William Eddins conducting the Long Beach Symphony at the Terrace Theater. Photos by Matt Cohn.
Since 1935, the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra (LBSO) has been bringing people together to share in the beauty of symphonic music’s infinite variety of tonal, rhythmic and compositional colors. In 2015, with dedicated and innovative leadership, top-notch musicians and strong community support, the LBSO is, at age 80, the strongest it’s ever been.
“We’re on the precipice of re-birth,” says Kelly Ruggirello, Executive Director of the LBSO. “We have new administrative leadership, new board leadership, and now [with the conductor/music director position open] we’re looking for new artistic leadership. It’s an exciting time: Even when you’re 80 you can redefine, re-vision, and figure out how you’re going to remain vital and important.”
Lynda Sue Marks, Principal Percussionist of the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra.
Lynda Sue Marks, Principal Percussionist with the LBSO, started her career with the symphony while studying as a junior at Long Beach’s Wilson High School in 1957. She played concerts at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, was part of the inaugural concert at the Terrace Theater in 1978, backed soloists such as pianist Van Cliburn and opera singer Marilyn Horne (a Poly grad), and has seen all the ups and downs of the LBSO’s last five decades—including the 50th anniversary season of ’84-’85, which was canceled due to lack of funds.
“We’ve had dedicated board members that put their houses on the line throughout the years,” says Marks. “They have stuck with the symphony, and just never gave up.”
“We’re financially stable—we ended last year with a surplus for the first time in years,” says Ruggirello. “We’re positioned now to start dreaming again.”
At the heart of the LBSO’s success is a core of 72 excellent musicians. Many of these players juggle their schedules so they can also play concerts with the Pasadena Symphony, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Hollywood Bowl Symphony, and other high-level local ensembles. Their adaptability is coming in handy this year: the LBSO is hosting a series of guest conductors, including William Eddins, who on March 7 led the LBSO through “American Masterworks,” a program saluting American composers Joan Tower, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin.
Orchestra members preparing backstage.
Eddins, who at age 18 was the youngest-ever graduate of the prestigious Eastman School of Music, is currently the Music Director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. While limbering up backstage before the March 7 concert, he described guest conducting as “the ‘shotgun marriage’ of music. I have to come in, figure out what the orchestra’s all about in three rehearsals, and GO.” Eddins was able to establish an obvious rapport with the LBSO, and also with guest pianist Ian Parker, who played Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F beautifully and treated the Terrace Theater crowd to a sparkling encore of Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue.
The “American Masterworks” concert was one of the six “Classical Series” concerts presented by the LBSO this season at the 3,000-seat Terrace Theater. The symphony also puts on a five-concert “POPS! Series” at the Long Beach Arena. “The concerts at the Terrace Theater have traditionally been the more formal concert-going experience,” says Kelly Ruggirello. “The POPS! experience is very different. It’s an indoor musical picnic where people can eat and drink all night long. The music is part of the experience, and not necessarily the only reason to come.”
The POPS! concerts draw four to five thousand people, including three thousand folks who sit at tables of ten on the Arena floor. “People have put these tables in their wills,” says Ruggirello. “They decorate their tables, come in costume, have their tables catered or bring their food in. It’s basically an indoor party five times a year.” The next POPS! concert, “Rhythms of the Night,” will be presented March 28 and features a Latin and Brazilian jazz-infused program that’s sure to rock the house.
This season, the Long Beach Symphony is presenting six “Classical Series” concerts at the Terrace Theater and five “POPS! Series” concerts at the Long Beach Arena.
In addition to its concert offerings, the LBSO has a multi-faceted student outreach program. In an age of digital music and pocket-sized listening devices, the LBSO keeps young people in touch with traditional instruments and old-school musical values. Every year, 12,000 4th and 5th graders from the Long Beach Unified School district get treated to LBSO performances over the course of two days, a program sponsored by the Earl B. and Lorraine H. Miller Foundation.
“It’s a musical rite of passage,” says Ruggirello. “We make sure that when those kids come in, they have an amazing experience.”
The LBSO also offers the “Side By Side” program, in which high school musicians play on the Terrace Theater stage, right next to their LBSO mentors. Another student program, “Percussion Paints Pictures,” was created 20 years ago by Lynda Sue Marks for first, second and third-graders. The LBSO also aligns itself with students at the college level: Marks’s percussion section will be performing a concert, “Sounds and Spaces,” April 12 at 3 p.m., in and around a huge iron artwork located between the Pyramid and the Daniel Recital Hall at CSULB. Admission is free.
LBSO concertgoers at the Terrace Theater are treated to a rich evening of musical nourishment. There’s a pre-concert musical offering in the lobby (on March 7 it was the Pacific Flute Ensemble) and inside the Theater there’s a pre-concert talk, which on that day featured guest conductor Eddins and classical music radio station KUSC’s Rich Capparela, who gave engaging and humorous insights into the pieces about to be performed. “I think this is the most amazing time to be making music and to be hearing music in southern California,” said Capparela after his presentation. “I really consider it to be a Golden Age. One of the reasons I’ve been a big fan of the LBSO is the way the community is so behind this orchestra and the orchestra is so interested in giving the community more than it expects.”
Kelly Ruggirello, a third-grade teacher for the first six years of her professional career, went on to assemble her directorial skill set in positions with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony, the School of the Arts in Orange County and the Pacific Chorale. She’s the perfect person to lead the LBSO into expanded educational outreach, new concert formats, new music commissions, LBSO-hosted music competitions, and other LBSO innovations. “Music is like oxygen to me,” Ruggirello says. “It’s always been part of the fabric of my being. To the people of Long Beach I say: There is a world-class musical experience right here in your back yard. You don’t want to miss out on this community treasure that adds so much excitement and vitality to your hometown.”
{FG_GEOMAP [33.7645166,-118.19088820000002] FG_GEOMAP}