“For the past 74 years the Santa Monica Symphony has been creating community and enriching people’s lives for free,” writes Ira Israel in Wednesday’s (6/12) goodmenproject.com website. The orchestra, founded in 1945, performs six concerts each season and comprises “professional, preprofessional and talented community players…. Musicians range in age from 19 to 77 years-old. A retired doctor shares his music stand with a young techie. An immigrant musician sits side-by-side with a school teacher born and raised in Santa Monica…. The orchestra performs everything from orchestral favorites like Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony to new works by up and coming composers, such as Benjamin Boone’s Waterless Music…. Now in his seventh season as musical director and conductor, Guido Lamell [who spent] nearly 40 years as a violinist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, [says he is] ‘thrilled with the way our orchestra has grown in its capabilities as an ensemble of the top ranks.’ … For its 75th season, the Santa Monica Symphony is commissioning a new concerto for flute and harp by … Bruce Broughton … Other musical treats will include a performance of Dvořák’s Cello Concerto by LA Philharmonic principal cellist Robert deMaine.”
Posted June 17, 2019
