Madame Mayumi Kumagai, Director of the OYSO, introduced the self-directed chamber groups. Students aged eight to 18 gravitate together according to their chosen instruments. Each mini-ensemble decides what to play, chooses a leader and invents a name for their group. In concert, the leader introduces the chamber group and its chosen pieces.
Silver Bells are three flutists: Ayana Murray, Meghan Bowman and Natalie LoSole-Stringer. Two trumpeters: Jennie Davison and Laura Couture and two trombonists: Viki Lentini and Patrick Smith form the quartet No Strings Attached. The current string ensembles have named themselves The Continuo, Nguyen and the Viba Quartet. Team Effort brings three clarinets to the stage, demonstrating the wide range and possibilities of that instrument. Percussionists Cole Mendez and Bayze Murray call their battery Hit or Miss. Their snaredrum duet, “On the March” was a hit with me.
Christmas music offers a wide gamut of moods. The Viba Quartet: Sawyer Glowanlock, Jenice Mun and Hannah Fletcher, violins, and cellist Jocelyn LoSole-Stringer opened the program with a rousing “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” followed by a sturdy “O Tannenbaum”, both arranged by the musicians themselves. I was impressed by their smooth tone and excellent rhythmic treatment of the tunes, all blending beautifully together thanks to their natural discipline of listening to each other.
Speaking of blending, the “Dixieland Duet” by the brass ensemble No Strings Attached and “Hedwig’s Theme” by the clarinetists Team Effort (Kyle Lau, Daniel Clarke and Claire Tazzio) both worked well with the brasses’ seasonal “Christmas Song” and the clarinets’ arrangement of Bach’s chorale “Sheep May Safely Graze.” The Dixieland sound brought an upbeat note while “Hedwig’s Theme” and the D Minor “Clarinet Duo” by Kyle Lau and Daniel Clarke were just that dark touch needed. After all, dark matter pervades most of space, in contrast to the glow and sparkle of distant nebulae and closer stars. So a little darkness serves to set off songs evoking Christmas lights.
Joel Lamontagne and Solivan Lau, violins, along with Natalie Jackiw, viola and Dylan McCullough, bass viol, form The Continuos. Their jolly “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” contrasted with the more sober, majestic “We Three Kings”. In between the dignified Kings and the minor mood of the Clarinet Duo came a solo fiddler: Sawyer Gowanlock.
When people ask me if a fiddler plays a different instrument from a violinist I have to answer, “It’s the same instrument.” Fiddlers have their own technique, often passed down from generation to generation, and especially in demand for dancing. That means an excellent command of rhythm, staying power and very nimble fingers. “Evelyn’s Waltz” was pivotal to the program that winter afternoon. And, yes, Sawyer comes from generations of fiddlers, in addition to being a violinist of the classical (or perhaps even jazz) persuasion.
Violinists Harvey Li, Andy Lee and Erin Kim, plus cellist Bobbi-Jo Corbett constitute the ensemble called Nguyen. I was amazed at how effectively this combination of instruments re-created the “March of the Nutcracker” without having all the resources of a Russian orchestra. I wondered how the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” would sound without the celeste and bassoon originally scored by Tchaikovsky. Since the age of four, when my father first introduced me to the “Nutcracker Suite” I had associated the dainty celeste and grandfatherly bassoon with the tinkly fairy dance. The inspired arrangement chosen by Nguyen swept away a concept that for me had lasted nearly 75 years. Immediately, their delicate violin treatment made me forget the celeste, while the cello tossed off the bassoon part as to the manner born.
Crisply symphonic in their black trousers or skirts and white shirts, all the chamber groups united as an orchestra under the baton of Mayumi Kumagai for a rousing Trepak from the “Nutcracker Suite”, complete with kettledrums. And so a delightful afternoon finished with a grand Russian flourish.
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