Belmont Summer Music Festival

The orchestra consists mostly of other college students who are connected to Nathaniel and local music schools and conservatories, but he needed a few more violins so he got my name from a brass player in the Arlington Philharmonic. I recommended a couple more adults and there are now several of us over age 25 scattered in a few different sections.

We are playing an all-Dvorak program, the Symphony no. 8 and the Cello Concerto.  The cello soloist, Sebastian Bäverstam is amazing. I've never played with a cellist of that caliber before.

The whole orchestra is quite impressive. The experience reminds me of the all-county and all-state festivals I was in when I was a kid: very few rehearsals (3 in this case) followed by a concert (2 in this case, today and tomorrow). This is how pro's do it, isn't it? It's a bit overwhelming for an amateur like me. I've never played either piece before (although I know the symphony to listen to it), and if we played this in Arlington, I would have 6-8 weeks of rehearsal and practice time, and some lessons on the hard parts. Now I've had 3 days, by myself, starting from scratch! The 2nd violin part is plenty of challenge under those circumstances. I'm a bit out of my league, but it is a great privilege to be able to play with these outstanding young musicians, in a venue only a 5-minute walk from my home in Belmont. It's also getting me back into the swing of orchestra music, before my own orchestra season starts in September.

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