Tehachapi Symphony Orchestra celebrates Beethoven 'middle period'

When Ludwig Van Beethoven premiered two symphonies and other works at a four-hour concert at Vienna in 1808, the musicians grumbled for lack of rehearsal time and one critic described the event as "a cart rolling down the hill with no horse."

At Tehachapi Symphony Orchestra's Nov. 1 concert at Country Oaks Baptist Church, which featured one of the symphonies performed that night in Vienna as well as the artistry of guest violinist Mischa Lefkowitz, there was no grumbling and no runaway cart. There was robust Beethoven "middle period" music executed by a full, rounded, exuberant company of musicians.

Under the leadership of Music Director David Newby since 1999, the orchestra has grown from a handful of local amateurs to be the cultural treasure that it is today. Former Tehachapi mayor cellist Debbie Hand of Mountain Music and orchestra concertmaster and violin instructor Gayel Pitchford teamed up to organize an orchestra in 1998.

"Debbie dragged me up to Ridgecrest to play at Cero Coso," Pitchford said. Then came the inspiration – "We should start our own."

Finding bassoons and oboes was a problem, she said, but they magically turned up. Jazz musician Ray Burkhart was conductor for that first year.

"So that's how you make an orchestra," Pitchford said. With six to eight key people, she said, "there were just enough of us to make this thing work."

The Symphony Orchestra sponsors the Tehachapi Strings Orchestra and the Junior Orchestra, experience in which give young talent a boost when applying for college scholarships.

The Symphony Orchestra performs five times a year. All the concerts are free.

They are free, says the Tehachapi Symphony Orchestra brochure, "so that everyone, regardless of income, can enjoy live classical music."

The board of directors (which is seeking two new members) manages to run the orchestra program on a budget of $40,000 a year that comes from patrons and donors. The funds pay for Newby and guests artists, music rental, royalties, venues and programs.

Handel's The Messiah will be presented on Fri., Dec. 18, 2015 at 7 p.m. at Country Oaks Baptist Church, 20915 Schout Road, Tehachapi. The following concert, on Fri., Feb. 28 at 4 p.m., features Westside Story Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra by Leonard Bernstein/Randall Craig Fleisher, with the Amaranth String Quartet. The concert also includes Maurice Ravel's Mother Goose Suite and Albert Ginastera's Estancia Suite.

See http://www.tehachapiorchestra.com.