[Dixielandjazz] War Horse Music played by Kids.

[Steve Barbone]

Following excerpted from a longer article about the vitality of youthful
musicians playing the war horses tunes. And the joy the audience exhibited
in hearing it. It works for classical and would certainly work for OKOM.

Be a mentor mensch. Bring on the kids.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


Young Players With Polish, Too Fresh to Be Jaded

NY TIMES - By ALLAN KOZINN - December 30, 2006

It can be easy to take the high performance standard of the New York String
Orchestra for granted. Its 63 student musicians, all between the ages of 15
and 22, join the ensemble through competitive auditions and are given full
scholarships to come to New York from around the country. Once here, they
spend 10 days at the New York String Orchestra Seminar playing chamber music
and preparing for two orchestral concerts at Carnegie Hall: a short one on
Christmas Eve and a full-length program a few days later. . . .

Its salient feature was the vitality that comes from approaching familiar
war horses like the Beethoven Eighth Symphony and the Brahms D minor Piano
Concerto as fresh experiences.

These musicians are undoubtedly familiar with these works but at their ages
haven¹t heard them, let alone performed them, a gazillion times. So in the
brisk opening movement of the Beethoven, for example, the sense of discovery
in the playing was palpable, and it made hearing it a joy, even for a
listener who might have passed the gazillion mark some time ago. . . .

Some of the best moments in this concert were in the electrifying
collaboration between Mr. Fleisher, 78, and these orchestra musicians more
than half a century his junior.