The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 54

F1A THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 1996 TOS ANGELES TIMES The Music Teachers' Assn. will present recitals by its mem bers students on Sunday at Owen Piano 7503 Topanga Canyon Canoga Park. Free. For performance schedule, call (818) 780-49451 wh! Local Fans Back Home-Grown Symphonies row J3bL (j ft, Shatner DAMMIT JIM, I'M JUST A COWBOY Actor William Shatner will not bo wearing his Star Fleet uniform to the i 4 tf je- ''K, i II wi I -mm in I) Gene Sherry warms up with his French "HI I Photos by DAVID BLUMENKRANTZ ForThcTimen Community orchestras are attracting talent and playing to packed houses. But money is still a problem.

By ROBIN RAUZI TIMES STAFF WRITER Conductor Jerome Kessler remembers well arriving at his orchestra's first rehearsal. He drove up the hill toward the Community House, rabbits scurrying out of his path. It was a typical summer evening in 1982 in the small, eclectic community of Topanga. Word had spread among the 2,800 residents about the new orchestra: Inside the Community House sat nearly two dozen people with violins more than Kessler had ever imagined. "We learned very quickly," Kessler said, "the difference between violinists and fiddlers." It's not the kind of problem the Los Angeles Philharmonic is likely to face during its auditions.

Nor do dogs wander in and out of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion during matinee performances. But for the 45 members of the Topanga Symphony, this is the norm Across Southern California, as in Topan--ga, local auditoriums, community centers and even school cafeterias are alive the sounds of Beethoven. And it's in tune. For while few would confuse these community orchestras each of which performs a handful of concerts a year with the 108-member L.A. Philharmonic, they aren't entirely the pick-up groups of hobbyists one might expect.

The players come together for various reasons, but have one thing in common: They're packing the house. At the Hall of Liberty in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, concerts of the Burbank Chamber Orchestra overflow. They have had to prop open the rear doors so people in the foyer can listen. In Topanga, they open the window to allow those sitting outdoors to hear. And in Santa Clarita, Symphony of the Canyons sold out its five concerts this season, the last one more than two months in advance.

Of course, selling out is relative. The Burbank and Topanga concerts are free. Symphony of the Canyons which charges $5 to $8 per ticket plays in a cafeteria-cum-concert hall seating 312. Why the need for symphonies, when the L.A. Phil offers world-class musicians and three concerts a week? "I think every community wants it to be known that it has culture," said Robert Lawson, conductor of Symphony of the Canyons.

For the Antelope Valley, overhauling its orchestra was part of growing with the region, now home to 300,000 people. When Lancaster built a 750-seat performing arts center in 1991, the Antelope Valley Symphony Orchestra shed its gymnasium venue and a lot of local amateur players. "What worked back in the '70s and '80s wouldn't necessarily work now," said Donna Jean Enstad, president of the Antelope Valley Symphony Orchestra in Lancaster. "Things are more competitive as far as entertainment." 'ff' 3 9 i "3- 31 horn backstage before performing with the now-defunct Ventura Symphony and founded the Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra, believes Symphony of the Canyons can develop into a fully professional regional orchestra. He wants to maintain affiliation with the college, offering students a sort of musical internship.

At the same time, he hopes to draw in musicians from Los Angeles' huge pool of freelance and studio players. That's how it all started in San Diego, says Beth Folsom, who played violin there Conductor Robert Lawson leads Symphony of Canyons during recent performance. kickof party for the sixth annual 1 Holly wood Charity Horse Show Reining Royale. The parly will be held at the Cowboy Palace Saloon in on Tuesday. But daring to go where no shameless celebrity has gone before, Shatner says he's willing to do just about anything to raise money for "the kids." started the horse show as a event," Shatner says.

1 "We raised over $50,000 last year." Shatner, who owns quarter horses rat ranches in Kentucky and Simi Valley, has combined his love for animals with raising money for worthy causes all involving children. i. The horse show, taking place at Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank on April 27-28, is a fund-raiser for three programs: Ahead With Horses, a therapeutic riding group for handicapped chil-c dren; Directions for Youth, which helps at-risk youngsters and tcen-J'agcrs; and Futures for Children, an organization dedicated to helping ''Native-Americans. Shatner says no administrative charges are deducted from the mon-(iies raised by the show. "Every penny goes to the children," he says.

The quarter horse competition will feature more than 125 entrants with more than $20,000 in prizes. As part of the festivities, a Wcstcrn-style party with music and bar-' becuc will be hosted by the Cowboy Palace Saloon on April 27 at the Center. Tickets to that "''party are $30. Admission to the Chalsworth kickoff event is free. In keeping with the event's "Star Trek Goes Country" theme, Shatner says invitations have been sent to his fellow Star Trek cast members and other eclebritie's.

Cowboy Palace Sa- loon owner Bob Rustigian says last year's press party had many celebri- r. ties in addition to Shatner, who raf fled off prizes and even auctioned himself off for dances. Rustigian says thai although it's officially called a press party, the public is welcome to hear the music, see the celebrities, eat the barbecue and support the cause. The" Star Trek Goes Country" i Celebrity Press Party for the sixth ual Hollywood Charity Horse Shoiu Reining Royale at 7:30 Tues- day at the Coroboy Palace Saloon, 21635 Devonshire Chatsworlh. No cover.

Call (SIS) 341-0166. NEVER NEVER LAND Peter Pan in Pierce College's production of the musical of the same name opening this Friday will fly, but hot with the help of fairy dust. Like Mary Martin, Sandy Duncan, Cathy Rigby and others who have played the role, Pierce's ran win soar across the stage with 'the help of cables and rigging. Jim Locffler, Pierce College theater manager, says the same that created the flying ef- fects for the original production of 1 the Broadway musical in the early 1950s, and for most of the produc-C, tions since, will handle the flying chores for the college show as well. The show opened on Broadway starring Mary Martin as Peter Pan and Cyril Richard as Capt.

