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St. Olaf Orchestra to rehearse alongside professional musicians

By Amy Gage
September 28, 2003

Back in the 1930s, Eugene Ormandy, the renowned conductor of what was then the Minneapolis Symphony, began allowing student musicians to rehearse alongside the professionals he conducted -- shoulder to shoulder, or "side by side," as the practice sessions have come to be known.

The tradition has been revived in recent years, according to Minnesota Orchestra Director of Education Jim Bartsch, and the St. Olaf Orchestra has been asked to take part on Saturday, Oct. 4, from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.

St. Olaf Orchestra conductor Steven Amundson is, understandably, elated. "What a fabulous opportunity for our students to learn firsthand about the finer points of ensemble playing and to get direct feedback from of the best in the business," says Amundson, who will observe the side-by-side rehearsal. "It is a rare chance to interact with those musicians the students admire from a distance in the many concerts they attend at Orchestra Hall."

Given that the college orchestra is preparing for its annual autumn tour -- which will conclude with a home concert on campus at Skoglund Center Auditorium on Monday, Oct. 27, at 8 p.m. -- the Minnesota Orchestra offered to devote the practice to works by Barber and Berlioz that the students will be performing in Montana and elsewhere.

"It will stretch them," says Bartsch, who has worked with the orchestra for five years. He has arranged side-by-side practices with the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies, the Minnesota Youth Symphonies, the All-State Orchestra and the University of Minnesota Orchestra -- but this Saturday's practice is a first for a liberal arts college in the state.

"I encourage our conductors to rehearse on the same level as they would for a Minnesota Orchestra concert, so the kids get the feel of what professionals work on. It's eye-opening," Bartsch says.

Giancarlo Guerrero, associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, will take the 94 student musicians through their paces on Saturday. Amundson, 47, a composer and conductor who won an international conducting competition in 1980, will take the baton as well. "We are grateful to be invited to share the stage with the Minnesota Orchestra," he says.

Bartsch, who lives in Northfield, says students particularly benefit from "that big, huge, professional orchestra sound" and from the camaraderie that develops on stage. "You see the heads going together chatting and the jokes going around," he says. "It's like a college baseball team getting to take batting practice with the Minnesota Twins."

More information on side-by-side rehearsals, Young People's Concerts and other education programs is available on the Minnesota Orchestra Web site.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.