“When it came time for the Livermore-Amador Symphony to select a new music director and conductor, members of the selection committee didn’t have to look far. Lara Webber, the former associate conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and a guest conductor with symphonies around the nation, just happened to reside in Livermore,” writes Beth Jensen in Thursday’s (12/4) San Jose Mercury News (California). “This weekend’s performance of Brahms, Grieg and Dvorak … will be Webber’s first public performance with the group. Webber comes on board at a crucial time—the 50-year-old organization just saw the retirement of Dr. Arthur P. Barnes, the music director and conductor who oversaw the group since its inception. While Webber acclimates to her new symphony, its 60-or-so musicians also are in transition…. Part of Webber’s plan is to further extend the symphony into the community…. She already has invited a group of elementary students from Arroyo Seco and Jackson Avenue schools to attend a dress rehearsal, complete with a tour of the Bankhead Theater and a conversation with herself and musicians. Her home-court advantage makes such plans easier, she said…. ‘What I’ve found are extraordinary, committed, totally dedicated (musicians), and what they wanted to do at the end of a long Tuesday night is make music together,’ she said.”
Posted December 5, 2014
