Wolfgang and Bette Roth insist that their students take a proper bow when completing a performance. Now it's their turn.
The Roths - he is the principal second violinist and she is principal harpist for Charlotte Symphony Orchestra - will be honored May 6 and 7 in their final Classics Concert with the group. Their final performance comes during the summer series July 3, and they'll retire after 40 years with the orchestra in August. .
"I made my 40 years full," Wolfgang said.
Wolfgang accepted the first full-time contract with the orchestra in 1971, helping transition the group into what's now a professional unit. That same year Bette accepted her position on a per-service contract, coming on full-time during the 1983-84 season.
Their list of venues played, conductors and musical guests stretches as far as the scores they perform. Highlights include a European tour, hundreds of students taught through what became one of the largest teaching studios on the East Coast and two album recordings. Bette's orchestra seat is endowed by Dr. Billy Graham, whom she sat down harpside to celebrate the honor.
Picking out a single concert or event as most memorable, Bette said, is impossible.
"The concerts that stood out were the ones that included pieces in the program that show off what my instrument can do," she said.
Neither orchestra seat occupied by the Roths ever had anyone else in it, and filling them will mean a transition that fellow musicians say marks a major shift for Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. Christine Van Arsdale played harp beside Bette, first as a student then as second harp with the symphony, for more than 30 years.
"She always handled things well," Van Arsdale said. "She has just an amazing ability to handle whatever surprises life serves up."
Violinist Kathy Jarrell began playing alongside Wolfgang in 1993. His experience and talent will be missed by the orchestra, she said, nowhere more than in her section, where Wolfgang leads with a steady, kind demeanor. It's something she appreciates in a business in which so many "artistic personalities" meet expectations to "play perfectly every time."
"He's just easy to sit by," Jarrell said. "He looks out for his section."
The duo isn't quite finished playing. Bette plans to continue with her harp students, with hopes of continuing outreach programs. More than a decade ago, she began playing in hospice settings and in hospitals. She even took a small harp to a Honduran hospital once to play for patients.
"I want to do more volunteer work with my harp," Bette said.
Wolfgang also hopes to devote more time to hobbies such as theology, sailing and traveling. The Roths plan to remain active at Scherer Memorial Presbyterian Church, perhaps taking mission trips.
"There comes a time in life when you realize that the major part of your life is over," Wolfgang said. "If you consider what God has done for you, out of thankfulness you want to give back."
Though their careers took them to numerous countries and venues, the Roths decided to make Charlotte and its symphony orchestra their home years ago.
"Once you're in an orchestra as husband and wife," Wolfgang said, "you really don't have to look anywhere."
