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Published August 14, 2007
Homegrown Touring artists from far-off cities aren't the only performers who will be gracing the stages of the Gallo Center for the Arts. The venue will showcase homegrown talent with its four resident companies. The Modesto Symphony Orchestra, Townsend Opera Players, Central West Ballet and the Modesto Community Concert Association have been a part of the city's cultural life for decades, performing at high schools and Modesto Junior College. The groups helped build audiences for the arts and generated support for the dream of the arts center. Read on to learn more about each organization and its plans for the center.
Modesto Symphony Orchestra Modesto's oldest arts organization is celebrating its 77th anniversary this year with 10 concerts in the Gallo Center for the Art's 1,251-seat Mary Stuart Rogers Theater.
This year's guest artists will include pianists Leon Bates and Leon Fleisher, violinists Kristin Lee and Lara St. John, and string quartet Cuarteto Latinoamericano. The tag line for this season is "Hear Us Now," because sound quality will improve substantially with the move to the arts center, said Paul Jan Zdunek, president and chief executive officer of the orchestra. Even longtime subscribers will notice the added clarity. "They're actually going to hear the orchestra for the first time," Zdunek said. "They will hear everything they've been missing all these years." He also is excited that the orchestra will perform on a raised pit thrust into the seats. "There will be a more intimate connection, physically, to the audience," he said. The MSO is appreciative of the amenities, like the three lobby levels and the green room where artists can wait before performances. Performers also love the dressing rooms, which have adequate lighting, heating and air conditioning, and showers. They didn't have such nice accommodations at the schools. "When you have guest artists come in, it was a little embarrassing sometimes," Zdunek said. While some believe the arts center shouldn't have booked touring orchestras when the Modesto Symphony Orchestra still needs to fill seats, Zdunek said the outside artists could bring more community awareness to orchestra music. "We're hoping that success brings success and there will be more demand because of all the options."
Central West Ballet Originally named Bravo! Repertory Dance Theatre, Central West Ballet is made up of local teens with some adult performers.
Led by Canadian-born artistic director René Daveluy, ballet mistress Leslie Ann Larson and ballet master Jeffrey Rogers, the amateur group has aspirations of becoming a professional organization. Larson believes the dancers will perform better because they have access to better dressing rooms, showers and waiting areas. "It's going to completely elevate their level of dancing," she said. "Being surrounded by that luxury, you feel more relaxed and comfortable." Larson also thinks Central West Ballet dancers will benefit from the competition from touring dance companies visiting the center. "Our dancers will see other dancers and they will see where they fit onto the ladder," she said. "I think it will light a fire under them and it will make them want to be better."
Townsend Opera Players TOP was founded in 1982 by Modesto native Erik Buck Townsend, an accomplished tenor who performed in nearly every major city in the United States, Canada and Germany.
Townsend said he is excited that his artists can finally perform in a state-of-the-art venue. "I can remember in 1945 some of the talk about a community theater or our own center for the arts," he said. "It's a long, longtime dream coming through. The biggest thrill is that there's just going to be one." Townsend is happy that the arts center is taking over TOP's ticket sales, which was a huge job for his staff, and that the venue will have an orchestra pit that moves up and down. He is not too concerned about the competition from touring acts and thinks the center staff did a good job of booking a variety of programs. "I think I would be worried if they were going to bring in other opera performances because our group of people interested in opera is fairly slim," he said. "We would hate to share that audience with someone else." Townsend hopes that more people will come out to support TOP in its transition to the arts center. "We're optimistic about growing our audience so we can move to the big theater," he said, referring to the 1,251-seat Mary Stuart Rogers Theater.
Modesto Community Concert Association For 57 years, the Modesto Community Concert Association has organized annual concert series, bringing in musicians, dancers and singers from around the country.
In May, the concert association will bring top local student musicians in grades three through 12 to the Foster Family Theater to perform in a Young Artists Showcase. Prices have yet to be announced. Hal Kinser, operations manager, attributes the quick sellout to low subscription prices of $60 for five concerts. "We try to keep our costs down so people with limited income can hear great music," Kinser said, dding that he expects a sold-out house for the next two to three years. The concert association is able to charge low prices for tickets because it keeps a tight budget and doesn't have paid employees. Kinser is glad that the center will host quarterly resident company meetings, allowing each arts group to share its plans. "I think it's going to improve things and make life between us easier." |
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Led by British-born conductor David Lockington, the orchestra is made up of about 80
professional musicians from the Central Valley and the Bay Area.
This year, the group will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a gala performance as well as the
holiday classic "The Nutcracker," "Cinderella" and a dance tribute for arts
center board President Marie Gallo, all in the Mary Stuart Rogers Theater.
This season, the company will present an opera gala concert, the operas "Die
Fledermaus" and "Porgy & Bess" and the musical "Miss
Saigon" in the center's 444-seat Foster Family Theater. The organization
typically uses both local amateur singers and professional guest artists from
around the country.
This volunteer-driven nonprofit's five-concert inaugural series at the Mary Stuart Rogers
Theater sold out within a few weeks after sales were announced in March (tickets to the
other resident companies are still available). The series features the Pacific Coast Horns,
known as "the singing brass quintet"; 1960s folk group the New Christy Minstrels;
the eclectic Nashville Mandolin Ensemble; Chinese troupe the Golden Dragon
Acrobats; and flutist Bettine Clemen. |
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