ArtsBeat

Last week, on Friday, Buffalo lost a unique musician, the flutist Cheryl Gobbetti Hoffman. She was married to Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra cellist Monte Hoffman, and was a flutist with the orchestra for almost 20 years.

I was lucky enough to have gotten to know Cheryl. I had written a few stories about her. One was a big Sunday story about her recital debut in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. This would have been six years ago. She had seen a notice inviting artists to submit their credentials to be considered for a recital series at the hall. Normally, she told me, she would not have been brave enough. But her illness had given her courage. She seemed to be beating the cancer then, and she saw playing Carnegie Hall as a chance to celebrate her triumph.

Then she told me about counseling herself the way she counseled her flute students at UB.

"I try to remember those moments in childhood I spent alone, with myself," she said. "I ask: 'Have I been true to myself? I've worked on helping others achieve those dreams, but have I achieved mine?'"

I think that she did. She had four triumphant recitals at Carnegie Hall. She also had a wonderful marriage and friends who loved her and students who went on to great things. Her life was cut tragically short -- she was only 54 when she died -- but what a beautiful and graceful life it was.

Here are two things about Cheryl I loved that could not go into the obituary.

One, after our first interview, at Brodo on Elmwood, she suggested a stop at the Junior League Thrift Shop. Woman after my own heart! We both bought stuff.

Two, there was this one typo I made in the paper once that always bothered me. I know, it happens to me constantly, but this one was worse than the rest. It was one of those things I would think about at night when I couldn't sleep. Anyway, I don't know why I happened to tell Cheryl about it. It wasn't something I would normally mention. But I will never forget her reaction. She just flung back her head and laughed and laughed. A big, loud laugh, mouth wide open. After a moment of shock, I started laughing too. And after that, the incident never bothered me again.

That was when I knew what a magical personality she had.

Cheryl's husband, Monte, is planning a musical memorial for her sometime in October. I will put the word out when he lets me know the details.

-- Mary Kunz Goldman

(File photo from March 2002 by Sharon Cantillon/Buffalo News)