A Grand History
Concord Chamber Orchestra - A Grand History
--written by its founder John
Parfrey.
Looking Back
1976-1977 - The Early Days
1977-1982 - Growth &
Expansion
1982-1984 - The Vision Widens
The
Success-Builders
The Concord Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1975 to provide performances of classical music for the enjoyment of area audiences, to offer talented area musicians performance opportunities and, through its annual concerto competition, to give promising young musicians a venue in which to perform. Its membership consists of volunteer adult players from various professions and age groups. In 1993, the orchestra made its home the community of Wauwatosa where it regularly performs.
REFLECTIONS ON THE EARLY YEARS
Looking
back
There are eight boxes in the garage of our home. Most of the
contents in those boxes chronicle nine years of my professional
music career in Milwaukee. Much of what is found there are all of
the posters, programs, concert recordings, videotapes and reviews
from the first nine seasons of the Concord Chamber Orchestra, a
group which I'm proud to have started back in 1976.
Namewise, it wasn't always called "Concord". At the beginning it was simply called "Orchestra" as the nameless pit band for two local college productions; one a musical, the other an opera. Then, for seven seasons, it went under the moniker of "The Society of Music Chamber Orchestra." (For purposes of brevity in this accounting, we will call it SMCO from here on.)
Though this first name of the group was rather long and unwieldy, it successfully captured its raison d'etre: a society of music. By marrying these two words into a concept, the character of the group began to emerge: a mixture of serious adult amateur musicians (some of them music teachers), high school and college students, and freelance professionals, all of whom loved the experience of making music in a low-pressure congenial atmosphere.
1976-1977 - The
Early Days
Concord had its humble beginnings in the basement of Albrecht Hall
on the old campus of Concordia College in the spring of
1975.
I was in my second year on the music faculty at Concordia. I had always wanted to conduct, and this position offered ample opportunities to do that. I took over leadership of a singing group and had been charged with starting a college band. In addition I was also hired to lead the college musical theater productions. And it was from these musicals that Concord found its genesis.
In the spring of 1976, the school had mounted a production of Hello Dolly. It was an enjoyable production for many reasons, not the least of which was that a certain esprit that began in the orchestra pit.
Lacking a strong instrumental music program, the college always hired an orchestra for its musicals. These groups always had good musicians, many of them veterans of many seasons at the Melody Top Theater where they were able to learn these scores inside out. With talented musicians like these, it was easy to move past the notes directly to making good music.
In the midst of this good experience, the string section had formed its own special set of friendships. This connection was so strong that when the production closed there was a real desire among these string players to keep the experience going somehow. That desire was soon to find an outlet.
Within days of the show's closing, Gene Hill, the college's voice teacher, approached me about forming a small orchestra for his production of Mozart's opera, Bastien und Bastienne. With a bunch of new phone numbers in my little black book, I hastily called my "Dolly" orchestra strings, and before we knew it, we were making music again.
Though it was a small production - just two performances - it was all we needed to keep things going.
At first it was just a reading group. Through the rest of the spring of 1976 and into the summer, we would gather once a week to read through scores. As time went by we acquired some new musicians. A bassist from UWM (Bruce Guetzkow) joined us. A violinist who studied with MSO's Eriks Klavins, who taught his private students at the college during that time. And other friends of the original members showed up along the way until our original four or five musicians had burgeoned out to around fifteen.
Throughout the summer I was amazed and excited at the level of music we were beginning to make, so one fateful evening in July I asked the group if they'd like to do a public performance. After some discussion, all agreed on an October (1976) date. (I knew that for a significant number of these people that would be end of the road but I hoped that enough of a nucleus would be left to keep the group going on a permanent basis.)
At that first (October 8, 1976) concert we performed Holst's St. Paul Suite, Hindemith's Acht Sthcke, Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No.3 and arias from Gluck's Orfeo with Gene Hill (Countertenor), our first soloist. The musicians that night included 1st Violins, Margaret Leach (Concertmaster), Mary Locke, Mary Roseberry; 2nd Violins, Carol Kincaid, John Kramer, Lynn Parrish, Donna Pelikan; Violas, Ken Wollberg, Mary Norquist, Carol Rognsvoog; Celli, Nancy Nischik, Margaret Norquist, Wally Mennicke; String Bass, Bruce Guetzkow, and Harpsichordist Vera Pawlack
Before the concert, the excitement and tension was palpable. It only became more so when I peered out at the audience from backstage and spotted Lawrence B. Johnson, the rather hard-to-please music critic from the Milwaukee Sentinel!
In the end, the energy came out at just the right levels as we turned in a lively, musical and really enjoyable first concert. Listening to the tape from that first evening confirms my recollection of what a pleasant and exciting beginning that was!
Sentinel Critic Johnson agreed and proclaimed in glowing terms that an exciting new ensemble had been born in Milwaukee that night.
There would be a major rebuilding of the group after that first concert. Most had other commitments after that point. But the momentum was started, and by the next spring we had another fine group ready to do a full house concert of Bach and Handel (with Eriks Klavins playing Bach's A Minor concerto and organist Hugo Gehrke performing Handel's 4th Organ Concerto)
In addition to the spring concert our first season was rounded out with a concert which included a fully staged production of Menotti's opera "The Telephone".
And from there it went.