Hook. The two later appeared in several per-' formances of the musical televised in the '50s and early '60s by NBC-TV. .1 The musical is based on the classic children's book, "Peter and Wendy," by Sir James Barrie, and its score is a mixed bag with several by lyricist Carolyn Leigh and composer Mark Charlap. Other mu-Z, sic is by Jule Stync with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. "We've beqn trying to do some- thing that" will appeal to adults as well as children," Locffler says.

"We always wanted to do a musical." "Peter Pan" opens at p.m. Fri- day at Pierce College, 6201 Winnetka Woodland Hills. Subsequent performances wiltbe at 7:30 p.m.. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. days.

Ends May 5. Tickets are $12 .1. general, 10 children, students and seniors. Call (HIS)- 719-64SS. JAMES E.

FOWLER IIW Symphony of the Canyons in Santa Clarita. for 20 years before moving to Agua Dulce. When she started, the San Diego Symphony rehearsed in the evenings; she was lucky to make $1,000 a year. But talent attracts talent, and by the mid-1980s for Folsom's money, anyway San Diego had one of the best orchestras in America. As concertmaster of Symphony of the Canyons, Folsom hopes she can be one of those talent magnets.

Right now, she said, "It's a very good community orchestra. It's just not in the same league as Pasadena or Glendale. That's why Tm staying: to get it into that league." These 'days, however, musicians talk about orchestras such as Glendale's and San Diego's in tones reserved for sick relatives. San Diego is about $3.4 million in debt, and Glendale had to cancel a recent concert when it didn't have the money to hire musicians. 1 High-profile troubles like these-com-bined with a panic over cuts to government arts funding and dissolving arts programs in public schools cause concern for the state of classical music performances Yet in Los Angeles County alone, at least half a dozen new orchestras have sprung up since 1990.

Kris Saslow, executive director of the California Assn. of Symphony Orchestras, noted a among her group's members statewide, with the newest groups based mos frequently in upper-middle-income That profile certainly fits Simi Valley and Calabasas, where inchoate orchestras are looking to draw on a demographic typical of symphony-goers. Please see MUSIC, F16 Church in Glendale. There, Pasqua will perform unaccompanied in a completely spontaneous program. "I'm walking in cold.

I've-never played the piano there and I'm not playing any tunes," he says. "I thought I'd really go out on a limb: I've played solo but never without tunes, but I welcome the whole experience. I think it will be interesting and fulfilling for everybody." By playing in this unaccompanied, song-free format, Pasqua draws an inevitable comparison to Keith Jarrett, the man whose solo, jazz-based improvised piano performances essentially established the genre. And while Pasqua says he's not Jarrett, Pasqua loves Jarrett's work and feels they share some qualities such as patience. "Like Keith, I feel that if I paint myself into a corner.

I can stay there, be patient and wait for the transition to the. next logical musical event," says the Sherman Oaks resident, whose latest release-is "Dedications" on Postcards Records. -'T feel I've become more patient in recent years by paying more attention, listening more to things as they are happening, giving up preconceptions, preconceived ideas. It's the old Zen thing just being part of the momentwhatever it is." To be successful on Sunday, Pasqua says he'll really have to be open to what's going on around him, and within him. "I'm going, to have to feel out the room, the audience," says the artist, who attended the' New England Conservatory of Music and IndU Please see SOUNDS, F14 SOUNDS He's Taking His Grand Piano and Going Out on a Limb I Mil Iff U'il s3 Symphony of the Canyons is one organization with aspirations of outgrowing its "community orchestra" label.

Only 3Vfc years ago, said Lawson, they were a fully volunteer group hatched out of a collaboration with College of the Canyons. "We. raised money on cookie sales so I could buy music," he said. Now the group can afford to pay some of its players though not much and is looking for a 1,000 -seat auditorium in Santa Clarita. Lawson, who was associate conductor of .13 Alan Pasqua says the feeling of playing a grand piano over a room full of synthesizers.

The piano has elements that simply can't be found in an electronic instrument, he says. "There's a tactile sensation," he says, chatting in a back room at the Abell store. "I touch the key, press it down. I hear the hammer hit the string, and when I hear the string vibrate, I also feel this resonance 3 In a break from soundtracks, synthesizers and written music, Alan Pasquawillplaya spontaneous, acoustic solo show Sunday in Glendale. ByZAN STEWART SPECIAL TO THE TIMES 'hin, goateed Alan Pasqua bends over a shiny new Yamaha grand piano in the showroom of David L.

Abell's Fine Pianos on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles and plays a few decidedly melodic, jazz-based runs. "You see how it sings?" he asks, turning to look at a reporter. "Sometimes you have to coax out the notes, but this instrument is very willing." Pasqua's been fond of acoustic pianos since he started playing at age 7 in Roselle Park, N.J. He made his early impact in jazz circles, however, while playing synthesizer with drummer Tony Williams in 1975-76. Over the years, he's made most of his income playing keyboards some plugged-in, some not with the likes of Bob Dylan and Carlos Santana.

He's also worked in Los Angeles' many film and recording studios, most recently on the soundtracks to "Nixon" and the upcoming "Mulholland Falls." Given a choice, Pasqua would take one lb- BOB CAREY Angolcd Timcn piano can't be duplicated with synthesizers. through the key. The piano becomes alive. There's almost a spiritual connection with the pressing of the key and achieving the sound and the accompanying feeling of the sound resonating through the key back into me. It's a complete circuit." The 43-year-old Pasqua will express his passion for the grand piano when he appears Sunday at the First Lutheran.