Bach’s Brandenburg Bonanza…and then some
On Oct. 30th and 31st, we presented a “LACO Plus One” concert set featuring members of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra playing Bach’s 2nd, 4th and 5th Brandenburg Concertos (there are six total). We call it “Plus One” because these are special concerts outside of our normal subscription series.
The concerts took place at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in their 400 seat Zipper Hall. Particular highlights of the concerts included Patricia Mabee’s performance on the harpsichord cadenza on the 5th, Margaret Batjer’s violin solos in the 4th and David Washburn’s impressive show on the first and last movements of the 2nd concerto. The group finished out the concert with an encore, repeating the last movement of the 2nd at a blinding tempo with a surprise high note finale on the piccolo trumpet (those of you that know I play trumpet probably understand my excitement).
In addition to those present at these two concerts, nearly a thousand elementary school kids from the Los Angeles Unified School District were able to hear elements of the concertos earlier that week as the finale of our first Meet the Music concert of the season.
Meet the Music is a LACO educational outreach program where we train volunteers to go into elementary schools and work with resident music teachers to prepare students for a concert field trip. This extremely successful program emphasizes tiered learning about music and instruments prior to the actual concert, thereby leaving a more effective and long lasting impression on the kids.
This extra program is cleverly woven into the cloth of the organization at a reduced cost. The musicians were able to use the Meet the Music concert as their second of three rehearsals before the normal weekend performances. As LACO compensates its musicians per service, they were paid the performance rate for Meet the Music (as opposed to the lower rehearsal rate). In the end, this means that for the difference (in musicians’ costs) between a normal rehearsal and a performance, LACO was able to add an extra educational outreach concert. Of course, underneath the surface, other expenses such as staff time and marketing factor into the Meet the Music program but the gist is that LACO has expanded its scope by cleverly using existing structures at a minimal cost.
In a climate where many orchestras are facing financial difficulty, an initial reaction is to scale down operations and scope. As this case proves, clever management can sometimes provide another way out.
The concerts took place at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in their 400 seat Zipper Hall. Particular highlights of the concerts included Patricia Mabee’s performance on the harpsichord cadenza on the 5th, Margaret Batjer’s violin solos in the 4th and David Washburn’s impressive show on the first and last movements of the 2nd concerto. The group finished out the concert with an encore, repeating the last movement of the 2nd at a blinding tempo with a surprise high note finale on the piccolo trumpet (those of you that know I play trumpet probably understand my excitement).
In addition to those present at these two concerts, nearly a thousand elementary school kids from the Los Angeles Unified School District were able to hear elements of the concertos earlier that week as the finale of our first Meet the Music concert of the season.
Meet the Music is a LACO educational outreach program where we train volunteers to go into elementary schools and work with resident music teachers to prepare students for a concert field trip. This extremely successful program emphasizes tiered learning about music and instruments prior to the actual concert, thereby leaving a more effective and long lasting impression on the kids.
This extra program is cleverly woven into the cloth of the organization at a reduced cost. The musicians were able to use the Meet the Music concert as their second of three rehearsals before the normal weekend performances. As LACO compensates its musicians per service, they were paid the performance rate for Meet the Music (as opposed to the lower rehearsal rate). In the end, this means that for the difference (in musicians’ costs) between a normal rehearsal and a performance, LACO was able to add an extra educational outreach concert. Of course, underneath the surface, other expenses such as staff time and marketing factor into the Meet the Music program but the gist is that LACO has expanded its scope by cleverly using existing structures at a minimal cost.
In a climate where many orchestras are facing financial difficulty, an initial reaction is to scale down operations and scope. As this case proves, clever management can sometimes provide another way out.
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