of 5 feet
5 inches at the age of ten and, obligingly, she stopped growing.
You can only imagine her father’s relief.
As a child and throughout her college years, Jennifer Walker
studied with wonderful, patient and kind, Delbert
Schneider, the principal ’cellist of the then highly acclaimed
Oakland Symphony. With his constant support, she was awarded
a full, four year music scholarship, graduating with a
degree in music and music performance from Holy Names College
in Oakland, CA. Fortified with her Bachelor’s
degree in music, she headed over to TWA insisting
on becoming a stewardess. She was simply the the perfect
height
Some
years later, Ms. Walker was, in fact, “The Stewardess” on
Otis Spunkmeyer’s Touring DC3 -- Hap Arnold’s
Flying Command Post in World War II.
Photo: ©Dion
Fuchs
She “worked
the Air Show Circuit” in 1997 as that year marked
the fiftieth birthday of the US Air Force, with Hap Arnold
being honored at each US Air force base as the Father of
the Air force.
When off tour or not
flying, Ms. Walker played as principal ’cellist
for the Diablo Light Opera Company of the Dean Lesher Regional
Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, CA. Suffering from
severe bouts of contentment, she gaily played such shows
as “Candide”, “Evita”, “Secret
Garden”, “Merry Widow”, Maury Yestin’s
“Phantom”, Sonheim’s “Into the Woods” and
many, many more.
Photo: ©Dion Fuchs
With relocation to Sonoma, Ms. Walker became the principal ’cellist for Santa Rosa’s Baroque Sinfonia, performing
under the baton of cranky beloved Eugene Shepherd. She “harped” on
Maestro Shepherd to let her play a solo until he finally
relented -- twice. In three years!
Now on a roll, she went on to perform twice as soloist
with the Kensington Symphony. Well, Lloyd Elliott, their
conductor, asked for it. And a year later, we found Ms. Jennifer
Walker performing Bargiel’s “Adagio” for
the Santa Rosa Community Orchestra under the baton of Cynthia
Weichel. And now this! Will she stop at
nothing? Once again, Eugene Shepherd finds himself hogtied eagerly conducting the Baroque Sinfonia as it endeavors
to follow accompany this amazing musical handful talent.
Ms. Walker owes the success of this remarkable Two City
World tour, “Still Growing” to her coaches, Burke
Schuchmann of the San Francisco Opera and Ballet Orchestra and
Irene Sharp of Mannes School of Music. She is forever indebted
to them. Most importantly, however, Walker's memories of her
first and most beloved mentor, Delbert Schneider, continue
to inspire her daily -- he is never far away -- and it is on
his cello, now hers, that she performs. Since receiving
this wonderful old Italian instrument, she has named it "Heart's
Desire", for that is
truly what it represents: her very "Heart's Desire."
Ms. Walker has performed as principal ’cellist for
the Cotati Philharmonic and is a founding member of that
organization. Currently she performs as principal 'cellist
for the Tennessee Valley Orchestra in Marin County and is
a section 'cellist for the widely acclaimed Camillia Symphony
in Sacramento under the baton of Allan Pollack. (www.camilliasymphony.org) Additionally,
she has been amember of Mendocino’s
Symphony of the Redwoods and the Mendocino Music Festival
Orchestra. She is a free lance musician who has substituted
into Napa Symphony, the Ukiah, Lake, Kensington and the
Solano Symphony Orchestras. She has served as the principal ’cellist
for the Sonoma Valley Chorale. She is a member of the American
String Teacher’s Association, as well as a member
of the Musician’s Union, local 292.
Jennifer Walker is the “Big Cheese” of her own
company, AaronEntertainment, wherein she proudly presents
the Corps d’Elite of Professional Musicians to the Wine
Country and the San Francisco Bay Area communities, offering
their extraordinary musical talents for weddings and life’s
magical milestones.
Enjoy www.AaronEntertainment.com!
we practice!
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