South Valley Symphony strikes a chord in the community
For 35 years there has existed a soundtrack to the lives of South Valley residents.
At times in the background, heard faintly from its practice room at Solorsano Middle School, at other times taking front stage, bursting out its strains from the stage of Mission San Juan Bautista, the South Valley Symphony has evolved to reflect the growing, diverse and musically appreciative population of southern Santa Clara County and northern San Benito County.
The orchestra began much like every good concert – with a few people picking up their bows and others testing out their reeds. In its inaugural year of 1972, the orchestra consisted of only six musicians, with Morgan Hill Unified School District music teacher Kathleen Ash Barraclough conducting.
The origins were simple, said South Valley Symphony board member Clara Fayette. The musicians just “wanted someplace to play.”
In December 1974, with the group picking up steam and boasting 14 members, the South Valley Symphony played its first concert at Morgan Hill’s Live Oak High School in front of a crowd of 35 people.
“The people seemed to be enthused about it,” said first cellist Pat Meyers, one of the founding musicians.
The year also stood as a critical time in forming the groups’ identity – rather than importing musicians, symphony members decided they would recruit locals to fill their ranks.
The South Valley Symphony could not bask in the applause of its first concert long. A 1976 California Supreme Court ruling that affirmed Proposition 13 – which capped annual property tax increases – prompted a budget cut in the Morgan Hill Unified School District and eliminated the continuing education class around which the symphony was based.
“It was a disappointment because Morgan Hill just wasn’t interested in the arts” at the time, Meyers said.
Like a violinist with a broken string, the orchestra was forced to scramble to get the resources to allow them to produce music. Determined not to be quieted, a group of citizens lead by Lois Clawson and Norma Link, incorporated the South Valley Symphony in 1977. Morgan Hill drugstore-owner Dan Bartelli was chosen as the first president of its eight-member board of directors.
Yet, as with any group of budding musicians, money was tight – the symphony’s budget for its first year was a scant $1,390.
“We just went ahead and played anyway and did all we could,” Meyers said. “Sometimes we made donations to keep it going.”
Soon, however, the symphony began a crescendo that continues to this day.
In 1979, the company gained nonprofit status and three years later it hosted its first guest soloists. This was both a sign of how far the group had come from its six–member start and a hint of the successes the orchestra would achieve.
“I’ve been performing all my life, but it was exciting to see this little group, what it was evolving into,” Meyers said.
Among the landmark developments during the symphony’s second decade was an alliance formed with Gavilan College in 1991. In addition to allowing the orchestra to play at Gavilan facilities, the partnership provided for the orchestra’s 30-plus members to receive college credit for their commitment. In turn, this increases Gavilan’s enrollment numbers, which nets it more state and federal funds.
May 1999 was a seminal time, as the South Valley Symphony held its 25th anniversary concert at Gavilan Theater. During that season, the orchestra averaged an audience of more than 350 people, 10 times that of its first year, and had an operating budget of greater than $30,000 – 20 times its funds in 1977.
Something for Everyone
That same year the symphony used its relationship with Gavilan to diversify its programs. In November, the group teamed up with the Gavilan College Theater Arts Department to stage a reading of Peter and the Wolf with the symphony performing Prokofiev’s score. This and two other youth concerts were standing room only.
The board still considers entertaining children a priority.
“We had discussions on the need to reinstate some kind of program with the school so we can attract a greater audience and reach out to the youth,” said board President Barbara Bottini. “We’re considering a student competition and then the winner would be able to appear with the symphony.”
Besides increasing interest in its performances, the South Valley Symphony believes partnering with youth will enrich children’s lives.
“For children to have a well-rounded education, it needs arts and music,” Fayette said. “It teaches discipline, it teaches structure, it teaches self-esteem – all those things children need. It takes as much stamina to play first violin as it does to play linebacker on a football team.”
Youth is not the only segment of the population the symphony is trying to reach out to.
“We are trying very hard to be good neighbors,” Fayette said. “We’ve had mariachi bands, we’ve had a wind symphony.” Doing so “makes us an integral part of the arts-cultural center of this South Valley.”
