ORCHESTRA OUTREACH

Through Campus Concerts, an outreach program sponsored by the Musicians Union, the Culver City Symphony Orchestra Wind Quintet performed at Farragut Elementary School, Culver City, on April 27, presenting two programs. The quintet was Pat Maki-Flute, David Kossof-Oboe, Patricia Massey-Clarinet, Nate Campbell-Horn John Campbell-Bassoon.

The Campus Concerts programs introduces students to Classical Music, the life of Mozart was featured through a musical narrative of his early life, and to some of the orchestra instruments through individual demonstration. For this program, the instruments demonstrated were the flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn. All the instrumentalists gave intriguing and informative demonstrations of their respective instrument. Garnering perhaps the most interest was the demonstration of a selection of Handel's Water Music played through a garden hose, with a funnel at the end, to demonstrate that if the tubing of a horn was not coiled, stretched out it would be sixteen feet long.

A second Campus Concert was held at El Marino Language School, Culver City, on May 30, 2007.

Hopefully the programs will open up to these students the wonders and excitement that listeners can receive from Classical Music.

There was a lot of hands in the air to answer questions, foot stomping, phantom conducting, and a whole-body-shimmy to the music. We hope we made a positive impression with the students. While geared towards the young, we feel that one is never too old to discover what Classical Music can bring into one's life. Visit one our concerts to discover the joys of music.

ON OUR WAY UP

Our March 31, 2007, concert featured four winners from the orchestra sponsored Parness Fund Young Artists Concerto Competition. The concert featured JUNIOR DIVISION (Ages 14 and under) winner Michael Chang, Piano, performing the Kabalevsky Piano Concerto No. 3,1st Movement, and INTERMEDIATE DIVISION (Ages 15 through 18) winners Ryan Lin, Piano, performing the Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2, 1st Movement; Yeri Kim, Cello, performing the Popper Hungarian Rhapsody; and Kei Sugiyama, Violin, performing the Saint Saens Violin Concerto No. 3, 1st Movement. The pianists performed on a Yamaha concert grand.

The orchestra presenters, the Westchester Symphony Society, Inc., and the orchestra, are pleased to present young artists in concerts with the orchestra. For some soloists, this is their first time performing with an orchestra, an experience we are glad to part of, as we also benefit from the energy and innate musicality of these young artists. For the Senior Division winners, it is one of their performances right before they start on their musical careers.

The Senior Division winner usually performs in a separate concert, and this year it was Felix Eisenhaur, pianist, performing the Ravel Piano Concerto in GMajor, at our November 2006 concert.

Conductor Fetta then led the orchestra through Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances, Opus 46, Nos. 1, 3, 5, 6 & 8. In these folkish and peasant based dances transformed by Dvorak’s artistry to high levels, the orchestra shone, and sent the audience dancing into the night.

Please help us continue with these concerts by becoming a member of the Symphony Society (please go to the Membership page through the “Membership” link, and through donations to the Parness Fund Young Artists Concerto Competition (please go to the “Young Artists” link).

Please return to our Web site for updates to our 44th Season.

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A Mid -Winter's Concert

February 16, 2007

Veteran's Auditorium, Culver City

The second concert of our season was our annual A Mid-Winter’s Concert. The program was the Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, the Violin Concerto No. 5, A Major, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with orchestra Concertmaster Nancy Roth the soloist, and Le Tombeau de Couperin, by Maurice Ravel.

Ms. Roth presented a beautifully realized concerto, with secure technique and elegant phrasing. She used the cadenzas by Harold Wolff. Music Director Fetta led a reduced orchestra from a keyboard, a Yamaha Clavinova, in a very spirited performance of the Bach. Ravel’s tombeau. with separate dedications of the four movements to his friends killed in World War I, ended the concert. Ravel himself was an ambulance driver in that war, and personally the wars carnage and horrors. The performance captured the various moods and styles of the work which was not somber nor tragic, but is more of a celebration of his friends and of France.

A sizable audience shared the musical event. In a first for the orchestra, the concert was combined with a Culver City Chamber of Commerce mixer. Please join us for the next concert. Please join us in our next concert.

From the program book:
A MID-WINTER'S CONCERT
With the challenges we now face in our global warming winters, we can take some comfort in the Music. These concerts offer us, audience and musicians, a place of refuge in constant change. A place to just sit and listen to music during a winter's night. It is also a place to meet and socialize. We think they offer a lot, and tonight there is no admission charge. But these concerts are costly. If you are a symphony society member helping to support the this evening's concert, we thank you. If you are not a member, please join to help us continue with these musical events.

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Season Premiere, 2006-07

November 3, 2006, Veteran's Memorial Auditorium

Our first concert of the 2006-07 season focused on the continuum of music. In Culver City in 2006 we performed the Symphony No. 35, Haffner, of Mozart (1782), the Pulcinella Suite by Stravinsky (1920), and the Piano Concerto in G Major by Ravel (1932). The newest piece of music was sixty two years old, but all were made new again in the performance.

The program revolved around relations. The Ravel was chosen by the pianist Felix Eisenhauer, the Senior Division Winner of the Symphony Society produced Parness Fund Young Artists Concerto Competition. Using the concerto as a starting point, Fetta then added the works of Stravinsky and Mozart. Some of the relationships: Both Stravinsky and Ravel revered the music of Mozart. Stravinsky and Ravel knew each other and lived close to each other for a while in a small Swiss village. And, Mr. Fetta worked with Stravinsky on three recordings of the Master's music. Stravinsky's music has been a mainstay of the Culver City Symphony Orchestra, and through Conductor Fetta, there is a direct link from him to us today. Indeed, in his long life, the longest Stravinsky lived in one city was Los Angeles, living in the Hollywood Hills above the Sunset Strip. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at Hollywood Boulevard and Ivar Street.

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