Children can enjoy music they are familiar with
Published in the September 28 – October 11, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Morgan Hill Life file photo
Tony Quartuccio, South Valley Symphony conductor and music director, runs the musicians through a dress rehearsal.
“James Bond,” “Star Trek” and “The Pirates of the Caribbean” are coming to Gavilan.
Kicking off the 43rd season Oct. 8 at the community college’s theater, the South Valley Symphony will perform its inaugural pops concert. Called “From Broadway to Hollywood,” it will feature the orchestra entertaining the audience with music from popular movies and Broadway shows.
At the urging of several orchestra musicians, the South Valley Symphony’s conductor and music director, Tony Quartuccio, decided to try the pops concert to encourage people who might not consider coming to symphony concert to try it out.
“We wanted to start off the season with something a little lighter and fun,” he said. “The whole idea of this concert is that glamour comes to the South Valley. This concert is about glamour, it’s about celebrating Hollywood and the most glamorous composers and film scores so that local people can really make a connection with the movies and Broadway and actual live music.”
Quartuccio especially encourages families to come because the concert will provide an opportunity for young people to get acquainted with the joy of live orchestral music with scores from popular movies they might have seen.
“It really is a different experience to hear this music live and see the performers playing music we are all familiar with,” he said. “We are looking at new ways to expand audiences and do things a little bit differently so that we don’t get stuck in a routine.”
If successful with the audience, the October concert featuring Broadway musical and movie score compositions could grow into a tradition for the South Valley Symphony to open its annual season, said Lucie Vogel, president of the symphony’s board of directors and a double bass player in the orchestra.
“I think this pops concert is going to be really fun for people not used to sitting through a two-hour concert,” she said.
In the past five years, the South Valley Symphony has grown its mission to expand the orchestral music experience for young people — and the pops concert is one way it is seeking to do this by holding a special “lottery” for about 10 kids to be allowed to sit on stage during a portion of the performance and experience the full impact of the orchestra. Children (accompanied by a parent or guardian) and students with identification can enjoy the symphony for free, thus opening the opportunity for families with limited budgets to share the joy of music with their children, Vogel said.
“I think in this digital age, we are really starting to lose exposure to real experiences,” she said. “For students who grow up connected to their phones and to their ear buds, having these live community music experiences is critical for helping them maintain a sense of reality and not getting completely swept up by the technology.”
The trajectory of the South Valley Symphony has taken a new shape as more families discover live orchestral music, Quartuccio said. The symphony musicians often go into local schools to give short workshops for children about symphonic music. It has also worked with Santa Clara County staff to bring at-risk young people from the juvenile detention center in Morgan Hill to concerts and introduce them to a type of music they might not be familiar with. The annual Al Navaroli Young Musicians Competition, hosted by the symphony in February, opens the door to teenage musicians to perform a solo piece with the orchestra at the March concert. The symphony has also performs at least one composition a year from high school and college students from the South Valley to encourage the next generation of music creators.
“We’ve really gained some traction in the community,” Quartuccio said. “Since we are a community, we realize that we not only have to play this music as adults, but we also have to share this music with young people. Other orchestras around the country are doing this and moving in this direction.”
Quartuccio enjoys working with the musicians to create a collaboration in providing the audience with the best entertainment in symphonic music they can provide.
“The orchestra is a family that’s committed to their community. And they play music because they love it,” he said. “They’re doing it for the love of it. It’s just a joy to be part of the synergy.”
