A passion for classical

BLAIR KAPLAN

It takes an innovative and creative mind to continuously enhance a community. David Skulski is someone who has proven that talent multiple times.

At the age of five Skulski was already engaged with the world of music, playing piano. Soon after, he joined the New Westminster

Lions Club Boys and Girls Band, where he was introduced to the oboe, which has been his instrument of choice ever since.

In an interview with the Independent, Skulski maintained that he found much encouragement in those early years. "A musical inspiration to me was my piano teacher, Priscilla Eastman, and my band director."

As for take-away lessons from that time, Skulski admitted, "I don't particularly remember their musical wisdom, but in one case [it was] the inspiration and the other case [it was] discipline.... [The] two assets" children need if they want to grow up playing music.

At age 17, Skulski joined the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra as the solo English horn and, in 1963, he became a freelance oboist. This move led him to perform for the CBC as well as with a variety of other local chamber ensembles. For two years in the late 1960s, Skulski was a part of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Xalapa in Mexico. Upon his return to Vancouver in 1968, he founded Hortulani Musicae and he performed with them until 1976.

During that time, Skulski's passion for 16th-century music led him to be one of four founders of Early Music Vancouver, in 1969, which started out as the Vancouver Society for Early Music, and specialized in Renaissance music.

"Somebody who was writing music 800 years ago or 400 years ago or whenever is expressing an esthetic that they were born into. In order for us to fully understand, or at least approach a full understanding of what they were trying to say, we need to explore that time, how they did it and all of the context around it. It's really a study and approach to history. It tells us about the past as much as it does about the music itself. So there's an antiquarian instinct about it."

Skulski described his interest in Renaissance and Baroque music as beginning with "playing the oboe ... it peaked my curiosity. I was studying some Baroque pieces and they were hard. I thought, 'How did they manage to do this 200 years ago with instruments that aren't as technically advanced as ours are?' My pursuit of the answer to that question is luckily what got it going."

Skulski has been exploring the "enormous universe of thousands of years of musical history," throughout his life. "Curiosity eventually led to me wanting to pursue it in a public way and I was part of a group and we formed an ensemble. Out of that ensemble, the initial motive was, frankly, commercial. We were looking for a subsidy and the only way we were going to get that was by being incorporated – so we did! It then grew into the organization that sponsored concerts and events and it's still here!"

Skulski started as the first president of Early Music Vancouver and then became the executive director. Proud of his role there, Skulski said, "I was there for five years; I put it on the map."

Skulski ended up leaving Early Music Vancouver amid a dispute. He told the Independent, "The lingering disappointment is, that after a whole generation, I am unknown there."

Shortly after he left Early Music Vancouver, he took up the marketing for Edibaubles Inc., which was a company he started with his late wife. After the loss of his wife, Skulski moved on to working with computers, which, he said, "comes almost second nature."

Currently, Skulski continues to work with computers. "For the last 30 years I have been a computer consultant. I don't know how to say no. You tell me what you need. You tell me what your [computer] problem is, and I'll fix it. If I don't know, I will get somebody who does or I will find out. I am able to cover a pretty wide range of issues. For years I have worked with small- to medium-sized businesses, wrote software and trained people." In addition to his consulting, Skulski's newest line of work is installing Internet telephone service which, he believes, is a technology that is "here to stay."

In 2003, Skulski was elected president of the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture. There, he organized the Music at the Peretz Centre series, featuring music created by Jewish musicians. He also started the annual ¡Festival Judío!, which celebrates Latin-American Jewish culture.

Skulski believes that success in the endeavors he has undertaken stems from the fact that he "doesn't know that they are not impossible." His setbacks, including the rift with Early Music Vancouver, have not put a damper on his spirits or his motivation. He has several plans for the future and said, "creating and establishing the Vancouver Jewish Orchestra" is first on his list.

Blair Kaplan is a freelance journalist from Vancouver who has a diverse background in communications. For more information, visit blairkaplan.ca.

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