The pregame scouting report on NJSO violist, national anthem
With sports pundits everywhere breaking down tonight’s clash of football’s greatest offensive team and greatest defensive team, New York NOW decided to compile a different kind of scouting report, taking an in-depth (and completely satirical) look at the national anthem performance.
The piece walks through Renée Fleming’s preferred offensive and defensive schemes and examines the “unsung unit in today’s game”—the NJSO, which has provided the backing instrumentals for Fleming’s live performance.
Digging deeper into the NJSO team, New York NOW gives its “official” scouting report on NJSO Assistant Principal Viola Elzbieta Weyman:
Elzbieta has good straight-ahead speed on the strings, is comfortable playing the three-technique or the Suzuki style, and has what one scout called a “high Viola IQ.” Questions about her commitment were answered early on when she played half a movement with a broken bow, drawing comparisons to Jack Youngblood or a young Yuri Bashmet. Elzbieta prefers a viola case with a lock-down corner. After her playing career is over, she’d like to go into coaching or open a chain of viola-themed car washes.
The NJSO spoke with Weyman about the scouting report and tonight’s big game. Of her thoughts on tonight, Weyman says, “Denver’s Peyton Manning may end up with a legacy like Paganini’s, and Seattle’s Russell Wilson may be a prodigy like Mozart, but with Renée Fleming leading our way, the NJSO has the best quarterback on the field.”
Ever humble, she deflected questions about her individual achievements (“if Paganini can play a concert after losing three strings, and if Manning can throw a football after having a disc removed from his neck, I can deal with a broken bow”), focusing instead on how “playing your way to a championship game is a total team effort.”
But are there really viola-themed car washes in Weyman’s future once her playing days are over? “I love this game,” she says, “and the viola will always be a part of my life, even after I hang up my bow. Whether that inspires me to train the star players of tomorrow or provide an all-viola soundtrack for drivers as their cars roll through a car wash … well, we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Read Weyman’s real bio and a Q&A here.
Read the full New York NOW feature, and see what media, fans and fellow arts organizations are saying about the NJSOs participation in the national anthem performance.