The group plans on hosting mariachi bands again next season and developing other programs that would have greater appeal to Hispanic residents.
I Get By With a Little Help
While guest musicians might broaden the symphony’s appeal, it is the 50-plus musicians, mostly adults, who volunteer their time and efforts and constitute the orchestra’s core.
“Those of us who have jobs and who are not playing professionally, we still have the passion to want to play,” said Beverly Olivier Blount, concertmaster and violinist with the symphony for more than 10 years.
“All of us come from different places but we have the passion to play music written by the masters,” she said.
While they might not get money for their work, the musicians do reap a reward of belonging to a community.
“We’re a family,” Blount said.
Notwithstanding these generous musicians, the symphony’s operations are expensive. Despite having a much larger budget than its early years, the South Valley Symphony still must watch its bottom line.
For each concert, the symphony must pay for sheet music, equipment and the cost of operating the venue. As simple things like programs cost $3,000 to $4,000 per show, the symphony typically spends at least $30,000 each year.
While Gavilan picks up half the conductor’s salary, companies and individuals who purchase tickets or ads in the program, donate their time or materials, or give directly to the nonprofit fill the vast majority of the symphony’s annual financial and personnel needs.
Supporting the symphony is “a priority to us,” said Tim Filice of Gilroy-based Glen Loma Group. “We think it should be a priority to the community.”
Filice and his wife, Janice, give an undisclosed amount to support a youth piano competition that takes place at Gavilan in early March. In 2006, the winner played with the South Valley Symphony, thus deepening the ties between area youth and the orchestra.
“We feel privileged to be a part of it,” Filice added.
As with the past three decades, the money the South Valley Symphony raises goes toward the development and promotion of music not only for the benefit of the musicians, but also for the larger region.
As “the only symphony appearing or performing down here,” Bottini said, “I think it has a very important place” in the society.
Accordingly, the board’s main goal for upcoming years is increased visibility and accessibility.
“What we’d like to see is that more people know that there is an orchestra in our area,” said board member Jean Lance.
Bottini believes there could be no better goal, given music’s unique contribution to the lives of South Valley residents.
“(Music) speaks to another part of our brain besides the day to day ‘I’ve got to pay my taxes,’ ‘I’ve got to pay my bills,'” she said. “I think music speaks to our souls.”
Because the symphony can give this to the district, “I know we are appreciated here by our patrons,” Bottini added.
BOX:
Upcoming Concerts:
The Pacific Brass Band
Saturday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m.
Guglielmo Winery
1480 E. Main Ave.
Morgan Hill, CA
A British-style brass concert band featuring musicians from California coastal communities
Season Finale: “Music at the Mission”
Sunday, May 13 at 4 p.m.
Mission San Juan Bautista
San Juan Bautista, CA
Featuring Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C Minor
Includes wine and cheese tasting after the concert
Tickets:
Adults: $15; $25 for season finale
Seniors (55 and up): $12; $20 for season finale
Students (12–18): $9; $15 for season finale
Available online at www.southvalleysymphony.org or at these locations
Carole’s Hallmark Store
779 First St.
Gilroy, CA
Porcella’s Music and Accessories
7357 Monterey St.
Gilroy, CA
Booksmart
95 E. Third St.
Morgan Hill, CA
Postnet Postal and Business Services
1760 Airline Highway
Hollister, CA
Mission Gallery
106 Third St.
San Juan Bautista, CA
Aspiring Concert Performers:
Contact John Graham at (831) 623-4062 to discuss open positions and join up with the sympony.
Donate:
You can support the symphony a number of ways, including by placing an ad in a program, volunteering for the auxiliary, joining the orchestra, making in–kind contributions or giving directly to the nonprofit. All gifts are tax deductible.
Donations can be sent to P.O. Box 1347, Gilroy, CA 95021 or made in person.
Contact do****@*****************ny.org or Barbara Bottini at (408) 846–9247 for more information.
