ORCHESTRATING LIFELONG PARTICIPATION IN THE ARTS October/November 2022 Vol. 23 No. 2 1629 22nd Ave SE, Olympia WA 98501 | 360-352-1438 | StudentOrchestras.org StudentOrchestras@gmail.com | Facebook.com/StudentOrchestras
NOVEMBER SEASON CONCERT
Sunday @ 4pm November 6 Washington Center washingtoncenter.org 360.753.8586 Tickets: $8-21* Six & under free* *plus $4 WCPA fee
Concert Sponsor
WASHINGTON CENTER CAPITAL CAMPAIGN The Washington Center has embarked on a capital campaign to enhance the quality, efficiency, and enjoyment of live performing arts and cultural events. This is an $8.8 million campaign to upgrade 35-year-old theater equipment and revitalize the interior to match the beautiful exterior, which was modernized eight years ago. SOGO is one of the first Artistic Partners to celebrate the theater’s reopening to the public at the November 6 performance.
LEAVES, PUMPKINS, And a Special Guest!
I
don’t know about you, but I feel like fall arrived rather suddenly here in western Washington. Although we had more sunny days than we deserve in the past few weeks, the nights became noticeably cooler, the leaves changed color and started falling seemingly overnight, and Trader Joe’s once again stocked my favorite pumpkin waffles! Two symphonies that remind me of fall are Beethoven’s Pastoral, expressing sensations and remembrances of country life, and Brahms’ third, which is full of the sound of rustling leaves. The SPSCC Symphony Orchestra is preparing the Beethoven for a performance in early December, and the SOGO Conservatory Orchestra is hard at work on the second movement of the Brahms ahead of SOGO’s fall concert on Sunday, November 6. I was warned once to never program Brahms with anyone under 18, but the students are taking to it surprisingly well. I’m impressed with the quality of the ensemble sound this early in the year, and I know you will be too. Fall feelings aside, my main reason for programming the second movement of Brahms’ third symphony is to show off our fabulous clarinet section. This piece opens with a significant clarinet solo which has served as their audition excerpt
First phase STUDENT ORCHESTRAS OF GREATER OLYMPIA
for Conservatory for the past several years. Last year, we featured the trombone section playing their audition excerpt from Berlioz’ Hungarian March. In that case, the whole section stood up and played it together. The Brahms is too delicate to have our four-member clarinet section all play at the same time, so instead they will take turns throughout the piece. We’ve got LOTS of other great music to share with you on our November concert as well. We are very excited to welcome guest artist Andy Classen, trumpet professor at Drake University, who will perform with all four SOGO ensembles. He will display his versatility across a variety of repertoire, including the first movement of Oskar Böhme’s rarely heard trumpet concerto with the Conservatory Orchestra, and a special encore with the Academy and Conservatory trumpet sections, Mr. Allison, and Dr. Sandor. This fall, our student membership reached 130 students for the first time in many years, and I couldn’t be more excited for you to hear all they’ve been working on. From household names such as Beethoven, Bizet, Grieg, Saint-Saens, Tchaikovsky, Telemann, and Leroy Anderson, to lesserknown composers Franz Biebl, Rossano Galante, and Tara Islas, this concert has something for you. Oh, and we’re one of the first groups scheduled in the Washington Center after the remodel, so get ready for fabulous music in brand new seats!
Cameron May, SOGO Music Director
SOGO Seat B-111 A gift from the Harper family.
Last phase LEAD • INSPIRE • PERFORM •
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Sponsored by
Greg Allison, Artistic Director
C Washington Center - Free Admission
onductors often ask questions while in front of an orchestra... Sometimes those questions are posed to get the members to think more deeply about the selection or to better evaluate their own or the group’s playing. Sometimes the question is a rhetorical one. Most times there is a specific response, concept, or direction the conductor wishes to explore. In an Academy Orchestra rehearsal during the 2018-2019 season, I posed a question that I did not have any idea of the answer or direction until after I had asked it. “What was the question?” you might be asking. Well, here it is...
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10 | 2PM WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN, OLY BRASS CHOIR HOLIDAY SHOW TICKETS: ONLINE $5-$26 [AT THE DOOR $8-$35]
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Stretch your donation $’s through the DAWKINS Trust No credit card fees Giving occurs between November 7-18
“What is this really all about?” (A general reference to orchestral rehearsal and performance). As soon as I asked the question, an answer popped into my head, and I said, ‘“Beauty - Together” - Creating a work of art in space and time using the score provided by the composer.’
Mr. May just happened to be walking through the rehearsal at that time and asked when I came up with that idea. I said, “About a minute ago.” Two weeks later, I asked a violinist and accomplished visual artist in the orchestra (Alejandro Breaux-Salazar) to create a design using instruments and musical figures to make up the letters of “Beauty - Together.” This past summer, I expanded the concept into a poem that could be used in a musical composition with body percussion to more fully understand the meaning of “Beauty - Together.” The first two stanzas are below… more will be coming your way soon!
Beautiful sound and silence. Crafted carefully. Important every single, Setting others free. Together see the vision, Composers set in print. Breathing life up off the page, To audience ears now sent.
Give Local is an annual two-week giving campaign - Give Where You Live, hosted by the Community Foundation of South Puget Sound. From November 7-18, credit card fees are covered, so 100% of your donation goes to SOGO, and there is a $100,000 Bonus Fund from the Dawkins Charitable Trust stretching your donation even further. Our goal is to raise over $30,000 to offset tuition fees through scholarships and provide outreach to struggling low-income school music programs. Visit StudentOrchestras.org and click on GIVE LOCAL!
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TAKE A SOGO TOUR
Join us for a Sunday afternoon to tour the SOGO rehearsals. See all the young musicians in action. Call 360.352.1438 (leave a message) or email StudentOrchestras@gmail.com, and we’ll get back to you and arrange a date and time to tour.