Cade Foard follows father’s footsteps to play in the Amarillo Symphony

The shoes he set out to fill were spacious, but Cade Foard, a music major at Amarillo College, was driven by familial allegiance and undaunted by the challenge.

This past August, the gifted AC violinist earned a seat on the Amarillo Symphony, where his father, the late Orin Foard, had impeccably performed as a bassist for more than 25 years.

“Playing for the symphony has been a culmination of my entire life’s experiences so far,” Cade said. “My father was a symphony member for almost 30 years, so I was always going to symphony concerts from a very young age and over the years I’ve gotten to know almost every member there.

“That was about the best upbringing a musician could ask for,” he said. “I got a very warm reception when I was finally able to audition well enough to get in, and now I’m being paid to be there once a month playing among friends – where my dad loved to play.”

Cade, 21, landed a one-year stint on the symphony, filling the chair of a violinist on leave of absence. It’s a gig with an expiration date, but come next August he anticipates auditioning once again. Until then, however, he is living his dream of professionally playing the classical music his father held dear, while continuing his academic and musical pursuits at AC.

Orin Foard encouraged his two sons to play classical music from an early age. Xander, the eldest, took up the oboe. Cade became enamored with the violin at age 9, and his father signed him up for – and almost religiously conveyed him to and from lessons and performances of – the Amarillo College Suzuki Program, the Amarillo Youth Symphony, the Greater Southwest Music Festival, and more.

In the summer of 2019, as something of a capstone to his Suzuki experiences, Cade was one of about a dozen young Amarilloans who attended and played at the Avila International Music Festival in Spain.

“I think a lot of Cade’s success is due to the dedication of his father,” said Beverly de la Bretonne, Cade’s present-day violin instructor at AC who, in addition to being a longtime member of the Amarillo Symphony in her own right, helped establish the esteemed Suzuki Program at AC.

“I still have memories of his father sitting down at the end of the hall during Cade’s lessons every week,” she said. “He saw to it that Cade was here for every lesson, private or group. He introduced Cade to classical music at such an early stage of his life, and that’s a big key to his success.”

Cade is a graduate of Amarillo High School who consistently achieved success at UIL music competitions. He then took his talents to Texas Tech University and studied under renowned educator and musician Annie Chalex Boyle, of which he said: “She pretty much transformed my playing into something entirely new.”

However, upon the untimely passing of his father due to complications of COVID-19, Cade returned to Amarillo and enrolled at AC. He initially majored in chemistry, while continuing to hone his craft under the tutelage of de la Bretonne, who in addition to being his mentor is now a symphony colleague, as well.

“I’m so proud of Cade, and I love having him sitting behind me in the symphony,” she said.

Cade says he enjoys the sciences and was unsure for a while whether or not to continue as a music major.

“It took me a year to decide,” he said. “I have a lot of academic interests and I do like science, but I just couldn’t stay away from the music. That’s my focus now.”

Next fall, Cade plans to transfer his credits to West Texas A&M University, where he’s been accepted to study with Evgeny Zvonnikov, professor of violin. He plans to pursue WT’s Music Industry Program and hopes one day to enter the administrative side of the symphony industry, possibly even in his hometown.

“It’s a very rare opportunity for a violinist to be good enough to play professional solo gigs, especially right out of college, so that will likely have to be my long-term goal,” Cade said. “But for directly out of college, I’m planning on utilizing WT’s music business degree plan, which is very unique – WT is one of the few schools to offer it – to hopefully get involved with the offices and symphony guilds wherever I may go.

“Honestly, I would love to remain with the Amarillo Symphony and possibly get into the administration there,” he said. “Many of the office staff there also play in the Symphony, so the idea of that is very appealing to me.”