In Wednesday’s (10/10) Harvard Crimson (Massachusetts), Amna H. Hashmi writes, “When the 35 Harvard students of the River Charles Ensemble convene for rehearsal in the Holden Chapel every Saturday, there are stands, sheets of music, instruments, and players, but one critical component is missing: a conductor. The new student group, the largest campus orchestra without a conductor, has become an avenue for students interested in playing symphonic pieces in the more intimate chamber-orchestra setting. … Last spring, [Theodore A. Peng ‘13], along with Bran S. Shim ‘14, Max Tan ‘15, and Jeremy Ying ‘13, wanted to perform Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring,” an orchestral suite scored for a 13-member chamber orchestra. … With no musical channel strictly for their 13-member size, the students decided to create something new and applied for funding through the Office for the Arts. … The founders spent the summer planning to develop a group modeled after the New York-based Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In particular, the group was attracted to OCO’s ‘core’ method, in which the principal players, one from each instrumental part, get together in a small section to develop a basis of interpretation for the rest of the group.”
Posted October 12, 2012
