Thank You Sir Andrew!
The season would not be complete without music director Sir Andrew Davis’s party for the orchestra held annually at his favorite restaurant, Coco Pazzo. Wine, food, and merriment abound, and we relish the chance to bring along opera spouses and significant others (left alone so many long opera evenings) to a gathering that includes them. Sir Andrew thanked the orchestra for another season of fine music- making, and we in turn presented him with a framed photograph of one of our rehearsals taken by Del Hall. The photograph, taken of the orchestra during a rehearsal of Das Rheingold earlier this season, was taken from above and is a stunning, dramatic, and iconic image.
Bassists Greg Sarchet, Collins Trier, Ian Hallas, and Andy Anderson
with Lew Kirk
Entertainment provided by the orchestra has become a longstanding tradition. This year Lew Kirk arranged Schubert’s "Der Doppelgänger" for four double basses and rewrote the verse to reflect the tribulations of opera orchestra players. He was joined by bassoonist Preman Tilson for a contrabassoon, melodica duet parody of “Casta Diva” from Norma.
Thank You Committee!
Thank you to our Lyric Opera Orchestra Committee, William Cernota, cello and committee chair, Kathleen (Katie) Brauer, violin, Matt Comerford, trumpet, Mark Fisher, trombone, and Greg Sarchet, bass. Our five elected colleagues represent the orchestra during negotiations but also spend their intermissions, rehearsal breaks, and countless hours throughout the season and off-season dealing with issues that make our professional lives better. It would be safe to say that even those closest to these committee members don’t know the extent of their commitment nor the hours they give on behalf of the orchestra.
Our committee safeguards the work of past representatives, monitors agreed-upon rules, which sometimes get stretched or ignored, and looks to the future by expressing a vision — and fighting for — improved conditions for our group and for the whole company. We can’t thank them enough but want here to honor their service and devotion.
Thank you Christine!
We couldn't let a 'thank you' issue go out without sending a huge THANK YOU! to our personnel manager Christine Janicki. An accomplished french horn player, she does her job professionally and with style. Always friendly (and some days that can be hard because [you may not know this] musicians can be a fussy bun
ch), she's always on hand and ready to solve problems. Plus, she rescues bunnies! Thanks Christine, for all your hard work and for treating us like the adults we should aspire to be!
Thank you Rich!
The orchestra requires a LOT of help in the pit. Many of us use special equipment such as back supports or seat pads. We each have a particular chair that follows us wherever we sit (and we move around with every opera). Absences also require last-minute rearranging. The pit has a different setup for each production, and sometimes the turnaround time is short. And sometimes we want to hang flags in the pit so we can take cute photos supporting the Cubs during the World Series. Who works the long, late hours to take care of all of these things for us? Rich Tyriver does, and we thank him! It must be like herding cats.
Thank you, John and Wendy!
We have thousands of notes to learn for each opera, and that requires getting music into our hands well in advance of our first rehearsal. That is no easy task, considering the logistics of acquiring and assembling parts, inserting the markings of the conductor and section leaders, marking cuts, and correcting errors in the parts. Magically, we do get parts for practice and no matter what, the performance parts are waiting for us on our stands. Wait, it's not magic - it's the hard work of our librarians, John Rosenkrans and Wendy Skozen! We literally couldn't do much of anything without them and their diligence, and we say THANK YOU!
So many people to thank, so little space...it takes a village to take care of us! It's a big team, and they enable us to give the audience our best every single night we perform. We thank everyone in our support system. Finally, for all who attend the opera, our biggest thanks are for you. We may not always say it, but you are all greatly appreciated.