Jill LaForty's name is known to almost everyone who listens to CBC Radio Two, and that includes most of the country's classical music lovers. As the main producer of national-level broadcast music from the Ottawa area, she is in charge of broadcasts of many National Arts Centre Orchestra programs, concerts from the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival and Almonte in Concert, to mention just a few.

But to most people she is just a name they hear when credits are announced, though she has been heard increasingly in recent years giving on-air commentary. In Ottawa her profile is a bit higher. She sometimes introduces programs in person and even when she is working behind the scene, so to speak, most local music lovers will recognize her buzzing about making sure that everything unfolds as it should. Her eager, cheerful manner and manifest competence make her a cherished presence on the local music scene.

Recently Jill LaForty and I spent an evening talking about her life in music and radio. I asked her what a radio music producer does..

Jill LaForty Well, I organize concerts of course. I broker concerts that I haven't initiated too; you know, selling the Network on them. I pitch recording projects too, and commissions. As you know, the CBC contributes a lot toward the commissioning of new music.

At concerts I supervise the whole recording process from sound checks to timings. I work with the performers to make sure we have a quality broadcast. That might include negotiating what they will play, for example, or what order they play it in.

Opus Pocus Do you produce exclusively for the network?

J.L. Not exclusively, no. Sometimes I do items for Ottawa Morning and I have a regular spot on In Town and Out. I love that because it gives me the opportunity to bring music to people who otherwise wouldn't often hear it.

O.P. Classical music?

J.L. Yes, but not only classical exactly. Occasionally it's jazz or world music, you know, lighter music in a way. On Ottawa Morning recently we've had some African drumming and Indian classical music.

O.P. How did you become a radio music producer? What is your background?

J.L. I studied clarinet and went to the University of Toronto for my Bachelor of Music. I was at the Royal Conservatory too and spent two years at the Vienna Conservatory. But after all that I didn't see a fulfilling future as a performer.

O.P. Particularly that instrument. It can be hard to break in if you want to have a career as a clarinetist.

J.L. That's right. There are so many people out there take up the clarinet. So I found myself in Halifax with no prospects in 1980. Then I got a job with the CBC there as a production assistant. And you know, I'd never been in a radio station before.

Well, I got bored with that by the six-month mark. So I went to work with Robert Harris in Winnipeg. He was brilliant, but a year later I was bored there too. So I came to CBC Ottawa and I've been here ever since.

O.P. And you're not bored here?

J.L Not at all. Far from it.

O.P. If a young person wanted to prepare for a career as a radio music producer, how would they best go about it? There must be a very limited number of jobs in your field, of course.

J.L. Yes, very limited. And people tend to stay a long time, so there aren't too many opportunities. But if someone wants to prepare to be a music producer, they should get a music degree. The McGill Masters program in sound engineering is also a good idea.

O.P. What kinds of music do you personally like?

J.L. I'm not so much into baroque music - except for Bach, of course. - I'm more interested in eighteenth and nineteenth century repertoire. I love Brahms, especially since he wrote such amazing stuff for the clarinet. I love the Mozart sonatas and, oh yes, Shostakovich. I find his music really wonderful.

And I'm particularly fond of choral music. I sing with the Canadian Centennial Choir and sometimes with other groups. Not too much, though. I'm quite a homebody.

O.P. You seem very happy in your work. What do you like about it?

J.L. I love the life in music. Music is such an incredible life force and spiritual expression. There's immense variety in what I do, and this job makes me part of the music community, which is also very important to me. As I mentioned, it makes me happy to bring music to people who don't otherwise get much.

I enjoy doing interviews and hosting shows, and here's another thing: When you are in front of a live audience, or on television I imagine, you're always thinking about communicating with groups of people. But radio is such an intimate medium, one on one, actually. When you are at the microphone in a studio by yourself, it's just you and the individual listener. I really like that.