Arts&Life
music
Concert Page Turner
Practices Medicine by Day
D
r. Henry Shevitz, 78,
of West Bloomfield,
spends his days
as a doctor, specializing in
nuclear medicine. But on
weekends for the past 27
years, he has served as a vol-
unteer page turner for the
Chamber Music Society of
Detroit. This little-recognized
job is essential for successful
piano concerts. Shevitz is the
person who follows the per-
formance in real time, sitting
next to the featured pianist,
and turns the music pages at
just the right moment.
“It’
s really a high-pres-
sure job. If you do your job,
nobody notices. All you can
do is screw up,” he says.
A talented pianist him-
self, Shevitz plays the piano
daily. “I learned to play the
piano before I could read,” he
says. He plays with different
duos as part of a local group,
Friends of Four Hands,
which began in the early
1980s. Years ago, Shevitz
played regularly with his late
wife, Susan Shevitz.
His musical background
helps with his concert role.
Shevitz is familiar with about
a quarter of the music per-
formed, although sometimes
he requests a copy of the
concert music ahead of time.
He doesn’
t rehearse with the
pianist so it’
s no wonder that
he describes his work as a
“perilous job.”
“I talk to the pianist right
before the concert. Some are
nasty, some are nice, some
are aloof,” he says.
His concert volunteer work
began when he turned pages
for several pianists at his
West Bloomfield synagogue,
Temple Kol Ami, years ago.
“In the almost 16 years
I’
ve been with the Chamber
Music S
ociety of Detroit, I
cannot remember one single
time when Henry was sched-
uled to turn pages for a con-
cert and didn’
t come,” says
Willa Walker of Bloomfield
Township, the Chamber
Music Society’
s vice presi-
dent. “
And I cannot remem-
ber one single time when
he didn’
t do his job perfect-
ly. He’
s highly skilled, profes-
sional and committed to the
Chamber Music Society.”
SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
40 | APRIL 30 • 2020
Henry Shevitz turns pages for renowned
pianist András Schiff (with cellist Miklós
Perényi) at Seligman Performing Arts
Center in Beverly Hills on April 4, 2007.
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