With the help of several large donations and a wealth of community support, the Santa Maria Philharmonic Society is back in the game of providing quality live music to Santa Marians.
The society originally canceled its season subscription concert this year due to a lack of funds, but now a smaller two-show series has been approved, as well as the “Rendezvous House Concert Series.”
“The community responded very well,” said Carol Houchens, a Santa Maria Philharmonic Society board member and treasurer. “We have restored the symphony, and we have decided to continue the Rendezvous series, which are small, intimate house concerts where the audience is very much up close with the performers.”
The society, which is used to providing full symphony concerts, decided to include regular chamber concerts as part of its season last year, banking on the wealth of talented local musicians who collaborate in their own smaller ensembles. The first concerts of the season will feature the Santa Maria Winds, which includes Houchens as the ensemble’s flute player.
“It’s a really good blend of instruments,” she said. “It’s probably a sound people aren’t used to hearing. It’s not like a band or a string group, it’s somewhere in between.”
Though not as pervasive as the string quartet, the wind quintet has been popular among composers. The program will include pieces by Haydn, Debussy, and Bizet. Many pieces, though, Houchens explained, were not originally composed for a wind quintet, but were arranged for the unique ensemble.
“A lot of what we do are arrangements, but there are lots and lots of classical pieces that were arranged for this type of group,” she said. “The founders of this group have a library of over 800 pieces of music, so no matter what people want we usually have it.”
The founding members are bassoonist Lawrence Lee and oboist Patricia Lynn, who began the group in 1980. Also in the group is clarinetist Gena Laird and horn player Jane Swanson, who complete the ensemble with Houchens.
“It’s a little bit unusual,” Houchens said. “You don’t usually see a wind quintet off of a college campus.”
The house concert series offers listeners a unique opportunity to be up close to a chamber ensemble and feel and hear the music in a way not usually afforded in a concert hall.
“You hear all the lines; you don’t just hear a wall of sound,” Houchens said. “It’s much more intimate and more personal, and the musicians are more inclined to give inside tips. There’s not that distance you have with an orchestra.”
Funds allocated from the concert series will help support the society’s other programs, including its youth outreach, which includes orchestral performances at local schools and a youth showcase every year.
“We want to enhance and increase our youth outreach and we would love to have a youth symphony or youth chamber groups … in the community,” Houchens said. “So it’s not just our house concerts or chamber concerts; we want to get something like that started with the young people in the community.”
A plethora of sound
The Lompoc Concert Association presents a concert with organist Angela Kraft Cross on Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 925 North F St., Lompoc. More info: 737-1809, mollyfgerald@gmail.com, or primatrio.com.
Music in the street
The annual Salad Bowl Festival in Guadalupe presents a free community concert featuring the Drive-In Romeos and Loren Radis Sept. 28 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Ninth Street and U.S. Highway 1, Guadalupe. Free. More info: 343-2939, karen@guadalupeculturalcenter.com, and saladbowlfestival.com.
Park yourself
Concerts in the Park is a free concert series presented by the Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department, PLAY Inc., and Santa Maria Rotary clubs featuring The North Star Session performing on Sept. 29 from 1 to 3 p.m. at Rotary Centennial Park, College Avenue, Santa Maria. More info: 925-0951, Ext. 260.
Live at the Radisson
The Radisson Hotel presents live music on Fridays and Saturdays from 7 to 10 p.m., including Calo performing on Sept. 27 and 28 at 3455 Skyway Drive, Santa Maria. More info: 928-8000.
Ready for the show
The Chumash Casino and Resort presents Latin star Larry Hernandez performing Sept. 26. Both shows are at 8 p.m. at the Chumash Casino and Resort, 3400 E. Highway 246, Santa Ynez. Cost is $45, $55, $65, $75, and $85. More info: 585-3737 or chumashcasino.com.
En route
Root 246 presents live music Fridays and Saturdays from 8 to 11 p.m. at Root 246, 420 Alisal Road, Solvang. More info: 264-4726 or bethany865@live.com.
Open mic night
Lucia’s Wine Co. offers an open mic night featuring wine, poetry, and live music on Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. at the tasting room, 126 E. Clark Ave., Orcutt. More info: 332-3080.
‘Wine down Wednesday’
The Addamo Tasting Room and Bistro presents “Wine Down Wednesdays,” featuring live music on Wednesdays from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Addamo Tasting Room and Bistro, located at 400 E. Clark Ave., Old Orcutt. Free. More info: 937-6400 or Bethany@addamovineyards.com.
Party at the Maverick
The Maverick Saloon offers live entertainment, including live country by Teddy Spanke and the Tex Pistols on Sept. 27 at 9 p.m. “Concert on the Deck” featuring Melanie Devaney is Sept. 28 at 3 p.m. Teddy Spanke and the Tex Pistols perform on Sept. 28 at 7:45 p.m., followed by “Late Night with guest DJs” at 11:30 p.m. at the saloon, 3687 Sagunto St., Santa Ynez. More info: 686-4785 or mavericksyv@aol.com.
Contact Arts Editor Joe Payne at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 26 – Oct 3, 2013.
