{"id":35867,"date":"2017-10-22T09:33:04","date_gmt":"2017-10-22T15:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=35867"},"modified":"2025-11-12T12:18:01","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T19:18:01","slug":"read-local-first-gerard-elias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/read-local-first-gerard-elias\/","title":{"rendered":"READ LOCAL First: Gerald Elias"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/strong>For today\u2019s installment of\u00a0<\/span>READ LOCAL SUNDAY\u00a0<\/strong>we feature Gerald Elias,\u00a0violinist and former Utah Symphony associate concertmaster and author of the Daniel Jacobus mystery series, the most recent of which,\u00a0Playing with Fire<\/em>\u00a0(Severn Press, 2016), is a finalist for this year\u2019s\u00a015 Bytes Book Award in fiction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

15 Bytes caught up with Elias via email shortly after his return from Japan, where he was busy doing what professional musicians do: concertizing. An excerpt from his\u00a0Playing with Fire<\/em>follows.<\/p>\n

15B: You\u2019ve written four books in the Daniel Jacobus mystery series, and you\u2019ve described Jacobus as \u201ca blind, curmudgeonly, reclusive, and brilliant violin teacher who has a knack for solving murders, but only after getting himself into very deep hot water.\u201d Other than his (mis)adventures, what do you feel you\u2019ve tapped that has made this guy so memorable to so many readers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

GE: Jacobus is totally genuine, totally honest. What you see is what you get. He doesn\u2019t abide fools or phonies, and says the things to them WE would love to say if only it were socially acceptable. Jacobus is as absolutely loyal to music as he is to his friends Yumi and Nathaniel, and would defend them to his death. His sarcasm and biting wit mask his vulnerability, having survived more tragedies in life than anyone deserves. His courage and strength of will enable him to forge ahead in an inhospitable world. Deep down, he has a heart of gold.<\/p>\n

15B: You\u2019ve extended your career as a professional musician to include a suite of enterprises, including the Jacobus mysteries. Then there are the\u00a0audio book<\/a>s of The\u00a0Devil\u2019s Trill<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Danse Macabre\u00a0<\/em>(which you can currently\u00a0pre-order<\/a>\u00a0in time for Halloween), combing clue-providing music that you perform. And, of course, live readings with live music, along with a really cool\u00a0blog<\/a>\u00a0that uses the classical music work to launch all kinds of cultural and social\/political commentary. Are you the poster boy for artists to think outside their discipline?<\/strong><\/p>\n

GE: Since I was a little kid I\u2019ve just wanted to \u201cdo stuff.\u201d To give myself challenges. Music \u2014 whether performing, conducting, composing, or teaching \u2014 has been a great joy, providing rewards on so many different levels. That being said, I also love writing and have played various sports longer than I\u2019ve played the violin. (I\u2019m still waiting to be signed by the Yankees.) I also enjoy gardening, the outdoors, traveling, cooking, drawing, reading \u2026 You name it. It just turned out that music and writing were the two things that have stuck as a profession. I think that in order to get the most out of life, everyone \u2014 regardless of their profession \u2014 should do the things they have a passion for. After all, the worst that can happen is that you\u2019re terrible at it. Big deal. I tried teaching myself the piano.\u00a0Fuggetaboutit<\/em>.<\/p>\n

15B: You link each of your books to a particular piece of classical music. When you sit down to write the next book, do you pick the music first, or do you come up with the story and plot before aligning it with music that you are aware of? In short, what\u2019s your process?<\/strong><\/p>\n

GE:\u00a0Devil\u2019s Trill<\/em>, my first book, was originally called \u201cViolin Lessons\u201d and was going nowhere. \u201cThe Devil\u2019s Trill\u201d violin sonata, by Giuseppe Tartini, was a tangential afterthought in the story. But the more I thought about the music and the diabolical story behind the music the more potential resonance I saw between it and my book. I could talk for a half hour about the myriad levels of inspiration that connection gave me, but suffice it to say that in the following three books,\u00a0Danse Macabre, Death & the Maiden, and Death & Transfiguration<\/em>, I actively sought those same connections. Though I had a broad plot and character outline of those stories in mind from the outset, the music and the stories behind the music were constant generators of ideas.<\/p>\n

