Oakland Civic Orchestra

The Oakland Civic Orchestra had our final concert of the season this afternoon. It went really well, despite some scary moments at the dress rehearsal yesterday. We have four concerts a year and this is my second concert with the orchestra (in the picture above, my head barely appears between my stand partner's and the flute player next to me. I give Jack brownie points for trying). All of our concerts are free, which makes it a good trial classical concert for parents with kids. The OCO consists of community members who are not, for the most part, professional musician. There are retired musicians and some who play professionally in groups throughout the Bay Area, but the majority are people like me who have day jobs; doctors, teachers, students, etc. Today, we played J.C. Bach's Sinfonia in F, Mozart's Sympony No. 31, a woodwind ensemble piece, and Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major.

This is a picture of me with Cory Lee, our solo violinist. At our first rehearsal with him on Monday, we literally had to pick our jaws up off the floor after we heard him play. My stand partner turned to me and said, "He's going to be somebody." I totally agree. The sound he produces on his violin was so pure and effortless, it is heartbreakingly beautiful. If you think he looks a little young, he is. He's only 19 years old and a freshman at Juilliard; a school that admits only a handful of violinists--out of all the young, aspiring violinists in the world--each year to be a part of their program. So, after the concert, we all lined up with our programs and had him sign them. His mother took snapshots of everyone with her camera and patiently shot additional pictures for people. Cory was a trooper; hanging out in the stuffy performance hall (well, it's a church, but on concert days it's a "performance hall") to sign programs and pose for photos. I truly believe I'll be buying his cds some day very soon. If I can figure out out to post a streaming file of his performance on here, I'll do it. Meanwhile, here's a link to a performance that sounds very similar to his rendition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSoNgAB5P2c

This is Marty, our artistic director and oh-so-patient conductor. She is the reason we were able to play with Cory--she is the conductor and director of his former high school orchestra. Extremely dedicated to music education and enrichment, she is the heart and soul of the fifteen year-old orchestra. She's also a composer.

This is my stand partner, Meredith. We discovered we attended Sewanee summer music camp together in high school when I asked her about her Sewanee sticker she kept in her case. Both of us had thought the other looked familiar. I found photos of her from that summer in 1987. It's pretty wild. She's a lot of fun to play music with, and super-knowledgeable and enthusiastic about classical music.

The kids seemed to have a good time at the concert, although Dahin was a little grumpy afterward and Oliver fell asleep during the Mozart. This photo was taken post-performance and during the reception, so cookies and cupcakes had been scarfed down and added some specks of color to their cheeks and clothes. Jack has been extremely supportive of my participation in the orchestra and has shifted his work schedule so that I can make it to rehearsals on time. I love doing it and am grateful for the opportunity, and I'm glad it's given me a chance to expose my kids to classical performance on a regular basis. Oliver's favorite piece is, hands down, Brahm's Hungarian Dance No. 5 (he requests it every time I practice), with Beethoven's 10th running a close second. Dahin has taken to the piano (she does a mean "Ode to Joy") and, someday soon, I'll see if the boys show a preference for an instrument. As for now, they seem to enjoy listening and dancing to it.