It’s a Family Affair!
The Contemporary Youth Orchestra visits Pittsburgh

We’re getting our act together and taking it on the road. Well, and why not? There were any number of good reasons that two buses and several cars headed away from Cleveland State University going to Pittsburgh on Saturday morning February 9. It wasn’t an athletic team making the trip, it was a musical team—the Contemporary Youth Orchestra, founded thirteen years ago by its music director Liza Grossman. This was their first-ever trip as a group.

But not everyone was able to leave that morning. Some of the musicians were competing in a regional swimming meet; others were in an ensemble competition. Still others were away elsewhere on recruiting trips of their own. Haydee Pagan and her daughter Olivia Harris (a senior cellist) arrived home rather late on Friday from such a trip, but still made it to the bus by 9:30AM the next morning. Small wonder that both of them slept on the bus!

Other students were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but so well-mannered! I was thrilled to be included on the trip, but still somewhat hesitant, wondering about the noise level. I needn’t have worried. These young people were so quiet we adults kept checking to make sure they were still there! They read, or wrote, or talked quietly among themselves. A CD of their most recent concert in December sounded through the bus audio system, prompting the occasional cheer, but otherwise, it was a very sedate bus trip. Both ways.

Several parents also made the trip: some on the bus and some in their cars. Others came later in the day, after their other commitment was met. Kate Sheppard-Sage was one of the organizers of the trip, seldom observed without a clutch of papers in her hands. In her other life she’s a professor of Economics at the University of Akron; her husband Lewis Sage, is a Professor of Economics at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea. They live in Hudson. Good thing they’re economists! She also does a good bit of the fund-raising/grant-writing for CYO, allowing Ms. Grossman to primarily tend to the musical aspects.

Their older son, Rob, a trombonist, is a junior at Carnegie-Mellon, majoring in performance on his chosen instrument, but in ensemble work, not as soloist. About Ms. Grossman he says, “Liza is an incredible conductor. I was very fortunate to work with her for three years. She’s very good at taking what you can do and pushing you, to find out just how far you can go.” He studies with the co-principal trombonist in the Pittsburgh Symphony, Rebecca Cherian. Rob’s high school years before graduation saw him in rehearsal for something or other for a minimum of nine hours each weekend. He played in a student jazz ensemble at Tri-C and the Akron Youth Symphony, as well as CYO.

His dad chimed in with: “Liza gets them to places where you just say, ‘damn!’”. His mom added, “Liza pushes. And pulls. She reaches out to them. But then, she allows them time to get there.” Because she likes contemporary music, it was Kate’s idea for Rob to audition for CYO, but she adds with a grin, “I didn’t have to push very hard, it didn’t take a lot of persuasion.” She didn’t know it would turn into quite such a family affair. They also have a younger son, who, in spite of being ‘a lovely pianist’ isn’t going into music.

The purpose of this trip was to perform a concert at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall on the Carnegie-Mellon University campus on Sunday afternoon. The repertoire consisted of two works from that same December concert, plus one from this weekend’s movie music concert. Richard King, principal horn player of the Cleveland Orchestra would again perform the Horn Concerto that the CYO commissioned for him from American composer John Kennedy, and which received its world premiere in December. He would drive up on Sunday morning, however, after hearing auditions at CIM for incoming students, after Saturday evening’s concert by the orchestra. Fortunately, Pittsburgh is fairly close, except for when it snows or rains really hard, making traffic hazardous.

Another piece from the December concert was Pini de Roma by Resphigi. Needing a few extra brass players for the piece, Ms. Grossman called on CYO alum, trombonist Rob Sheppard-Sage. He rounded up several of his fellow students, who cheerfully participated, while parked in the balcony of the gorgeous old hall, built in the early 1900s to honor military personnel from the Civil War and World War One. Ms. Grossman thought the stage was a bit smaller, but the auditorium was more than twice as large, with warm, resonant acoustics.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Even during a stop for fuel for the youngsters, (snacks, especially pizza, proved very popular! even before noon) they were well-behaved, never once causing any of the accompanying parents to remind them of their circumstance. Once at the hotel, instruments and luggage was unloaded from the buses and cars and put in a secure storage room, as check-in time would not be for several hours yet.

At this point, we separated briefly. I went off to the Phipps Conservatory and the Chilhully Glass Exhibit, which I’d been wanting to see since it first opened there last May. The young musicians and their parents went off to see the various attractions of Carnegie-Mellon University, where several of the students will most likely further their education. The young musicians were so well-behaved at the Carnegie Museum, they made a big impression on several of the docents who guided them through the vast spaces. In fact, some of those same docents came on Sunday to hear the performance. In the process, these Pittsburghers were able to hear some of their own, as well.

