Visiting the Symphony

I was really upset this fall to discover that being involved in another performing group would prevent me from performing with the symphony this quarter. Luckily there are no hard feelings between me and the Symphony Officers, so they let me visit this week on the condition that I take some pictures and make a new blog post. So, here I am.

Last weekend, the Symphony had their first performance of the year, teaming up with Dr. Terry Spiller to play the first movement of Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor to a very impressed audience. The group spent their rehearsal Tuesday focusing on another piece, Beethoven’s 7th Symphony.

The Symphony has filled out a bit this year, which gave them a great healthy sound. They have a big concert hall to fill with it!

Kevin gets the best view of rehearsal

I’m excited to see the results of their efforts! The big concert is Saturday November 19 at 8 pm in Harman Hall. You can buy tickets here.

The bass players have a lot of endurance! In addition to playing very large instruments, they stand through most of our two-hour rehearsals.

A long awaited update

Things have been busy with the Cal Poly Symphony this quarter.

It all began with a retreat to Morro Bay bond as a group. We played human checkers and ate bagged lunches, followed by a walk to the park where we interrupted a birthday party to play a few games. Pictures (and videos) will be posted soon.

Then came the hike up Bishops Peak. 11 members braved the heat to climb to the top for sunset. The view was nice, and nobody fell down the mountain this year. (Photo courtesy of Morgan.)

Finally last Friday night we had our first performance of the year at the Parents Weekend Ensemble Showcase, where Dr. Spiller and the symphony received a standing ovation for our performance of the first movement of Grieg’s piano concerto.

We are still preparing for our concert on November 19 (which will be fantastic if Friday was anything to go by) and we are starting to plan for our tour to DC in April. Come out to the concert and support us!

Audition Time!

This week, auditions began for the 2011-2012 Cal Poly Symphony season. Katie and I are sitting at the table in the music building hallway checking in both new and old members and socializing with them as they wait for their audition times.

This year auditions are super important because we are going on a huge trip to Washington DC in the Spring, so we have to be good! We are getting people pumped up for this event as well as our upcoming symphony retreat on Saturday.

Spring Concert

Tonight we had our first rehearsal with the soloist Robert Thies, even playing through the piece with him for the first time, it is sounding great! Not only is the soloist amazing and plays the Gershwin better than any of us could have imagined, the orchestra is sounding the best we have in years. This concert is an interesting one, we are only playing two pieces but they are huge pieces, and a great accomplishment for this orchestra to be performing. We are playing Hansen’s Symphony No. 2, the “Romantic” Symphony and Gershwin’s “Piano Concerto in F” with Robert Thies on piano.The Hansen is a fun piece with a lot of beautiful horn lines, interesting rhythms, and features most sections in the orchestra. The Piano Concerto is  a gorgeous piece, like most Gershwin pieces it has a taste of the Jazz style and mixes that with the classical concert style. The piano part sounded beautiful today, while the orchestra still gets fun lines to play out. We have a solo competition every year so we are used to performing concertos, but nothing of this caliber. All because of our guest artist.

This Saturday night will be the last stop on Robert Thies’s week long stay at Cal Poly, he has been giving lessons to all the piano majors this week, and gave a jaw dropping double piano recital with his old teacher, and our department chair, William T. Spiller. He also gave a piano master class this evening. It does not happen very often that students get to work with someone so talented, let alone at a school with a department as small as ours. This has been an amazing opportunity for not just our orchestra but for the entire department.

This concert will be the last for many people in the orchestra, including myself, so leaving on this note feels great. We get to end with a program that really makes us proud and that we can say we have tried our best to make it an amazing concert. A large part of the final concert of the year is the fact that all the graduates get to wear red carnations and Dr. Arrivée says a few words about each of us. It really gives a personal touch for the concert, especially for the members in large departments that do not get as much of a sentimental exit otherwise. For many of us we have been in this ensemble for every year that we have been at Cal Poly, we have played many huge, well-known works and have worked hard to try and improve this group even more. I have been lucky to have played for the Cal Poly Symphony for 4 years, including a performance as a soloist in the yearly solo competition last quarter. It has been an honor to be a part of this group and to see it grow as much as it has.

Saturday will be the end of the year for the Symphony, and next year they will be working hard towards their tour to play at Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Every year it just keeps getting better and better, this tour should help educate and improve the orchestra even more. Support is always needed and the more people we have in the audience the more excited we will be to perform! This should be an amazing concert, and again, I cannot express how amazing Robert Thies will sound, along with our Cal Poly Symphony!

Early Arrivals

Michelle and Amber were first to arrive for our dress rehearsal with Robert Thies. It’s always fun being the first to arrive in Harman Hall — you get to make the first notes!

Concert this Saturday at 8 pm! Don’t miss it!

Rehearsals Underway

Rehearsals at the beginning of the quarter are… interesting. We’re given a whole new set of music to learn and rehearse. Sight-reading, while exciting, produces some of the Symphony’s most, well, unique harmonies. We also get a chance to welcome new talent to the group.

This quarter we have some really great music for our performance in May. The first piece is a luscious piece by Howard Hanson, Symphony #2, Romantic (Some of us might remember playing another piece of his, Mosaics, back in 2007). Our other piece is a piano concerto by George Gershwin, Piano Concerto in F. This piece gives the symphony a chance to loosen up and play some jazzier themes, not something we get to do very often in an orchestral setting.

This weekend is the Open House concert, so we’ll be revisiting our film scores during rehearsals this week. If you didn’t get a chance to see us perform these in March, this is a great show to see! It combines the talents of several Cal Poly Music Department ensembles, and our pieces are quite juicy, both beautiful and powerful. Can’t wait to play them again!

Milly Tunes

Fin

The Symphony pulled off a fabulous concert this evening! Starting with the very moving Faure cello concerto and Patricia Rosas’s glamorous hat, right down to the frightening strings in Psycho and the powerful last notes of John Williams’s Jurassic Park. The musicians had just as much fun, if not more, as the audience who recognized every movie score correctly! What a beautiful collection of pieces successfully conducted by the ingenious David Arrivee, but an even bigger congratulations to the guest conductor of Magnificent Seven, Lauren Wasynczuk! Bravo to the Symphony for a successfully exciting performance topped off with requests for an “ENCORE!”.

We all look forward to performing many of the same pieces at Cal Poly’s Open House Concert: Pollywood on April 16th, at 8pm.

A final congratulations to all!

Amber Brodie, President and Violinist

Revving up for concert day

Jake Wise warms up in Harman Hall before rehearsing with the Symphony

Dress rehearsals are my favorite. There’s nothing more exciting than walking out on the stage in Harman Hall, an immense and beautiful space that we musicians delight in filling with sound.

-Tyler Whipple, Principal 2nd Violin, Facilities Manager

Impending Concert!

Welcome one and all to the Cal Poly Symphony’s blog!  Here we’ll keep you all up to date with our upcoming concerts, functions, and the general fantastic times we have.

First up, we have a brilliant concert this Sunday, March 6th.  This Winter quarter, our concert features music from classic movies [but you'll have to guess which ones!] and some smashing soloists: Patricia Rosas (voice), Jake Wise (cello), Theresa Riforgiate (voice), and Maritza Spieller (trombone), all conducted by the fabulous David Arrivee. Jake and Maritza are two of the symphony’s own magnificent players and Patricia and Theresa’s voices will tickle your ear drums!

So, we’ll see you all, this Sunday the 6th, at 3PM for our concert.  We hope you enjoy listening to the music as much as we love playing it.

CP Symphony Violist,

Cody HJ Kim