My last two books,\u00a0Playing with Fire<\/a><\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Spring Break<\/a><\/em>, are somewhat different. They are loosely based upon Vivaldi\u2019s\u00a0Four Seasons<\/em>. As you may know, Vivaldi wrote sonnets to serve as his own inspiration for composing the concertos, and I\u2019ve gone the next step. I chose settings representative of each concerto and venue where musicians are prone to want to kill each other. Thus,\u00a0Playing with Fire<\/em>\u00a0takes place in the dead of winter in a violin shop. while\u00a0Spring Break<\/em>\u00a0takes place at the vernal equinox at a music conservatory. I anticipate the settings for\u00a0 my next two books will be a summer music festival and a concert tour, respectively.<\/p>\n

15B:<\/strong>\u00a0Attendance at classical music concerts has steadily declined over the years, but classical\/symphonic\/chamber music is really everywhere in our lives (I\u2019m thinking of movie and television scores). What\u2019s the future of classical music in your view and what role do artists like you play in that future?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: I think the obituary of classical music is premature and a bit nearsighted. Why premature? Certainly, it\u2019s a challenge to fill concert halls nowadays when there\u2019s so much competing entertainment, both live and on our devices. But classical music has always been a \u201cniche market,\u201d and at any given time some orchestras have been more successful than others at building and retaining audiences. Also, our public schools have largely failed our youth by removing music and art as an integral component of education. On the bright side it should be noted that the number of cities who can boast of professional symphony orchestras continues to grow. Even during the \u201cgolden era\u201d of Toscanini and Koussevitsky there were only a handful of such orchestras and most orchestral musicians had second jobs in order to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

Why nearsighted? Look at the big picture. We not only have major symphony orchestras. We have semi-professional, community, university, student, and youth orchestras everywhere. There\u2019s hardly a community anywhere that doesn\u2019t have an orchestra of some sort. We have more serious college music programs than ever. We have chamber music, contemporary music, opera, and a burgeoning interest in Baroque music. And, look around the world! Asia (China, Japan, and Korea) has gone crazy over classical music in the past fifty years. South America has more classical music going on than anyone would imagine, and of course there\u2019s always Europe, the origin of so much of our incredible music tradition.<\/p>\n

All in all, I\u2019m very optimistic that Mozart and Bach will continue to delight listeners for many years to come.<\/p>\n

15B: Can you give us a preview of Jacobus\u2019s next adventure?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My working title at the moment is \u201cCloudy with a Chance of Murder.\u201d It will be based upon Vivaldi\u2019s stormy concerto, \u201cSummer,\u201d from the\u00a0Four Seasons<\/em>\u00a0and will take place at a summer music festival (I\u2019m conjuring one on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake). During the course of a very serious thunderstorm, a member of one of the performing ensembles will be killed. Jacobus\u2019s former beloved student, Yumi Shinagawa, is a performer at the concert, and becomes enmeshed in the search for the killer.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all I\u2019m going to say!<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Excerpt from\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Playing with Fire<\/strong>
\nby Gerald Elias<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For the fourth time, the telephone rang. Its shrill G-sharp, ugly and discordant, clashed with the sublime G major chord that ended the Pastorale of the\u00a0Christmas Concerto.<\/em><\/p>\n

The phone startled Trotsky, who cradled his treasured bone in his gaping maw and skulked off, seeking refuge in a far corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnswer it,\u201d Jacobus muttered to whomever.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you sure?\u201d Yumi asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah. It\u2019s driving me nuts. They just don\u2019t give up. And, Jesus Christ, on Christmas Eve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yumi let it ring ten times before she lifted the receiver.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Amadeo Borlotti,\u201d Yumi said to Jacobus, her hand over the receiver.<\/p>\n