But still on Saturday, after the Museum tour, and check-in at the hotel, the youngsters were bused to the downtown Station Square Center for dinner at their choice of venue. Then it was back to the CMU campus again where they participated in a concert/masterclass by Eighth Blackbird, which was enthusiastically received. After pizza in the hotel’s common room, it was off to bed for a very tired group.

Breakfast the next morning was followed by a reunion with musical instruments and rehearsal! It took only a brief time to settle in, and become accustomed to the acoustics, an important part of traveling. Then came the major event.

Pittsburgh’s Creative and Performing Arts High School (very like our own School of the Arts) performed on the first half of the program at the express invitation of Ms. Grossman. A chamber orchestra, usually directed by instructor David Knapp, performed the Overture to The Pirates of Penzance in a totally up-beat and vivacious manner. The conductor for this performance was student Michael DePasquale, a very gifted young man who should have no difficulty in pursuing a conducting career. He was on top of the score, in every little detail, meticulously meeting the rhythmic demands while still being helpful to his musicians by cueing them in at the appropriate times. It was such a vibrant performance, I wished we could have heard the entire operetta.

This feeling was intensified by the appearance of two young singers for Poor Wandering One from the same operetta. Annie Raego, soprano and Adriani Cleveland, mezzo-soprano, were marvels of expression, vocal agility and pitch in this large auditorium. (Later, I overheard an unidentified gentleman saying he’d never heard a high-school-age soprano of that quality before. Ever. I’m not sure I want to go quite that far, but certainly, she was excellent.)

Richard Dannenberg, a violinist in the chamber orchestra, stepped out to the front of the stage as soloist in a performance of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, which was more than capably played, again conducted by the truly extraordinary young Mr. DePasquale. CAPA’s Modern Music Ensemble –ANTITHESIS, a small, electronically-assisted group performed a piece by Terry Riley, which was conducted by Ben Opie and Rick McNerny.

A presentation at the end of intermission allowed Ms. Grossman to present Mr. Knapp with a DVD of the CYO performances, and he reciprocated with a Terrible Towel. She looked as though she didn’t quite understand what that was all about, but that’s okay—she isn’t from Pittsburgh, and may not be much of a football fan, either. (She's from Detroit.)

The CYO was superb, of course, as they always are. Danny Elfman’s Spiderman led off, followed by Mr. King’s performance of the Horn Concerto by John Kennedy, and the musical portion of the aftenoon was concluded by a roof-rattling rendition of the Pini di Roma by Respighi. The additional brass in the balcony was awesome!

A reception following the concert allowed the two groups of young musicians to become acquainted with each other, and new friendships to be formed. It’s a reasonable guess that some of the Clevelanders will end up at CMU, while some of the Pittsburghers could well come to this area for further study.

The buses were waiting for us, ready for the trip home, which was interesting, considering the abrupt change in the weather. I know, Cleveland in February! But it was a safe and uneventful trip back to CSU. The purpose of this trip, was more than to just present a concert

That’s more or less the end of the trip story, in itself, but CYO is more than just a student orchestra; it’s a way of life. Coming from all areas of Cleveland and the surrounding communities as they do, the students rarely get a chance to socialize with other young musicians beyond their own stand partner or section mates. Many of the parents are involved, to an extraordinary degree. In fact, once their own children have graduated from high school and gone on to college, the parents stay involved with CYO because they believe so strongly in what CYO and Ms. Grossman do for their children and their community.

When Dean Hinterberger and his wife – a professor and Urban Planner at CSU (and Associate Dean for Urban Affairs) – became parents, they decided that Dean would be ‘Mr. Mom’ to their son, Andrew, now a senior at Hawken and a cellist in CYO. He’s been studying music since second grade, but isn’t sure yet about which college or even if he’ll continue music once he gets there, as his first real love is computer science. Or maybe he’ll minor in music; in addition to cello, he also plays various kinds of guitar. He has six of them—good for classical or rock or heavy metal.

Andrew had almost reached the black belt stage in martial arts after six years, but it was becoming logistically difficult between the music and the school and the transportation. He’s also a golfer and former basketball player at Hawken. This summer he hopes to crew as well. They’ve been on school visits to Wittenberg (he liked it a lot) and RIT – that was good for computers, but no so good for music. Of course, he might be able to scoot over to Eastman for that. He still has some time to reach a conclusion.

One conclusion that Dean has reached, however, is that he’s not leaving CYO once Andrew moves on. “Other than socializing with the other parents, I’m exposed to music I might not have listened to otherwise. A couple of hours a week with these kids goes a long way to recovering from reading the daily paper. They’re such a positive group. Liza does such a good job. She gets people to work hard and they don’t even realize it.” He stops for a moment of reflection, then continues. “I’d miss it,” he adds simply.

