Arts & Life

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Written by: Connel Murray

Published: 16 June 2013

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A nearly full house greeted the young performers at the concert of the CLPA Youth Orchestra on Sunday, June 9, at Lakeport’s Soper-Reese Community Theatre.

The concert opened with the efforts of a group of tiny violinists, and ended with the sophisticated music of their largely teenaged elders.

All age groups, though, won enthusiastic applause and deservedly so, since all of them had invested many hours in practice and rehearsals to make their moment in the sun possible.

Susan Condit, who serves as conductor of the youth orchestra also teaches string classes, and created programs suitable for each grade and experience level.

It’s obvious that she takes care in choosing music that the kids like to play and they responded with gusto. She also took the precaution of leading the way for the younger kids with her own violin

Clear Lake Performing Arts, which underwrites the Youth Orchestra, also sponsored violin classes, with generous support from a grant from the Lake County Wine Alliance, and these beginners (grades K-2) opened the show with the group singing an ascending scale to “Motorcycles Stopping on the D Ladder” followed by a 11-violin version of the tune.

The familiar “Hot Cross Buns” followed the same format, and the youngsters exited the stage to enthusiastic applause.

Group 1 from the next class then played three numbers “Mary had a little Lamb,” “Ode to Joy” and “Are you sleeping?” A house full of parents, grandparents and even total strangers loudly saluted their efforts.
         
The final group made up of students with current band instrument experience, presented the classical “Brandenburg Concerto No. 5” by Johann Sebastian Bach and the more complex rhythms of the contemporary composition “Terra Nova.” They were lent a helping hand by Youth Orchestra cellist Elliott Serena and violinist Rafael Contreras.

The members of the Youth Orchestra then took the stage, boys and girls alike garbed in black as befitting members of a sophisticated concert group – and sophisticated they were.

After a tune-up by Concertmaster Clayton Rudiger they launched into the brisk, up-tempo “M to the Third Power,” by Carold Nunez.

Next “Tango Expressivo” featured soloists Julianne Carter and Rafael Contreras on violin and also gave bassist Max Lehman a chance to show his stuff, which he did in grand fashion with the popular Latin American dance piece.

“Cloudburst” followed and drew a musical portrait featuring bass and cellos heralding the ominous approach of a storm, the musical cloudburst, and then the gradual retreat of the storm to the music’s finish. It was a notable example of disciplined playing.

“May it be,” the theme from “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” was next, with the first half of the concert ending with the country reel, fiddle sounds of “Galena Milwaukee Breakdown.”

As with their earlier work, this song demonstrated almost perfect bowing techniques by the violins, that would be a credit to any orchestra, anywhere,

Condit took the opportunity to thank her performers stating that “every time I raised the bar they met it.” She then presented a special recognition award to violinist and Assistant Music Director Eleanor Cook who had completed three years with the Youth Orchestra.

Thomas Ganong, who has administered the Allegro Scholarship Program for the last 12 years, then took the stand to present special Musical Achievement Awards to Rafael Contreras and Clayton Rudiger, as well as saluting Symphony Concertmaster Andi Skelton and Condit for their dedication to youth music activities in Lake County.

Symphony Conductor John Parkinson also congratulated all the participants and noted that Youth Orchestra members were playing music that would often be difficult even for his symphony members.

Parkinson’s granddaughter, Taylor, age 5, joined plenty of other little brothers and sisters who were on hand, sometimes under seats, at the concert.

According to Taylor’s grandmother Diane Parkinson, the little girl has already learned to identify the music of the various instruments of the orchestra, showing that it’s never to early to start kids in music programs.

Tamsen Serena, who is a volunteer coordinator for the Youth Orchestra, was master of ceremonies for the program, and thanked both CLPA for its support and the Soper-Reese Theatre which provided the venue free of charge.

The concert’s second half opened with the classical “Rondo Alla Turca” Mozart’s famed “Turkish March.”

Next on the program was the “Theme from Canon in D” written in the 17th century by Johann Pachelbel, whose familiar melody has been copied by many 21st century artists.

The canon is a composition device where different instruments playing the same music enter in sequence, and requires precision timing by the musicians.

The orchestra then returned to Mozart, with his Symphony No. 40 in D, one of only two ever written by Mozart in a minor key.

Then came one of the high points of the concert when darked-haired Edison Serena and blonde Clayton Rudiger rose to play a violin duet of Lindsey Stirling’s “Crystallize.” It was an extravagant show-piece which spotlighted the fingering talents of both musicians, with perfectly-harmonized tones covering every range that a violin can produce, and both performed the piece flawlessly, which won them rafter-ringing applause.

The concert ended with selections from the popular Broadway hit and movie “Les Miserables” supported by images on the movie screen behind the orchestra.

They also were supported by guest symphony members Andi Skelton, Marta Fuller, Jeff Ives, Jerry Mundel, Austin Ison and Patricia Jekel, with Anne Barquist assisting on piano.

When it ended the entire audience was on its feet, saluting what is probably one of the finest youth orchestras in the north counties if not the state.

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Written by: Editor

Published: 13 June 2013

LAKEPORT, Calif. – If you missed the Main Street Gallery’s First Friday Fling on June 7, you missed an exceptional showing of art by 16 accomplished artists.

The artists showed creations in a variety of mediums from pastels to oil, watercolor, mixed media, finely turned wood vases and bowls, beautiful hot glass functional art bowls, a superb collection of fine jewelry and delicately crafted French beaded flowers.
 
The Linda Carpenter Student Gallery featured work by Nancy Johnson’s second grade students from the Instilling Goodness Boys School in Ukiah. The show was coordinated by well known artist and instructor Jacquie Farley.
 
Thorn Hill Wines were featured at the reception, while the Carmon Brittan Family livened up the evening with toe-tapping music on a variety of uniquely crafted instruments which included a washtub guitar, mellow flute and further enhanced by Eric Brittan’s pleasing voice and fine guitar playing.

Join the Main Street Gallery, 325 N. Main St. in Lakeport, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, July 5, as they welcome four new artists, savor the fine wines of Rosa De Oro and enjoy music by the popular Kevin Village Stone and Lindy Day.

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Written by: Ted Kooser

Published: 10 June 2013

Here’s a poem by Robin Chapman, from Wisconsin, that needs no introduction, because we’ve all known an elderly person who’s much like this one.

Time

My neighbor, 87, rings the doorbell to ask
if I might have seen her clipping shears
that went missing a decade ago,
with a little red paint on their shaft,
or the iron turkey bank and the porcelain
coffee cup that disappeared a while back
when her friend, now dead, called the police
to break in to see if she were ill, and have we
had trouble with our phone line, hers
is dead and her car and driver’s license
are missing though she can drive perfectly
well, just memory problems, and her son
is coming this morning to take her up
to Sheboygan, where she was born
and where the family has its burial lots,
to wait on assisted living space, and she
just wanted to say we’d been good neighbors
all these how many? years, and how lucky
I am to have found such a nice man
and could she borrow a screwdriver,
the door lock to her house is jammed.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2012 by Robin Chapman, whose most recent book of poems is the eelgrass meadow, Tebot Bach, 2011. Poem reprinted from the Alaska Quarterly Review, Volume 28, nos. 1&2 (Spring/Summer 2011) by permission of Robin Chapman and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2013 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.