He recalls a quarter-century of fun, challenges and rewards
By Julia Sommer for Ashland.news
Jefferson Public Radio’s classical music director and announcer Don Matthews is retiring June 28. It’s hard to imagine JPR’s mellifluous a.m. baritone gone after a quarter-century at the helm of its classical music station. JPR Executive Director Paul Westhelle’s immediate response to Matthews’ announcement: “Really??”
“I’ll be 68 in September, it’s time. Judith and I would like to travel,” he says. “I wanted to give JPR time for me to train other people on my production and other non-air responsibilities — preparing weekend programs from other sources like the Metropolitan Opera and Played in Oregon, recording show promos for the week ahead, training and supervising volunteer announcers. Getting up at 5, 5:30 a.m. to be cogent on air at 7 a.m. gets a little old. I’d like to sleep in. The timing just feels right; I’ve been working since high school.”
Arrived with credentials
Matthews arrived at JPR in 1998 after stints at WGBH and WBUR radio stations in Boston, three seasons with the San Francisco Opera Chorus, and degrees in music from Eastern Michigan University and the University of Southern California (Master of Music, vocal performance).
“I thought I knew a lot about classical music,” he says, “but I’ve really expanded my knowledge beyond the Three Bs” (Bach, Beethoven, Brahms). “I’m most proud of expanding the conversation to include contemporary composers of color and women composers. During First Concert (7 a.m to noon weekdays), I put Florence Price right up next to Beethoven. To find these composers and share them with listeners was unexpected. I thought I was going to churn out the same old same old.”
An impromptu aria
Asked to recall memorable on-air experiences at JPR, Matthews laughs about working a live, eight-day fund drive when a caller said he would double his donation if Matthews sang something then and there on the air.
“I quickly found the libretto for a fairly simple aria from Don Giovanni, backed away from the mike, and sang. The caller was good for his word.”
Matthews’ saddest memory was being on air on 9/11. The senior staff was traveling to a meeting, so it was up to him to choose what to program.
“This was before cell phones, so there was no quick way to reach them. (NPR news anchor) Bob Edwards was describing the scene in Manhattan on “Morning Edition.” I stopped all regular programming and just ran NPR and BBC live. You don’t allow yourself to feel emotion at times like that, you have to stay cool, calm. Afterwards I went to Trinity (Episcopal Church) to let in the grief.”
Matthews leaves a lot of his programming of First Concert to the spur of the moment.
“I usually pick three pieces ahead of time. After that it’s completely seat of the pants,” he says. “I try to make links between pieces. Every single day I get to play whatever I want for five hours, live. That’s very unusual in radio these days.”
It’s not unusual for Matthews to meet people who’ve listened to him for years on the radio and are very surprised at his 6-foot-5 height.
That happened when he was conducting a pre-concert interview at the Britt Festival. “I know, I sound much shorter on the air,” he replied to the concertgoer.
A busy vocalist
Matthews has performed with Southern Oregon Repertory Singers since he arrived in 1998, where he is soloist and bass section leader. He taught voice and introductory music courses at SOU until the pandemic hit. He has been a guest soloist with Rogue Valley Chorale and Siskiyou Singers and performed with Camelot Theatre, Randall Theatre, Ashland Contemporary Theater, Collaborative Theatre Project, and Rogue Music Theater in Grants Pass. The roles he remembers most fondly are three at the Camelot: Henry in “The Lion in Winter,” Sweeney in “Sweeney Todd” and his all-time favorite — Don Quixote in “Man of La Mancha.”
Matthews will continue to sing with Southern Oregon Repertory Singers. The next SORS concerts are May 11-12: “Faces of Love: The James M. Collier First Light Festival of New Choral Music.”
Longtime afternoon classical host Valerie Ing wrote this about her colleague:
“How to encapsulate more than 20 years working with Don! He is truly an icon, and he’ll be leaving some really big shoes to fill. (Don is about a foot taller than everybody else at JPR.)
“He carries around a wealth of knowledge that is going to be difficult, if not impossible, to replace. He also knows where everything is in the music library, so I hope he doesn’t mind if I email him at least once a week to ask him where to find obscure CDs that elude me, but he’ll know right where to find them. It’s also been a complete joy to have a compadre to nerd out about classical music with.
“But I’m happy that he’s finally going to get the chance to sleep in past 6 a.m.!”
Asked what he’ll miss most about his job, Matthews responds: “Knowing that the music I played while sitting alone in a studio was such an important part of so many people’s lives in a way that I will really never know. This was especially true in the early days of the pandemic, when so many felt so isolated and maybe needed a break from the news. To share that music with so many in need was an honor, and I will always be glad to know that the time we spent together with beautiful music helped so many people that I never met.”
Email freelance writer Julia Sommer of Ashland at juliamsommer@gmail.com.
