Honoring a May tradition in 2009

Photos of the side by side concert at Byrd High School - professionals and students making music together




ALTYSO in rehearsal

The end of the season side by side picnic pops concert with the ALTYSO (Ark-La-Tex Youth Symphony Orchestra) and our own professional musicians has been a May tradition in the local symphony concert schedule for many years, but the riverfront was silent on that Saturday evening this year for the first time since the inception of the concerts many years ago, first held at the old EXPO Hall and in recent years at the outdoor amphi-theatre on the riverfront parkway. Many thousands have enjoyed these FREE concerts over the years.

We, the professional musicians and the ALTYSO wanted to share once more this yearly tradition with the area's hard working students who had been anticipating this side by side orchestra performance all school year. Many, many volunteer hours by Dorothy Rivette and other dedicated members made this concert possible.

Above are photos from the concert evening and below are photos of students and pros. rehearsing together side by side for the concert which was held this year at C.E. Byrd High School auditorium. This year's concert included not only professional musicians and students from the ALTYSO, but several college students as well and the younger students of the Symphonietta. We were truly a community of musicians having fun making music together.

Following the same format from previous years, the ALTYSO played several classical pieces, the professional musicians played pops and classics then the combined orchestras played Tchaikovsky and Stars and Stripes for the finale. Christopher Allen and Todd Gabriel conducted the orchestras and Beverly Houston conducted the ALTYSO Symphonietta.

Music, it's who we are and what we are about. Sharing is the best way to pass along this legacy to others.

Rehearsal photos at C.E. Byrd High School Band Room

Opera East Texas, La Boheme, June 2009

Opera East Texas

Photos by yours truly

Opera East Texas formerly called Longview Opera has been around since 1992 when the first production "The Old Maid and the Thief" was presented with piano and a few orchestral musicians. It has come a long way since then in both its venue and in the performances it presents. From the small Longview Community Center to T.G. Field Auditorium, to the Belcher Center at LeTourneau University with lots of room on and off stage and a pit for a real orchestra. The singers have been of extraordinary talent.

Orchestra rehearsals for Puccini's La Boheme began over a week ago with music director Jerry Steichen, 2 in Shreveport and 2 in the Belcher Center at LeTourneau University in Longview. I have played this opera several times in the past and the music never ceases to give me chill bumps. Makes it hard to concentrate on playing sometimes. Like many similar opera plots boy meets girl in the main story line while other intricate plots weave in and out of the fabric. And, again, as in similar opera plots, the heroine dies in the final act. Still, the music is what it's all about for most of us, what the audience comes to hear and what we love to play.

Photos of the rehearsals and performance are herein.

Summer 2010 we will be performing Mozart's "Elixir". "Amahl and the Night Visitors" a special holiday presentation is scheduled for December 2009.

enjoy the photos,