World famous but unknown

Photo: Contributed

Leonard Bernstein, Roslyn Frantz and Gregory Millar in the green room of Carnegie Hall before a rehearsal of the New York Philharmonic.

She was 17. On stage. Alone. Playing piano with the Portland Symphony and she wanted to stop.

She really wanted to stop.

But she kept playing — the same notes over and over and over.

Where was the conductor and the flutes? What was happening? Panic set in and was travelling to her fingers.

Finally. Finally!  The conductor remembered to bring in the flutes. 

This was what a concert pianist did, and endured. She was the most frightened she had ever been. She loved it.

You might pass her at the grocery store — a tiny, beautiful woman. Memorable. You notice her eyes, big and very sharp. What things have those eyes seen? For sure, nothing gets past them.

Roslyn Frantz is world famous, but it’s easier learning to play Beethoven’s Fifth than it is getting information about her globe-trotting life. She would rather sit at her Steinway piano and coach a better sound out of you. 

She’s a musician, concert pianist, accompanist, linguist, coach, teacher, an incredible life force and someone I’m proud to call a friend.

She’s 89 years old and still going strong. She started playing piano when she was four years old in Portland, Ore. At 12, she played her first operatic score, Aida, and coached adult students in Italian, which she taught herself. 

Umm, what were you doing at 12?

By 16, she debuted with the Portland Symphony and the next year, well, you’ve already read what she was up to at 17.

University took her to California and eventually she married Gregory Millar, a Canadian from Prince Albert, Sask., a well-known conductor and operatic tenor. Gregory never conducted fewer than three orchestra companies at the same time during his entire career. 

Roslyn was on the move. Somehow, she juggled being an opera accompanist, concert pianist and having four children. The last was born during her husband’s two-year stint as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

She talked about her time in New York with Lennie and Gregory. 

Lennie who? I asked. 

Oh, Leonard Bernstein.

Choke! Oh, that Lennie. 

She was Gregory’s pianist and opera assistant during those years in New York. Gregory did the first tour ever of West Side Story. He often did gigs for Lennie when he was too busy. 

She was in her element and not in Gregory’s shadow, creating her own history. Heady stuff!

In 1971, life happened, love was lost and she found herself getting a master’s degree in Arizona. A time to regroup, but that didn’t last long. San Francisco Opera snapped her up for their Merola Program, a coveted young artist program. This was the beginning of her teaching and coaching young artists that she continues today. She loved it.

She returned to San Francisco and worked as a coach for San Francisco Opera; had rave reviews as a recitalist and accompanist and performed with many symphonies. She even replaced Andre Previn in Bartok Concerto at the Monterey Jazz Festival.  

Love returned in 1973 in the form of a sought after trumpeter, Eddie Haug. He was a Sierra Club member. They loved the wilderness, especially the wilds of Canada. When their whirlwind life would allow, they hiked and spent precious time as a family exploring B.C.

How did she end up in Kelowna?  

Truth is funnier than fiction. 

She talked with someone at a campsite near Jasper and was told she visit Kelowna in the Okanagan. Oka-what? She asked. The rest is history. The sane calmness was a great pull for Roslyn. Could life be real and worthwhile in this Oka-what place?

While she loved it here, she missed playing with her friends (being professionals, they were always travelling). But she was never one to stay quiet; a lady counted Roslyn accompanying 200 students in one day for a Kiwanis Festival. She missed the camaraderie of singers. They challenged her, kept her abilities razor sharp.

Roslyn and Neal Facey decided to bring opera to Kelowna, albeit, 18 years too soon. The audience for opera wasn’t here in those days. They started Viva Musica in 1991 and quickly moved to musical theatre in 1995. Viva Musica, driven by Roslyn’s passion, provided many a singer, from far and near, Equity pay and priceless experience.

Viva Musica closed in 2009, but, luckily, Randy Leslie and Nate Flavel invited her to be musical director of Sweeny Todd at The Actor’s Studio. 

She has been with them since. We have reaped the rewards of their decision time and time again.

Every singer needs someone who has an ear and an ability to rip the best out of you while making you feel great. 

It is a gift. It is rare. She has it.

It is her generosity of spirit, consummate professionalism and love of the art, that makes her so precious to our local community. Kelowna has recognized her contribution with many awards. 

We, singers, recognize it every time we have a lesson.

Today, her world has shrunk to the size of her garage — her Pandemic Parlour as she calls it. Invitations are coveted. Her stories and her insights are diamonds.

She is staying healthy and ready to touch those ivories when Actor’s Studio is allowed to begin again.

If you see her walking beside you, give her room; moss doesn’t grow under her feet.

Go, Roslyn, Go!

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.