Borlotti? Jacobus thought. The name was vaguely familiar. Yes, it came back to him now.\u00a0A small-time violin repairman whose reputation was untarnished by notable achievement.<\/em>\u00a0Borlotti had plied his trade not so far away in Egremont Falls, selling strings and supplies and patching up student fiddles. Well, a living\u2019s a living. There was never a shortage of fiddles dropped \u201cby accident\u201d on the gymnasium floor by passive aggressive adolescents after having etched their initials on the instruments\u2019 backs with penknives. Jacobus would never have trusted his precious Gagliano with someone like Borlotti, who, as far as he knew, was little more than a hack.<\/p>\n

Why the hell\u2019s Amadeo Borlotti be calling me on Christmas Eve, and at this time of night?<\/em><\/p>\n

Jacobus rolled over on the creaking couch, his back to the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell him I don\u2019t need any rosin. When I do I\u2019ll call him. Should be in about five years, more or less.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that,\u201d said Yumi. \u201cHe wants to come see you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFine.\u201d Jacobus heard Nathaniel stir. \u201cNathaniel, are we doing anything between now and New Year\u2019s Eve?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNope. Free as birds.\u201d Nathaniel yawned and made his way to the jigsaw puzzle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I thought. Yumi, invite Borlotti sometime next year. Shall we say April? Maybe July?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wants to come over tonight. He says it\u2019s urgent. Here, you talk to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Jacobus could protest further, Yumi pressed the phone into his hand. He felt Yumi\u2019s weight, light though it was, settle onto his hip. He held the receiver to his ear.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Jacobus,\u201d said Borlotti. \u201cThere is something I must tell you. It\u2019s very important. You are the only one who would understand. It\u2019s very important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThird time\u2019s a charm,\u201d Jacobus said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve already told me twice it\u2019s very important. One more time, maybe I\u2019ll believe you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacobus curled his legs to give Yumi more room, setting his stomach to growling again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2026it is a long story. I don\u2019t feel right talking over the phone. May I come to your home? Tonight? Now? It\u2019s only twenty minutes. I can be right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to be a party-pooper, Borlotti,\u201d said Jacobus, \u201cbut it\u2019s past my bedtime, and my elves have informed me my driveway\u2019s already covered with snow. If you killed yourself trying to navigate it at night my insurance company would raise my premium.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, Borlotti, tomorrow\u2019s Sunday. Christmas Day. Why don\u2019t you stop by in the morning? It should be plowed by then, and I tell you what? I\u2019ll have a pot of Christmas coffee going. We can eat figgy pudding and watch\u00a0Heidi<\/em>together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot tonight?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo dice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow early tomorrow?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever the cock crows, or nine o\u2019clock, whichever is later.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll right, Mr. Jacobus, if that is what it must be. Thank you.\u201d He added, \u201cMerry Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd God bless us, every one,\u201d Jacobus said and hung up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was nice of you to invite him over,\u201d Yumi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Christmas spirit. How could I say no? He was nervous as Trotsky getting a Parvo shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy does he need to see you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeats me. The last time I went to his shop was years ago for an emergency repair. My student what\u2019s-her-face came for a lesson and her soundpost collapsed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPoor kid,\u201d said Yumi.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoor kid? Lucky me! She had a tone a chainsaw would envy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a student who sounds like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s her son.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCould be. I wish I had earplugs when he comes for a lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat advice do you give him?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSwitch to trombone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cVery sage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned from the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAdvice like that could put people like Borlotti out of business,\u201d Nathaniel interjected, taking a moment from his concentration on the jigsaw puzzle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to Mr. Borlotti\u2019s shop on my way back to the city once,\u201d said Yumi, \u201cjust to buy a set of strings. He was a very sweet man.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh, I like my women like I like my bagels!\u201d Jacobus exclaimed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCrusty on the outside, soft on the inside.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLike your head, with a hole in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow dare you talk to your elder like that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I said, I learned from the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yumi pinched Jacobus\u2019s bristly cheek, making him smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you want me to tidy up the house for Mr. Borlotti?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, for God\u2019s sake!\u201d Jacobus crooned croakingly, \u201cI\u2019ve grown accustomed to this place<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo doubt,\u201d said Nathaniel. \u201cYou\u2019ve had the same junk for forty years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWall-to-wall clutter becomes you,\u201d Yumi said to Jacobus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when he\u2019s here Mr. Borlotti might want to be able to walk in a straight line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo quote my favorite hero,\u201d Jacobus said, \u201c\u2018Bah! Humbug!\u2019\u201d Something clicked in his memory. \u201cAnd what was the name of Borlotti\u2019s shop? Something tacky. Like bad Dickens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYe Olde Violin Shoppe,\u201d said Nathaniel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s it! That\u2019s one reason I never went back. What\u2019s with this \u2018ye\u2019 crap?\u201d Jacobus lamented. \u201cIt\u2019s bad enough they misspell words like \u2018old\u2019 and \u2018shop\u2019 when they put a damn \u2018e\u2019 at the end of them, but \u2018ye\u2019 doesn\u2019t even mean \u2018the.\u2019 It means \u2018you\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou sound like Andy Rooney,\u201d said Yumi.<\/p>\n

