The South Valley Symphony
in Gilroy, CA

Susie Miyata plays French horn in the SYS and invited Yvonne and Norm to join the group for this concert playing bass trombone and first trombone respectively. Here you see Susie playing between two other hornists of the orchestra.

Norm subscribes to the community music discussion list on the internet. One of the frequent contributors to the list is Jim O'Briant. When Jim heard that Susie had gotten us to sit in for the concert, he fired off an email to Norm to let us know that he would be there playing second trombone and tuba. This is Jim in one of his more serious moments.

Henry Mollicone serves as the South Valley Symphony's Music Director. A graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music (the birthplace of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a music fraternity), he has written six operax and numerous other works. He functioned as musical assistant to Leonard Bernstein for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and as assistant conductor for the New York City Opera. He has served as Conductor and Music Director for the Santa Clara University Orchestra since 1985.

The featured soloist of the evening was Maria Amirkhanian playing the Grieg Piano Concerto. Maria was born in Yerevan, Armenia, in 1972 and grew up in a family of musicians. Piano lessons started when she was five. She won first place at the Khachaturian Competition and, after graduating from Komitas State Conservatory, she moved to the United States and attended California State University, Fresno. There she earned a Masters degree with honors in piano performance and went on to the Moscow Conservatory where her doctoral studies should be completed this October. Her home is in Gilroy where she teaches privately and at Gavilan College.

As previously mentioned, Yvonne and Norm comprised the bulk of the trombone section. Here we are playing the Schubert "Unfinished" with Ross Bergantz playing second trombone. You can also see (R-L) Al Tarasco and Hermann Schmalzried, trumpets, and Gayle Carlile, principal horn. Jim O'Briant took the photo for us since he didn't play on that piece.

The South Valley Symphony concert this evening included "Chanson de Matin (Morning Song)" and "Chanson de Nuit (Evening Song)" by the English composer Edward Elgar, "Piano Concerto in A Minor" by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, "Symphony No. 8 in B Minor ("The Unfinished")" by German composer Franz Schubert, and "Swan Lake Suite" by the Russian composer Peter Tchaikovsky.

Not only does Jim O'Briant play in the orchestra, he also serves as the orchestra's Assistant Conductor, is the Board of Directors' Acting Board secretary, and works in Orchestra Development. Here are the three of us being shot (with the camera) by Susie Miyata.