Tehachapi Symphony Orchestra

Tehachapi Symphony Orchestra

Dr. David Newby - Music Director

“Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart.” - Pablo Casals

MUSIC IN THE AGE OF PANDEMIC

Our last season was the best of seasons; it was the worst of seasons, or possibly no season at all. After having to cancel two concerts last season (May and July), the Tehachapi Symphony Board was not sure we would be able to have a new season because of the COVID epidemic. The rules for doing business changed at an alarming rate, and no one at the State was thinking about what orchestras do. Their concept of music was rock concerts and ALL of those were definitely canceled. We were determined to get the orchestra back into business, as we felt making beautiful music would enrich people’s lives in spite of the virus, and the musicians really needed to be playing.

We finally discovered we could slide into having our 23rd season under the category of entertainment production. So in September we put on a concert outdoors at Country Oaks Baptist with a bifurcated orchestra; that is, the Brass and Winds did part of the concert, and then the masked and distanced Strings did the rest of it. The weather was balmy and playing on the grass under the canopies was very relaxing. It might have become the new normal, but then the weather turned cold and the Board had to look for other options.

The rules changed again and the State’s category of music production got caveated with “no live audience.” Lucky for the TSO, Country Oaks Baptist had already started live streaming their Sunday services, so we asked to piggy back on that, and meanwhile have done two concerts live-streamed to our Facebook page, November 1 and December 11! Both were done without an audience in the hall, and all the players were masked and distanced. Both concerts got thousands of viewers and good reviews! I hope most of you were in the audience...

So now we have a new normal and we can, at least for the moment, put out a season flyer for the remaining part. We will have three concerts: Sunday March 7, May 16, and July 4. The first two of them will be live streamed and perhaps July 4 will be as well.

Sunday, May 16, 2021 - live stream from Country Oaks Baptist at 4:00 PM, featuring the Young Artist winner in a concerto of their choice, Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major with Violinist Sophie Bell. The Orchestra will round out the concert with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2.

Sunday, July 4, 2021 - feature patriotic songs, pop music, show tunes, and light classics. Time and location will depend on what the City does for July 4 and where we are with the virus.

Mark your calendar now and plan to watch the live streamed concerts, as you will not want to miss a single note of this beautiful repertoire. If you are new to live streaming, here is how it works:

1. Go to your Facebook page (if you don’t have one, you can team up with someone who does...).
2. Type Tehachapi Symphony Orchestra in the search box, and facebook will take you to the TSO page.

We hope you will join us for these concerts, as the Orchestra and Board have worked very hard to make our music available. Many orchestras are still dark, but we are back in business, so please listen in!