JACKI THERING, VIOLIN/VIOLA
I had been playing with a different community orchestra for several years and was looking for a change. A friend recommended that I check out the LGSO. It was a little farther than I wanted to drive, but after checking out the videos on the website and seeing the quality of performances and repertoire they were performing (Rite of Spring, Symphonie Fantastique, all the Beethoven symphonies!), I reached out and in November 2022 sent some video clips from a violin recital I had given a few years earlier. David explained in an email how the string seating rotates—violins switch between playing first and second, and seating within the section changes each concert—and that sounded really appealing to me. My first concert was in April 2023. I am so happy to be playing with the LGSO.
My first concert (April 2023) included the Egmont Overture, which was a piece I had been wanting to perform for years and years but hadn’t yet, so that was really special to me. Everyone arrives at rehearsals prepared, ready to rehearse and to make the most of our limited time together. Volunteers mark bowings into parts before they’re passed out, or bowings are posted on the musicians’ website in advance so we don’t have to spend rehearsal time figuring out those details. The order for the rehearsal is emailed earlier in the week so we can have our music in order, set to go, and not lose time finding the next piece in the moment. We are expected to prepare by listening to recordings of the repertoire and studying the score in addition to practicing our part. The musicians’ website is a helpful resource. Optional string sectionals often take place before rehearsals begin as well. Players are quick to help move chairs and tables after each rehearsal to get the room set back up. Everyone is really friendly and welcoming. While there is not a lot of time to chat (the break goes by quickly and rehearsals are very focused), I’ve met a lot of people before and after rehearsals and by sitting with different stand partners for each concert. I’ve even started playing in a trio with two other LGSO string players since I joined. When David says the plan is to run the entire program in the first rehearsal of a concert cycle, that’s what we do. No stopping for missed notes/entrances etc. unless absolutely necessary and only occasionally having to shout out a rehearsal number, which is all really refreshing and helpful to get a feel for the pieces as a whole as well as what kind of individual practicing I will need to do before the next rehearsal. And somehow David is able to time things out just right within a rehearsal that if we’re running a piece at the end (even an entire symphony), we finish exactly at 9:30, down to the minute.
Favorite Memory
Last September I was able to perform the solo violin parts to Ziguenerweisen (Sarasate) and Légende (Wieniawski) in rehearsal—on my birthday—to help us prepare for our November 2024 concert with violin soloist Andrew Sords. David had invited violinists from the orchestra who had studied one or both of the pieces to volunteer to play the solo part in rehearsal, and that was an opportunity I knew I couldn’t pass up. That was a thrill!
Favorite Pieces
Gosh, so many already in the short time I’ve been playing with the LGSO! Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3 (April 2023), playing music from my childhood with “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” (summer 2023), The Planets (March 2024), my first experience playing music to accompany a movie with The Snowman (December 2024).