The Score Newsletter | Fall 2019

Community Newsletter of Ovation | Long Beach Symphony 85th Anniversary |

In This Issue •

President’s Column

•

Picnic in the Park

•

Rehearsal Volunteers

•

Meet Your Ovation Board

•

Ovation Council

•

Meet Your Orchestra

Fall 2019

President’s Column

by Victoria Chenevey, President Welcome to the 85th Season of the Long Beach Symphony! It is an honor to serve as your President of Ovation for the coming year. We kicked off the season with an Ovation Occasion, “Picnic in the Park with Preu.”

Music Director Eckart Preu met with Ovation members and gave an inspiring speech on the upcoming season. The Ovation Occasion Committee provided a splendid luncheon event, and we look forward to other Occasions this year.

Our stated mission is “The pursuit of this organization shall be to support the programs, policies and goals of the Long Beach Symphony through the coordination and facilitation of volunteer activities.” We need your involvement and we hope that you will participate. This year presents many opportunities for service and fun, including Crescendo, Golf Classic Tournament, Uncorked, Instrument Petting Zoos, The ZuMBa Foundation Family Concert, and Toyota Youth Concerts. In addition, Ovation will be holding an Ovation Toy Drive for the children of the Women’s Shelter of Long Beach at the Holiday POPS! with The Copa Boys concert in December.

The Long Beach Symphony will participate in Violins of Hope, a nation-wide dialogue about music, art, social justice and free expression. Violins of Hope commemorates a unique collection of restored instruments played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust – many of them in concentration camps. Ovation has a unique opportunity to lend our time and efforts to these worthwhile events.

Be sure to watch your inbox for emails to sign up for these opportunities. And remember, all Ovation members are welcome at Ovation Council meetings on the 4th Wednesday of each month at 4pm at Marina Pacifica Clubhouse. We’d love to meet you there, and we hope you can join us.

Ovation 249 E. Ocean Blvd., Suite 200

In music, Victoria Chenevey

Long Beach, CA 90802 Tel: (562) 436-3203 Email: info@LongBeachSymphony.org Web: LongBeachSymphony.org/ovation

“Where words leave off, music begins.” ―Heinrich Heine

Ovation Volunteers of the Long Beach Symphony

Picnic in the Park with Maestro Preu Ovation Occasion remarks from the “conductor” Thank you all for your positive comments about Picnic in the Park with Maestro Preu on September 26th.

While we all appreciated the waterside venue and the lovely weather, it takes many players to make a performance memorable. Don and Judy Boland, our co-concertmasters, were called on to perform the whole time. Section leaders Jack Howes and Henry Matson (shuttle drivers), and Ursula Rice with Pat Howes (food prep), worked in perfect harmony. Soloists Suzanne Rowland, Pauline Sheppard and Vickie Chenevey gave flawless performances. The box office (aka check-in) with Miep van Tyen’s musical name tags, assisted by Nina West, gave us the final house count – 68 in attendance.

No performance is complete without behind-the-scenes activities, and Mary Hester and Bob Cash made sure our chicken arrived by curtain time. And playing the part they know so well, Connor Bogenreif and Bella Staav from the office swooped in and made short work of cleaning up the stage.

Of course, Maestro Preu is as effective without a baton as he is with one. His remarks and camaraderie were spot on, and he played to a rapt audience.

My thanks to all who came and supported our first Ovation Occasion of the Symphony’s 85th season.

Bobbie Cusato, conductor of the moment

Rehearsal Volunteers

by Renee B. Simon Stuffing envelopes in the office is fun and a great way to meet and socialize with other Ovation members but wouldn’t you also like to meet, socialize (briefly), and rub shoulders with the orchestra members? Our Ovation volunteers have been providing a really much appreciated respite for the orchestra at their break midway through their Thursday night rehearsals prior to each concert. We set up a table of fruit, cookies, simple finger food, and some thirst quenchers that they welcome, especially those arriving from a day of performing elsewhere and have barely had time for even a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

You can join in the fun by calling Shannon Taylor, chair of Rehearsal Reception Refreshments and offering to help.

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Ovation Volunteers of the Long Beach Symphony

Meet Your Ovation Board: Suzanne Rowland

by Renee B. Simon Maybe it’s because Long Beach is such a strong magnet for interesting people. Maybe it’s that the Long Beach Symphony is a power lure for interesting subscribers and volunteers and we are just lucky enough to get to know. Whatever, Ovation’s parliamentarian, Suzanne Rowland, is one of those interesting people you all will want to know better.

