Boehm playing final season with Musaeus string quartet

By Alexandra Noad - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on January 18, 2025.

The Lethbridge Symphony’s Musaeus string quartet, along with special guest Joan Rogers on the clarinet, will bring beloved works by Brahms and Dvorak on Saturday evening at the Southminister United Church.
Viki Hegedus, executive director of the Lethbridge Symphony Association, says attendees will enjoy conversational piece between the strings and clarinet.
“Our special guest is Joan Rogers on Clarinet,” said Hegedus. “(Rogers) is our principal clarinet for the full quartet, so I think it’s going to be great to have Musaeus string quartet joined by (Rogers) and they’ve picked a piece of music that is like a conversation between strings and clarinet.”
This show will also be long time member Norbert Boehm’s second to last performance with the group.
Boehm joined the symphony in 1974, after graduating from the University of Alberta.
He says he hadn’t been to Southern Alberta since he was 11 but remembered from hunting trips with his father that it was a pretty cool place.
As a single 22-year-old, fresh from university he room and boarded with Margaret and Bill Nelson, Margaret being the first president of the Symphony.
Boehm says they were supportive right from the get-go.
“They were supportive from the get-go,” Boehm said. “I started a string program with the Kiwanis club in two school districts.”
In the 1980s the Lethbridge Symphony had a string quartet as well as a full-time music director, Boehm says while it grew organically, it has developed beyond his wildest dreams.
“It just organically grew and developed, beyond my wildest dreams what we’re doing now in the 50 plus years I’ve been associated with it.
It has been a fulfilling musical career for Boehm, with no shortage of projects including productions with New West Theatre, Lethbridge Musical Theatre as well as larger productions which included five to six intimate series concerts back in the 80s.
During the pandemic, Boehm decided to pick up mandolin, which is similar to the violin. He also plays the viola as well as in a ukelele group alongside his wife.
He is also very active in the community, teaching lessons, with some of his students choosing music as their career.
“The oldest in the quartet now is a former student of mine, so it’s kind of come full circle,” said Boehm.
Dvorak has been his favourite of Boehm’s since his teens, and while he has played much of his chamber music, he finds it fitting to end his career with one of his most celebrated pieces.
“I’ve been a fan of Dvorak since my team and we’re playing one of his most celebrated string quartets”
While Boehm is expected to retire in June, he still plans on occasionally play for the symphony, as well as run and fly fish, but he also plans on expanding his knowledge on technology in his free time.
“I don’t know too much about computer technology, but I’ll make myself attend some of the sessions at the Lethbridge Senior Centre, to get more up to speed on that.”
Boehm has confirmed he isn’t going anywhere.
Tickets will be available to purchase at the door of the Southminister United Church.

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