“With her walker parked beside her chair, 94-year-old Glennis Stout taps her feet to the beat as she plays the flute,” writes Betsie Freeman in Saturday’s (4/23) World-Herald (Omaha). “Eleven-year-old Clara Maloley does her part in the violin section: As the youngest member of the Intergeneration Orchestra of Omaha, she says she joined for a practical reason: ‘They needed more violins.’ … Members must be younger than 25 or older than 50…. The Intergeneration Orchestra gets support from the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging, where co-workers Chris Gillette and Cora Lee Bell came up with the idea for the group in 1985…. Stout … has a degree from the Eastman School of Music, played with orchestras in New Orleans, Kansas City and Chicago…. Some [of the younger members] are homeschooled, others attend public and private schools, some are in college…. Many of the group’s performances are in nursing or retirement homes. Families also enjoy it.” Says trombonist Michel Rinehart, “The orchestra has such a heart for musicians—you’re 94 years old and 30 years ago you were phenomenal, and today we love you and we’re glad you’re there because you contribute to the group.”
Posted April 25, 2016
Pictured: A rehearsal of Intergeneration Orchestra of Omaha, with Debbie Hunsberg, age 76, on French horn. Photo by Kent Sievers / The World-Herald
