Visit Kay Walvoord in her home, or ride with her in the car, and you won’t hear one note of ambient music.

This may seem surprising for someone who, for more than 30 years on the Lakeshore, has been as closely linked to orchestras as rhythm is to beat. But Walvoord isn’t interested in music that hides in the background.

“I want music loud enough to feel like I’m in the middle of it,” she says. “If I can’t experience music like that, and give it my full attention, I’d rather just put on a podcast.”

Walvoord fell in love with music by being surrounded by it — literally. A classically trained oboist, her place was in the woodwind section at the center of the symphony’s semicircle, just a few rows back from the conductor.

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