\u201cAndy Rooney!\u201d Jacobus barked. \u201cAndy Rooney\u2019s a curmudgeon!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHo! Ho!\u201d laughed Nathaniel. \u201cAnd what may you be, Jake?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMe?\u201d he replied pensively. \u201cI am an analyst.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three lapsed back into their easy silence, eventually broken when Yumi volunteered to do the dishes. Jacobus mumbled that since she had washed them the night before, he\u2019d take care of it. He would have preferred waiting until morning, but if he did, the mice would make his house their winter mecca and crap all over the place. Ah, the hell with the mice. He\u2019d do the dishes tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd why were you so damn reluctant to answer the phone just now?\u201d he asked Yumi.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, just superstition,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat superstition?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Japanese, the number four is unlucky. It was the fourth time the phone rang.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s so unlucky about it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of our words for the number four,\u00a0shi<\/em>, has another meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also means thirteen?\u201d Jacobus said, pleased with his wit.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. It also means death.\u201d<\/p>\n

#<\/p>\n

Join Gerald Elias this Thursday, October 26th at 7:00 pm at the 15th Street Gallery (1519 S. 1500 E. in Salt Lake) as he reads & performs diabolical music from his newly released\u00a0Devil\u2019s Trill<\/em>\u00a0audiobook & mystery novel,\u00a0Spring Break<\/em>. Reception to follow catered by Avenues Bistro.\u00a0 A requested minimum donation of $40 ($25 with student ID) as well as a donation from book sales will benefit the student scholarship fund for\u00a0Citizens\u2019 Climate Lobby<\/a>.\u00a0Info: 801-671-0351 or\u00a0blwill22@gmail.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"A former violinist with the Boston Symphony and longtime associate concertmaster of the Utah Symphony,\u00a0Gerald Elias\u00a0<\/a>has performed on five continents as violinist, conductor, composer, and teacher. Since 2004 he has been music director of the\u00a0Vivaldi by Candlelight<\/a>\u00a0concerts in Salt Lake City, and continues to perform with the Boston Symphony at their Tanglewood summer festival. He was first violin of the Abramyan String Quartet from 1993-2003 and has been a faculty member of the University of Utah School of Music since 1989. A native New Yorker, Elias resides in Salt Lake City and West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he continues to expand his musical and literary horizons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For today\u2019s installment of\u00a0READ LOCAL SUNDAY\u00a0we feature Gerald Elias,\u00a0violinist and former Utah Symphony associate concertmaster and author of the Daniel Jacobus mystery series, the most recent of which,\u00a0Playing with Fire\u00a0(Severn Press, 2016), is a finalist for this year\u2019s\u00a015 Bytes Book Award in fiction. 15 Bytes caught up with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1566,"featured_media":37848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,2513],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-literary-arts","category-read-local-first"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Statue-Color-1.jpg-Thomas-Ahern-350x233-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-06 02:19:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1566"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35867"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98545,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35867\/revisions\/98545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}