2 SYMPHONY GROUPS THRIVE IN CONEJO AREA.Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer With the release of concert dates for the coming concert season, the Conejo Valley The Conejo Valley is a region spanning both Southeastern Ventura County and Northwest Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States. It was discovered in 1542 by Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, and eventually became part of the Rancho El Conejo land grant by boasts two professional orchestras operating profitably while larger communities have lost symphonies to bankruptcy. Directors of the Conejo Valley Symphony Orchestra were so proud to complete the first season of four concerts without a budget deficit that they heralded the feat in announcing the 1997-98 season. ``We are dedicated to giving the community the very best in classical music without incurring the debilitating de·bil·i·tat·ing adj. Causing a loss of strength or energy. Debilitating Weakening, or reducing the strength of. Mentioned in: Stress Reduction debt that can cause otherwise excellent arts groups to go under,'' said Thornton Garrett, president of the Conejo Valley Symphony board. The Conejo Valley Symphony operates on about $125,000 a year, and the New West Symphony has a much larger budget - more than $1 million for a more ambitious season of 14 concerts. Ticket sales and fund-raising have helped establish New West, which in 1955 succeeded the former Conejo and Ventura County symphonies as the orchestra for the region from the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. to Ventura. ``We haven't really been using labels,'' said Bob Ely, the New West general manager about the organization's regional identity. Ely noted that New West has succeeded in developing an audience and a financial base while larger symphonies, including those in San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. and Sacramento, have foundered. ``A lot of symphonies have gone out of business and just gone bankrupt. There's no debt here,'' Ely said. While there so far have been ample audiences for both Conejo Valley and New West concerts, a quiet rivalry is developing as the two organizations work to bolster subscriptions and fund-raising. Different audiences The Conejo Valley Symphony bills itself as a community orchestra offering classic and romantic music inside the 640-seat Ascension Ascension, in Christianity Ascension, name usually given to the departure of Jesus from earth as related in the Gospels according to Mark (16) and Luke (24) and in Acts 1.1–11. Lutheran Church sanctuary. The new season will begin Oct. 4 with works by Rossini, Smetana and Dvorak, and it will end April 18 with works by Sibelius and Grieg. ``It's the mainstream classical music,'' explained Howard Sonstegard, the Conejo Valley symphony's musical director. ``As far as getting an orchestra going, it's the repertoire most classical audiences identify with. When you're starting, your programming has to be pieces people want to hear.'' New West aims for a wider audience and offers programs ranging from classic and romantic symphonies to staged productions, such as Puccini's ``Madame Butterfly butterfly, any of a large group of insects found throughout most of the world; with the moths, they comprise the order Lepidoptera. There are about 12 families of butterflies. Most adult moths and butterflies feed on nectar sucked from flowers. ,'' or symphonic sym·phon·ic adj. 1. Relating to or having the character or form of a symphony. 2. Harmonious in sound. Adj. 1. accompaniment of ``The Battleship battleship, large, armored warship equipped with the heaviest naval guns. The evolution of the battleship, from the ironclad warship of the mid-19th cent., received great impetus from the Civil War. Potemkin,'' a silent film. New West is the resident symphony at the 1,700-seat Probst Center for the Performing Arts at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza The Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza is a performing arts and administrative center located in Thousand Oaks, California. It was built in 1994 on the former site of "Jungleland" at a cost of $63.8 million. , where the concert season will open Oct. 17 and end May 16. Programs will range from Chopin, Schumann and Kodaly at the opener to Bernstein and Beethoven at the closing concert, which will be a joint one by New West and the Ventura County Master Chorale chorale (kōrăl`, –räl`), any of the traditional hymns of the German Protestant Church. The form was developed after the Reformation to replace the plainsong of the earlier service and as a means of congregational participation in . ``We want to provide outstanding music to our region. Our ultimate focus is on making the New West Symphony one of the finest orchestras in the country,'' Ely said. New West also performs at the 1,400-seat Oxnard Performing Arts Center A performing arts center, often abbreviated PAC, is a multi-use performance space that can be adapted for use by various types of the performing arts, including dance, music and theatre. , splitting its concert season between the two venues. The Conejo Valley Symphony, clearly an upstart, contrasts with New West. Membership encouraged ``One unique feature of our organization is the membership aspect. What it means is the season ticket holders and the contributors are members of the organization and have a say in how the organization is run,'' Sonstegard said. The organization also is the first symphony orchestra in the county to have a collective bargaining agreement The contractual agreement between an employer and a Labor Union that governs wages, hours, and working conditions for employees and which can be enforced against both the employer and the union for failure to comply with its terms. with the American Federation of Musicians The American Federation of Musicians (AFM/AFofM) is a labor union of professional musicians in the United States and Canada. The American Federation of Musicians was founded in 1896, at which time it took over from an older and looser organization of local . ``It just establishes our orchestra as an orchestra that is willing to work with the (professional) musicians,'' Sonstegard said about the Conejo Valley Symphony Orchestra. New West operates on an interim agreement with the union, reached two years ago, that allowed the orchestra to seat 40 musicians of its choice with full federation membership. The 40 were chosen from more than 100 musicians who had performed in the defunct DEFUNCT. A term used for one that is deceased or dead. In some acts of assembly in Pennsylvania, such deceased person is called a decedent. (q.v.) Conejo and Ventura County symphonies. The old Conejo and county symphonies had gone deeply into debt after starting to pay professional musicians, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. leaders of the defunct organizations. With debts mounting, a majority of board members in the two symphony organizations agreed to a merger and reorganization as New West. The predecessor groups remain alive on paper to retire debts, including about $100,000 for Conejo alone, Ely said. New venue Another motivation for forming New West as a regional orchestra was the fall 1994 opening of the Probst Center for the Performing Arts, the premiere symphony venue in Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley. ``It certainly gave us the venue for a very high-quality orchestra. It certainly is drawing a demanding audience that requires high-quality music,'' Ely said. Conejo Valley Symphony supporters say that orchestra also fills a niche for the audience, different from New West's. ``We're trying to play to our community, and we're trying to keep the ticket prices down,'' said Shirley Garrett, a Conejo Valley Symphony backer. She and her husband have been symphony supporters in the Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. area for more than 30 years. The Garretts and Ely are examples of those who went in different directions when the old Conejo Symphony board broke up. New West ``basically has become a regional symphony, and we wanted something that we felt was our community,'' Shirley Garrett said. ``We just got it back together. Our members are many of the same people who supported us all those years.'' Size of audience New West draws larger audiences, averaging more than 1,300 for concerts, Ely said. Conejo Valley draws about 400 for concerts and aims eventually for 600, Sonstegard said. ``Each concert has gone up bit by bit.'' Conejo Valley, with 35 to 45 musicians in each program, also is planning concerts with more musicians and grander sounds. With its core of more than 40 musicians, New West sometimes seats as many as 80 musicians. Sonstegard says the smaller Conejo Valley Symphony is, however, satisfied with its venue in the 6-year-old church sanctuary. ``There's a mentality men·tal·i·ty n. The sum of a person's intellectual capabilities or endowment. that, if you're playing at a church, it means it's an inferior product, and that's simply not true,'' he said. ``It's a wonderful facility. It's much more intimate, it gives the people a real feeling that this is their community orchestra.'' Whatever their differences, Ely said he believes both orchestras can survive and thrive. ``There's certainly room in this area for multiple orchestras to play.'' |
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