After meeting her future husband at Eastern Illinois University, Suzanne finished her BA at the University of Maryland and received her Masters degree in Public Administration from Troy State University. Her entire career was as a civilian employee with the military. Her Air Force husband, whom she sadly lost last year, served his military career as a radio and TV broadcaster based for extended periods in Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, and Crete. Since they lived off base, Suzanne was, for years at a time, living in each country and learning to know the people. In Germany, she recalls, they would enjoy day trips to the countryside and the historic castles most of us have seen primarily in glossy tour brochures. In the Netherlands there was ice-skating on the frozen canals.

Once back in the States, they settled in Southern California in 1992 -- close enough to Long Beach to get acquainted with the Long Beach Symphony, become subscribers, and at the POPS! concert Suzanne was a guest at the table where she got to meet Bobbie. No surprise, that was just a short conversation away from becoming Ovation’s parliamentarian. Other Ovation volunteer experiences Suzanne has already gotten to enjoy have been with the Petting Zoo, Uncorked, the Family Concert, and most recently helping to plan the Ovation Occasion Picnic in the Park with Maestro Preu.

Suzanne also volunteers with Las Amigas at Torrance Memorial Hospital staffing the information desk and working on their year-long fundraiser creating decorated artificial Xmas trees for sale during the holidays. She also enjoys a round of golf, a long-time sport, and at home, the company of her exotic short-hair cat, Callie, who she describes as a “pretty spoiled little girl.”

Ovation and Suzanne will be looking forward to a great future together.

Ovation Council Elected Officers Chair Chair-Elect Past Chair (Administrative) Secretary Treasurer Membership Co-Chairs

Victoria Chenevey (open) Ethel Sanford Judy D’Ambrosio Mary Hester Vicki Sawtelle, Ethel Sanford

Appointed Committee Chairs Education Team Toyota Youth Concerts Instrument Petting Zoo Family Concert Volunteers

Parliamentarian

Suzanne Rowland

Doug Lane, Sally Boyne Doug Lane Bruce Adams

Patron Engagement Table

Mary and Steve Lang

Newsletter Advisor

Renee B. Simon

Personal Communications

Pat Mohler

Nominating Office Volunteer Coordinators

Ethel Sanford Bobbie Cusato, Shannon Taylor

Rehearsal Reception Refreshments

Shannon Taylor

Tributes and Memorials

Pat Mohler

Honorary Council Members

Judy Boland, Patricia Salkowski

Ovation Occasions/Social Events

Pauline Eade-Sheppard, Bobbie Cusato, Suzanne Rowland

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Ovation Volunteers of the Long Beach Symphony

Meet Your Orchestra: Brian Cannady

by Mary Hester Brian Cannady is one of the three new members of the Long Beach Symphony percussion section. Here are some excerpted responses (for space reasons) to questions we posed to him but we urge Ovation members to find the opportunity to introduce yourselves also to Jeffrey Grant and Principal David Riccobono.

Back in February when the auditions were announced, I knew how badly I wanted a spot in this orchestra. I was especially interested in Long Beach Symphony because of their balance between Classical and POPS! series..

I started playing drum set thanks to my father, who is also a drummer. He really pushed me in the beginning, but once I started playing in middle school I knew I would always be playing drums.

It wasn’t until I arrived at California State University Fullerton that I truly began my lifelong journey.

I earned my bachelors in performance there under the direction of Todd Miller, principal timpanist for Pacific Symphony. I earned my masters in music at Boston University.

While I haven’t studied other instruments professionally, I have picked up a good deal of piano, guitar, and also some violin through teaching programs that I have been a part of.

I have played with local chamber ensembles such as Jacarada, Long Beach Brass Consortium, Pacific Brass, as well as other local orchestras. As a percussionist in Los Angeles, I’ve performed almost every musical genre: salsa bands, jazz combos, big band, Syrian art song, Macedonian brass band, musical theater, hip hop, and of course rock.

Nearly all my traveling has been thanks to music. As an undergrad, I was invited to both the Eastern Europe tour and the Portugal tour with the CSUF Orchestra.

I’m not married yet, but Chloe and I hope to adopt a dog soon.

Practicing my instrument is a full-time job, but when I do have time I like to write music and work on my cooking skills. Someday I want to make the perfect batch of fried chicken.

I was born in the city of Orange, a great place to grow up but I knew I had to move closer to LA to make commuting to performances easier.

My current teacher with whom I study would have to be the first person I would say is my “mentor.” As musicians, we have knowledge passed down to us from so many sources, but the things I’ve learned from Ken McGrath have really helped me not just as a musician but also as a person.

I think the programming for 4th and 5th grade students is an absolute necessity. Giving kids that age an interest in music or the arts could be the greatest thing for their emotional development by far.

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