First Concert in Salzburg at The Mozarteum

The Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra
in concert at the Mozarteum, in Salzburg
Photo: Colin Talcroft

June 22: The Mozarteum in Salzburg—among the most celebrated of Europe's concert halls. Most people feel privileged to enjoy a concert there. The musicians of the Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra last night had the privilege not only of taking the stage, but also of giving a European premiere in the Mozarteum.

Rehearsal began around 3:00PM in preparation for a 7:00PM performance. Posters around town and notices in the local papers advertised the show, which started off with Academic Festival Overture, by Brahms, in a nod to Vienna, the group's next stop, and appropriate also because Brahms himself conducted there. That was followed by the premiere of Star Dust and Dark Matter by Gloria Coates.

Gloria Coates gives tips at rehearsal
in the Mozarteum
Photo: Colin Talcroft

Ms. Coates attended the performance and also the rehearsal, where she, Director of Education Wendy Cilman, and Youth Orchestra conductor Dr. Richard Loheyde worked with the musicians to adjust the performance to the sensitive acoustics of the hall. It was also decided to add some visual interest by having different orchestra sections stand as their parts moved toward the climax of the piece.

The Klezmer Heritage Concerto (with Rebecca Roudman and Dirty Cello), by Jason Eckl, Bernstein's Overture to Candide (included in recognition of the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein's birth), Listz's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, and Edward Grieg's Peer Gynt Suites No. 1 and No. 2 were all well received, as was Johann Strauss Junior's Thunder and Lightning Polka, in another nod to Vienna. The audience clapped along at the appropriate places in the polka, encouraged from the podium. The performance ended with Variations on a French Folk Song, an arrangement of the tune we know as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, by Santa Rosa native Doug Morton.

Chris Liu (violin) at the Mozarteum
Photo: Colin Talcroft

Sofia Barklund (cello), an exchange student in the US from Sweden who has been with the SRSYO for the past year said "It was wonderful to have had this dream of learning to play the cello and to have been able to do that and then to perform in Austria, in Salzburg, at the Mozarteum, and all while as an exchange student in the US. It was overwhelming."

Lauren Cramer (also in the cello section) remarked "The experience has been a little surreal. We're so used to playing by ourselves at the Sonoma Country Day School, it can seem a little routine, but to be here in a new place surrounded by people who speak other languages—it's all very exciting."

With applause and even a few shouts of "Bravo!" lingering in memory, the SRSYO is now headed for a tour of the famous abbey at Melk, en route to Vienna.