“We had a lot of fun and everybody wanted to continue to play and so we formed a chamber orchestra,” said Tammy Vollom-Matturro, the group’s conductor.
About 25 musicians make up the orchestra, most of whom are adults who played in the pit orchestra. Vollom-Matturro said the group has expanded a little and has a few high-schoolers playing with them. The orchestra has met since March, playing any kind of music they can set their eyes on.
“We are just kind of reading through music just for fun,” Vollom-Matturro said. “... We’ve done just everything. We’ve touched on every single type of music.”
The group has had to abandon its hodgepodge approach to rehearsals lately in order to get one piece — “Wildwood Overture” by Aaron David Miller — ready to perform in an Evening of Classics Concert on Friday in Soldotna.
“Right now we’re working on a great little short piece written especially for a chamber orchestra,” Vollom-Matturro said. “It features every section throughout the piece of music.”
Though the orchestra will show off its practiced musicianship with the overture, its sight-reading experience will come in handy when it plays a Mozart “dice game” piece during the Soldotna and Homer concerts. The piece consists of a collection of numbered measures of music. Rolling the dice selects which measures will be played in what order. Though it sounds like a recipe for earplugs, remember that this is Mozart.
“I can guarantee you that it’s amazing,” Vollom-Matturro said.
She and Maria Allison, who is helping organize the Evening of Classics Concert as well as performing in it, tried out the dice game on a plane trip to Dutch Harbor. They rolled the dice and selected the measures that will make up the second half of the piece. When the orchestra played the selection, Vollom-Matturro said she was surprised at how good it sounded.
“We play through and it’s like, ‘Wow. How can that work?’” she said. “So, yes, it’s amazing. It will be pretty darn cool.”
Members of the Soldotna and Homer audiences will get to roll the dice to select the measures for the first part of the piece. The orchestra will write down the measures then sight-read through them before playing the second half that they’ve already learned.
“Every time you play it, it’s different. It’s very fun and funny,” Allison said.
The dice game piece is just one of many ways performers will attempt to break the stigma that classical music concerts are stuffy or boring.
“It’s an evening of classical music but we try to have fun with it so it’s a little bit more lighthearted than some classical music that is more serious,” Allison said. Programs for both evenings include performances from orchestras, ensembles and soloists.
“It should be fun because of the variety,” Vollom-Matturro said. “In this concert there’s lots of different people doing shorter pieces. It’ll be great.”
Joining the Redoubt Chamber Orchestra on the program is the Central Peninsula Youth and Community Orchestra directed by Mellisa Nill, which formed last year. Several soloists and ensemble groups also will perform, including guitarist Bill Larned, flutist Erin Southwick, vocalist Siri Larson, violinist Sue Biggs, pianist Natasha Vaissenberg, pianist Phillip Hart, the Amanita Trio and the Kalgin Island Quartet. From the southern Kenai Peninsula, flutist Virginia Cuffe, vocalist Heather Beggs and pianist Lynn Lowe also will perform.
“Every year we’ve had a really great turnout of performers and of people,” Allison said of the concerts that began in 2001. “Lots of people come to the show because they have friends and family playing.”
The concerts include some new faces this year, courtesy of a thriving music community on the central Kenai Peninsula.
“It’s very active and it’s just growing,” Allison said. “... Gosh, a few years ago we had maybe one violin teacher. Now we have four or more really active violin teachers. Their students are playing in the orchestra and it’s just great to see this happen. And they are all working together. They’re so supportive of each other, which is so great.”
For instance, Southwick is the music teacher at Soldotna Elementary School but she’s never performed in An Evening of Classics before. She’s joined by pianist Hart, who grew up in Soldotna. There also will be a timpani solo — another first for the concert.
“It’s neat to see more people coming out of the woods, or whatever you want to call it,” Allison said.
The Soldotna concert is at 7 p.m. Friday at Christ Lutheran Church. Admission is $10. The Homer concert is at 7 p.m. Saturday behind the new curtain of the Mariner Theatre. Seating is limited. Tickets are $10 at the door.
Staff witer McKibben Jackinsky contributed to this story. She can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky@homernews.com. Jenny Neyman is the city editor for the Peninsula Clarion.
Saying the Redoubt Chamber Orchestra is the pits is a comment on its beginnings rather than an insult to the group’s ability. The group formed from the pit orchestra that plays for Kenai Performers musicals. The musicians had such a good time during last year’s musical, “Brigadoon,” that they didn’t want it to end. They will perform in “An Evening of Classics,” in Soldotna on Friday and Homer on Saturday. The concerts are fund-raisers for the Kenai Peninsula Orchestra.
We encourage you to add your comments. To prevent spam, comments with links are manually approved during the normal business day. Please be respectful of others with your comments, bear in mind anyone in the community may be reading your comments.
