RPO Around the Town

The RPO on stage and RocMusic in the pit

This week brought the RPO to three different venues around Rochester – the David F. Gantt Center on Tuesday, Franklin High School on Wednesday, and the Edgerton Center on Thursday – all for free. My friend Kitty and I attended the Franklin High performance, and were delighted and disappointed. Delighted, because the RPO played as beautifully as they do for a concert at Kodak Hall. And because they played some interesting pieces that would never make it onto a program at Kodak Hall. And because they partnered with the RocMusic students on several songs, and it was heartwarming to see and hear them play (RocMusic is a collaborative program to bring stringed-instrument instruction to Rochester city children, directed by Alexander Peña). But it was disappointing, because the large auditorium was sparsely filled, and we suspected that many in the audience were connected with RocMusic, rather than from the immediate surrounding community.

 Alexander Peña introducing the RocMusic students   

It’s too bad, because the music selections were very accessible, with a theme of Dances Around the World. Guest Conductor Boon Hua Lien did a wonderful job of explaining each piece, from the formality of Tchaikovsky’s “Polonaise” from Eugene Onegin, to the Spanish rhythms and use of the tambourine in the selections from Bizet’s Carmen. Even without his introduction to Dance of the Yao People, a lovely piece by Liu Tieshan and Mao Yuan, you couldn’t help but picture a rural Chinese scene.

There were about 30 RocMusic students who assembled in the pit to accompany the RPO on a number of songs, and it was a joy to watch them, the intensity on their faces, many of them proudly wearing their RocMusic tuxedo t-shirts. The final piece was pure fun – an arrangement of Gahu Songs by Bill Cahn, a former principal percussionist with the RPO. RocMusic, originally focused on teaching students stringed instruments, has recently expanded to include percussion and drumming, and they really excelled at the rhythms, especially one young girl who played with gusto and attitude, almost dancing in her seat along with the beat.

Kitty commented that it’d be nice to have a crystal ball to see what these kids are doing 25 years from now. We can only hope that programs like RocMusic succeed in broadening their horizons and giving them a sense of discipline, teamwork, and accomplishment that will help ground them, enable them to graduate high school, and to go on to long, productive lives.