LOCAL
BEAT
“SO MUCH OF IT IS AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL. EVERY STORY I TELL IS 100 PERCENT TRUE.”
{BY MARGARET WELSH}
SUBURBAN SONATAS When Corinne Kraft rekindled her love of the violin, the Edgewood Symphony Orchestra gave her a place to play with others. Now the president of the organization — and part of the second-violin section — she says the same is true of many of the orchestra’s 70 volunteer musicians. While some are professional musicians, there are also business owners, doctors, teachers, engineers and students, “people from all walks of life,” Kraft says. “I think if you had to do the average profile, it would be we’ve all played since we were children and still want to do it. And that’s what the Edgewood Symphony allows us to do: to play with people who share the love of music with us.” This year, the ESO celebrated its 25th season, which comes to a close Sunday with performances of Shostakovich’s Festive Overture, Grieg’s Piano Concerto — performed by music director and concert pianist Walter Morales — and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. The group’s roots actually extend back longer than 25 years — to the 1940s, when violinist Eugene Reichenfeld founded the Wilkinsburg Civic Symphony. In 1987, in search of a new home, the WCS was taken in by nearby Edgewood. Morales became music director in 2005 and, Kraft says, “He’s really brought our orchestra to new heights, to where we don’t feel like we’re amateurs anymore.” Unlike many community orchestras, which select symphonic movements, the ESO often plays full symphonies. “I think that’s very special for a community orchestra,” Kraft says. “That’s what our members like to do. We like to challenge ourselves.” Not surprisingly, such organizations are not common in small suburbs: With a population of a little over 3,000, Kraft says Edgewood is one of the smallest communities in the country to have its own symphony orchestra — if not the smallest. “We pride ourselves on not just being a community orchestra,” she says. “We try to reach out into the community, particularly in educating young people on the beauty of live classical and symphonic music. “We want classical music and the orchestra music to live on.”
“WE’VE ALL PLAYED SINCE WE WERE CHILDREN AND STILL WANT TO DO IT.”
MWELSH@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
EDGEWOOD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA SEASON FINALE CONCERT. 3 p.m. Sun., May 5. Carnegie Music Hall, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $10-15. www.edgewoodsymphony.org
28
BEYOND
BULLYING
{PHOTOS BY HEATHER MULL}
{BY JOHN LAVANGA}
T
HE JOSH & GAB Show has a memo-
rable song called “Nine O’Clock Behind the Jack Rabbit”: It’s the story of a frightened kid at Kennywood Park who’s nervously counting down the hours until he has to put on a brave face and meet a bully for an old-fashioned middle-school brawl. He’s terrified, and admits it: “I’m not one for fighting, and I don’t have a plan. Because I bruise really easily and I have tiny hands.” The song, like most of The Josh & Gab Show, is a story pulled straight from the lives of the group’s two members, comedian Gab Bonesso and songwriter Josh Verbanets. This particular one came from the childhood of a friend of Verbanets. “‘Nine o’clock behind the Jack Rabbit’
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 05.01/05.08.2013
Meet you in the schoolyard: Josh Verbanets and Gab Bonesso
was this famous phrase in my school,” he explains, “because it basically meant, ‘I’m gonna beat you up.’” The song is anchored by a steady bass line and breaks out into a fiercely rockin’ chorus in which Bonesso chimes in with
the duo’s anti-bullying show — which utilizes music, comedy and interaction with children — provides a personal connection to children who are dealing with the issue of bullying. JOSH VERBANETS is best known around
MORE ON THE JOSH AND GAB SHOW: www.joshandgab.com
growling vocals. In the end, though, it turns out that the bully is just as scared as the boy. The story continues: “We rode some rides together and didn’t want to leave.” It’s a very Pittsburgh example of how
Pittsburgh for his frenetic performances as the frontman in energetic indie-rock trio Meeting of Important People. The band’s poppy tracks and sometimes-silly lyrics have become a staple of the local scene over the past half-decade. Bonesso, for her part, is perhaps best known for her over-the-top, standup stage presence, and edgy stand-up that includes more adult-oriented subject matter, like criticism of the Catholic Church. That