Attending college is a requirement for the members of the CYO. We read frequently in the papers or hear on TV about this or that young athlete being assiduously courted by a college or university enamored with the young person’s skills with a ball or in a pool or on a track. These students are equally gifted, but in a different direction, although some of them are also athletic. Charlie Poe, for instance is a violinist for CYO, and a junior at Kenston High, where he’s a member of the swim team. He and his younger sister (a violist) and brother (a pianist) keep their parents hopping, going from one event to another. Just listening to Charlie’s regular schedule is enough to wear one out.

The morning of the trip, Charlie stayed behind for a high school sectional swim competition. His parents brought him to Pittsburgh and stayed for the concert the next day. He swims four events: the 100 yard butterfly, 200 yard freestyle, and the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. He achieved personal bests in his events that morning, although just not quite good enough to advance to the regionals. He’s been swimming for 10 years, and studying violin for nine. He’s also a bass-baritone in the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus, and engages in acting and musical theater at school, where he maintains a 3.8 or 3.9 grade average. Charlie knows he’s going to be involved in music in his adult life, although the exact manner is still undecided. He’s leaning strongly toward music education and choral conducting.

He’s just started piano lessons, as though he needed another activity to add to his list, to go along with water skiing, sailing and swing dancing. He’s also a dj at Kenston's radio station, WKHR 91.5, which apparently plays everything but rock.

Charlie is also an excellent writer and very literate. For instance, this came to me in an e-mail from him, and I’ve not touched one comma. ******''In terms of athletic competition and artistic performance, I would say that they compliment each other. So your original statement of “athletic competition helping with stage nerves” also goes vice versa. Swimming to me is as technically demanding as playing an instrument, therefore the nerves would be equivalent. Quite frankly, they're quite comparable to each other. As I have advanced in both my swimming and violin career, I've found that more and more fine tuning is required to keep getting better. The more of this fine tuning you have done beforehand the better, hence the point of practicing and rehearsal. Typically though, my nerves usually don't get to me. It's a matter of simply settling in mentally during those ten minutes beforehand and building up self confidence.

“Settling in” before a race is obviously different than “settling in” before a performance, but they're both accomplishing the same task. For me, it just flat out feels awesome to throw myself out there knowing that I'm going to give what I'm doing everything I've got and not give a care to what anyone else thinks about it. If I'm in this state of mind before walking through the stage door or stepping up on to the block, nerves hardly have any effect at all, really only kicking a little adrenaline into the system.''****** (I would remind you that this is from a 17-year-old. He hasn’t yet started a college search, but lucky the one that lands him!)

At one point, I asked Charlie what he'd do if he had to choose between swimming and playing the violin. He thought for a moment, then said, “It would be pretty difficult to choose between them. They’re both really important values to have in life.” Being so well-grounded sure doesn’t hurt, either!

Olivia Harris, the cellist who is a senior at Brush, has made six college visits this spring, from Cleveland to Chicago to Montreal to Hartford, auditioning at each of them, trying to discern from a brief weekend visit where she’ll further her studies. Fortunately, her Mom, Haydee Pagan—a teacher in the Cleveland School System--is usually able to drive her on these trips; a cello requires an airplane seat of its own, a considerable added expense, but worth it for really long trips.

Olivia is a talented visual artist, whose favorite mediums are painting and photography. It’s quite certain that music performance will be her major, with a minor is visual art. She’s one of the handful of young musicians who perform with both youth orchestras in the city, but she goes the others one better, by playing a different instrument—the harp—in the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra. She plays softball in the summer, and not only volunteers for the South Euclid Humane Society, she’s also a sought-after pet (and child) sitter in her neighborhood. Her 3.3+ grade average qualified her for the Academic Challenge Team at Brush.

In her third season now with CYO, Molly Goldman, a junior at Beachwood, enjoyed the trip to Pittsburgh because of the opportunities it afforded to meet with the CAPA students, as well as the educational exploration possible at the museums there. She admits to “being taken aback by the beautiful auditorium. There was so much empty space in the middle of it, and the acoustics were so good.” She’s participated in a few run-out concerts with CYO and finds them a great learning experience.

Molly is also in the COYO, and plays with a string quartet at school. She’s considering a double music program once she decides on which college to attend. It will be both performance and education. She’s president of the Multi-Cultural Club at school, which she finds enjoyable for ‘getting all sorts of people involved in the community.’ In addition to the musical activities at school, there’s also home: her older brother is a cellist in the CYO, and younger brother is a violinist. Mom plays violin, Dad the cello. And yes, they do all play music together!

Students from the ages of 13 to 19 are eligible for membership in the Contemporary Youth Orchestra. No young musician is denied for financial reasons: financial aid, scholarships and student work study are available. There are other programs also available to students of this age.

Saturday, March 8, you can hear this marvelous organization for yourself, as it presents its Spring Concert at Waetjen Auditorium at CSU. The concert -- A Night at the Movies -- begins at 7 pm. They’ve not yet announced the guest artist(s) for the annual Rock the Orchestra concert to held in May or June. For information, go to http://www.cyorchestra.org/home.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATroadrunner.com
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