A weekend filled with music
Greater San Diego Chamber Orchestra celebrates 30 years of community engagement
Noah Staninger / Contributor / The USD Vista
Music, at its core, is a means of expression. It is the universal language that all can understand, regardless of where they are from and who they are. For 30 years, the Mulvaney Center for Community, Awareness, and Social Action has been connecting USD with the neighborhoods in San Diego, and what better way to celebrate this milestone than through the music of the community. Two concerts were held in Shiley Theatre on Friday, March 29 and Sunday, March 31. They were performed by the Greater San Diego Chamber Orchestra and featured a number of guest soloists as well as conductors. It’s safe to say that this orchestra is San Diego’s best kept secret in classical music.
The lights dimmed and all the musicians began to tune to one another, steadying the pitch so that they could maintain a unified sound. The light shined off the freshly polished instruments as Professor Angela Yeung, Ph.D. stepped onto the podium and raised her baton. The performance began with Camille Saint-Saens “Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah.” Within seconds the audience found itself mesmerized by the music, which successfully commanded their attention throughout the course of the entire performance. The exotic melodies of the oboe were complemented by the string section, with a thundering timpani driving the piece forward. This piece served to not only introduce the orchestra, but also as the perfect lead in to the highlight of the festivities.
After “Bacchanale and Romanze” were over, Yeung turned to face the audience and told them about the significance of the 30 years of service the Mulvaney Center has provided to the community. She explained that USD is more than just a school for rich kids, but an institution dedicated to justice for all people around the world. Yeung explained that empathy and humanity are more than just words here. They play a part in the curriculum everyday, and upon graduation students are leaving with more than just a diploma.Yeung then presents an award to Mrs. Reggie Smith, a Linda Vista community Leader, for embodying the principles that USD so greatly represents. The Mulvaney Center, and all it has done in the past 30 years, are in large part a product of Pfister’s work at USD and surrounding communities. Pfister takes the stage and discusses the importance of community and university relations, and humbly accepted the award. Reggie Smith was also honored at the performance for her community involvement on Friday but was unable to attend Sunday afternoon. Pfister inspired the audience with her decades of dedication, accepted the award, and wished the orchestra the best of luck as they began to play again.
Max Bruch, played “Romanze” with a Viola solo performed by department faculty member Ramon Negron. The soloist played with abundant personality and style. His performance is for the eyes as much as it is for the ears. The solo was gentle but demanded that it be heard. The transitions were seamless, from both the Orchestra and Negron. The whole point of an accompanying Orchestra is to complement, not undermine the soloist and their performance perfectly executed this duty.
“Romanze” finishes and Negron traded his violin in for a baton and begins to conduct “Csárdás” by Vittorio Monti. Performing the complex violin solo on this piece is USD’s own Elizabeth Tin-Maung, a junior studying both voice and violin as a music major. Completely unphased by the challenging transitions and speed, Tin-Maung moved her fingers over the neck of the violin without hesitation.
“When you practice you focus on technique and you focus on all these other things that are important to what you’re playing, but when you’re performing what I think about is trying to streamline my emotion that I feel for the piece so that the audience can feel it.” After 14 years of playing her instrument, Tin-Maung has powerful understanding of what it takes to be a superior musician. With both the motivation to succeed and the talent to back it up, Tin-Maung shows the audience why she is one of USD’s most valuable students.
The concert continued with two guest pianists, Youchae Bae, 11, performing Haydn’s “Vivache,” and Alexis Wu, 16, performing the third movement of Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No, 27.” Both Bae and Wu received first place in their respective divisions at the Music Teachers Association of California Concerto competition. They each performed with an intimidating confidence as their hands glided across the piano. They had an attention to detail that most musicians, no matter what age, never seem to achieve. For Bae, it was her first time playing with an orchestra accompaniment, but as an audience member, it was impossible to tell. Also featured in Vivache was guest conductor Jeffrey Malecki, whose unparalleled talent and charisma speaks for itself. The orchestra accompanied the two pianists perfectly without taking away from their solos.
After the young proteges left the stage there was a brief intermission. The orchestra had already been playing for an hour, but they were far from over. The final piece, Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade,” was dedicated to the aforementioned Reggie Smith, as it is her favorite piece of classical music. The entirety of the composition is 50 minutes. Anyone who’s ever performed the piece before knows how physically and mentally taxing it can be, but the chamber orchestra played for a whole two hours without a drop in quality. The level at which they played remained consistent despite the duration and complexity of the piece. The emotional content that each musician had translated clearly into the music and showed no signs of stopping. Throughout the harmonies of “Scheherazade,” the contrast of the dynamic ranges and the energy of the highs and lows were clear in each movement. The main melody would repeat itself throughout the piece in different contexts, drawing the audience in more and more. After the final note of the final movement, Yeung and all the performers took a bow. After two hours they must have been extremely exhausted, but they certainly didn’t show it.
The hardwork, dedication and talent of the orchestra as a whole, in addition to the individual soloists cannot be summed up in one article. Music, especially at this level, can only be truly experienced live. The San Diego Chamber Orchestra’s next performance will be Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and the Chinese Yellow River Piano Concerto on May 11 at 4 p.m. in Qualcomm Hall. Student tickets will be sold for only $15 at the event