While there is a cavalcade of summer activities in Santa Monica, not many involve the intricate sounds of the orchestra, something conductor Brian Stone and the Westside Chamber Orchestra aim to remedy.
Saturday evening’s performance of "Kinda Jazzy" brings the orchestra to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church for the first of three summer shows, a series Stone says is "aspirational programming," orchestra performances that look for new perspectives or play something that isn’t the usual concert fare. The group began its summer series last year to great acclaim, leading to the redux playing atypical shows.
"Many of our local orchestras here in the Westside are dormant in the summer, so we thought we’d fill that [gap] by doing a summer series … we had good size audiences [last year], enthusiastic and large audiences … so we deemed that it was worth continuing," Stone said.
The 2024 series kicks off with "Kinda Jazzy," as the orchestra will play concert hall music heavily influenced by the jazz genre, working with pieces by legends like George Gershwin and Aaron Copland. Clarinet soloist Sara Marsh will be featured on Gershwin’s piece "Promenade," a tune originally written for clarinet icon Benny Goodman.
"Jazz is a very special and unique music that I’ve always enjoyed … in this concert [is] four very, very different takes on jazz influence on concert music, and some of these pieces I’ve always loved and wanted to present to the community … none of them are played often enough in my opinion," Stone added.
Stone’s journey to prominence was just as unique, as he was undecided on his music specialty until finding conducting in his late 20s. After conducting his own composition at the Aspen Music Festival, Stone’s mentors believed he had the "right mentality" for the gig, and he followed through by entering the conducting program at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.
Beginning to enjoy the gig more, Stone eventually became an understudy conductor at the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC and an assistant conductor at the Baltimore Opera House, fully embracing his calling. He noted that being a great, or even competent, conductor is a combination of musical aptitude and working with the musicians at his disposal.
"It’s really just two things, understanding the music and listening to the musicians [in] almost every detail," Stone said. "Every aspect boils down to those things, understanding the music you’re conducting, or having and understanding of it, and listening to the musicians you’re conducting. Everything else, [like] the physical part, follows that."
Now a seasoned conductor on the Westside, Stone looks to pass on his wisdom to a new generation of musicians and conductors through his work with the Santa Monica Youth Orchestra, appreciating the organization’s youth focus and giving tuition-free opportunities in music. He has also worked with several proteges at Westside, such as Katie Takahashi, "translating" his skills to the young conductors.
"Their mission and vision is very admirable, that they provide education on all music, especially world as well as classical … for students that might not have access to these activities elsewhere," Stone added.
With the Westside Chamber Orchestra, Stone’s summer series will continue at St. Paul’s in July with "unfamiliar" takes on middle European pieces, followed by a concert focused on the viola in August, which Stone said is "rarely featured as a gorgeous warm and woody instrument."
"We don’t want culture to go completely dormant in the summer, so we want to make sure there’s opportunities for [the] community to have heavy aspirational cultural experiences … in the summer, here in our neighborhood," Stone said.
Tickets for the "Kinda Jazzy" performance, beginning at 7pm on Saturday, can be purchased on Eventbrite or at the door of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church at 958 Lincoln Blvd.
