Tuesday, October 16, 2007

The Rowan Symphony Orchestra

A few months ago, David Felberg asked me if I would play viola in an orchestra conducted by David Chavez in October. I was honored to be asked, and agreed to do it. Well, here it is in October, and wow, what a great orchestra. The Rowan Symphony Orchestra is made up of some NMSO and SFSO players, along with some UNM music students. Then there's a few of us "stragglers" also... We're playing the Brahms Symphony No. 1 and also the Shostakovitch Violin Concerto #1, with David Felberg as soloist.

We're going to pull this concert off with three rehearsals, which I suppose is about right for pro players. But it's a struggle for me! I'm not used to this kind of cramming. The Brahms I'm familiar with because I've played it before in college and in the APO. Nevertheless, it is not a trivial piece and requires work and loads of concentration. The Shostakovitch, on the other hand, is technically very difficult and two of the movements go VERY fast. So I'm really doing my best to hang in there for this one. But what a GREAT piece it is, and Felberg sounds amazing on the solo violin part.

The concert will be this Thursday evening, 7:30PM at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. If you have that evening free, you should get tickets!