The contractions began during the Brahms Serenade No. 1. “They were coming about once per page,” remembers violinist Ann Eastman, “and I wasn’t sure if it was a false labor or not.” Most expectant mothers would have made as unobtrusive an exit as possible and headed for the hospital then and there. But Ann reassured her stand partner, finished the Brahms, and found a chair offstage for the Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1, which she wasn’t scheduled to play. As she listened to the Paganini and Hindemith’s Die Harmonie der Welt from the wings, she noted that the contractions were coming every four minutes and decided she was, indeed, in labor. So when the concert was over, she found her husband, Jack, who was in the audience, and he drove her to Kaiser in Oakland. Their second child, Henry, was born at 5:00 a.m. September 1, 1993.
This plucky violinist kept her cool not out of innate nerves of steel but because she was on extremely familiar ground. In her “day job” Ann Eastman is an obstetrician. She is among a core of dedicated and talented amateurs who play alongside the professional musicians who hold the key positions in the Berkeley Symphony.
Ann’s mother was a music teacher, and she started playing the violin at the age of 4. Growing up in Pasadena, she played quite seriously and considered going to music school. But in the end she opted for a pre-med curriculum at Stanford, continuing to play and even serving as concertmistress of the Stanford Symphony for a time. Eventually, though, the demands of her residency forced her to put the violin in its case for six years.
“When I finished my obstetrics and gynecology residency,” says Ann, “I was really missing my violin, and what caught my eye were the Berkeley Symphony auditions. So instead of studying for my OBGYN boards, I practiced like crazy for the auditions.” As a practicing OBGYN and a mother of three, Ann has a very full schedule, but she always makes time for the Berkeley Symphony. “The fact that I don’t do it as a job means I love it,” she observes. “I love the rehearsals, love every part of it.”
When Maestro Nagano’s wife, Mari Kodama, gave birth to their daughter, Karin, the attending physician was Dr. Eastman.
.