Cleveland Orchestra Trombonist Richard Stout Making Headlines

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Get caught up with Cleveland Orchestra trombonist and motorcycle enthusiast Richard Stout. Stout was recently featured in the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Motorcycles are his passion, but it was a set of icy stairs that took him down.

Exiting his back porch one day in March 2008, Cleveland Orchestra trombonist Richard Stout slipped and fell, landing hard on his back and left arm. Two months later, the pain was such that he couldn't play.

Multiple surgeries, lots of therapy and a long convalescence ensued. Today, though, Stout is almost grateful for the experience, saying the unplanned sabbatical renewed his dedication to music and taught him to love his job even more deeply.

"It's a gift," said Stout, 47, a resident of Cleveland Heights and a member of the orchestra since 2000. "It's one of the best things anyone could ask to do."

Listeners unaware of Stout's accident might find the recording he made in 2011 with his wife, pianist Christina Dahl, one year after his return to playing, puzzling. At least at first.

Titled "Decreasing Radius," the disc would seem to reference geometry or astronomy, not the modern and contemporary fantasies on its program. Notably, Stout and Dahl even managed to commission a new piece from composer Caleb Burhans.

Read more at the Cleveland Plain Dealer