“When the curtain went up after intermission on Dec. 12 at the Oakland Symphony’s 29th annual Let Us Break Bread Together holiday concert at the Paramount Theater, 16-year-old Roman St. Gerard … lifted his baton and the symphony’s players launched into a masterful performance of Leroy Anderson’s jazzy classic Sleigh Ride,” writes C.J. Hirschfield in Wednesday’s (1/5) Oaklandside (Oakland, CA). “In past years, the honor of guest-conducting Sleigh Ride has typically gone to the highest bidder at an annual auction supporting the Oakland Symphony. But this year, the symphony asked its major donors to bid on this opportunity for a student taking part in the MUSE program…. Michael Morgan, the symphony’s maestro who died last year at age 63, dreamed of being a conductor at age 12 … and was a passionate supporter of MUSE, which has served thousands of kids each year.… St. Gerard is also concertmaster of the Symphony’s MUSE Vivo Orchestra, for youth from grades 7 to 12…. St. Gerard’s parents are both immigrants; his father is Haitian-American and his mother is Korean-American…. He’s just now beginning to research college opportunities, with UC Berkeley and Stanford on his list.”
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