New Community Orchestra Kicks Off with Free Concerts This Weekend

A new community orchestra kicks off this weekend by performing two free concerts outdoors at the Civic Center at Veterans Plaza in downtown Silver Spring.

Conductor and pianist Leah Kocsis, the artistic director of the Southern Montgomery County Orchestra, said that she and other musicians have been interested in forming a community orchestra for some time to fill a gap in southern Montgomery County, where residents have access to professional concerts but nothing less expensive.

There are other community orchestras in the area, including in Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County.

The hope is that members of the public will gain a greater appreciation and awareness of classical music by hearing it performed free of charge in an informal, outdoor setting. Four concerts are scheduled for May and June at the civic center at Veteran's Plaza.

"We really want people that might not know anything about standard classical music," said Kocsis. She said the orchestra's organizers considered, "How can we make it affordable and fun and lose some of the stuffy feelings concerts can have? It can be very intimidating, and it doesn't have to be that way."

During their concerts, Kocsis said, "If someone claps at the wrong time, that's OK. They're just enjoying the music."

This weekend's concerts will be at 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. The orchestra will perform Dvorak's Wind Serenade; Delius' Two Pieces for Small Orchestra; and Strauss' Serenade op. 7.

The  orchestra has applied for nonprofit status. Once it receives that, it can raise money to pay for venues to perform and rehearse; to pay soloists; and to cover the rights to perform music that's not in the public domain (generally older pieces that can be played for free.) Its regular musicians - there are now 27 -- will not be paid.

After May, the orchestra's next concerts will be at 8 p.m. June 11 and 3 p.m. June 12. The orchestra will perform at Mozart's Symphony No. 2; a Schubert composition for string quintet; and Gounod's Petite Symphony. After that, the orchestra will take a summer break and have another round of auditions before resuming its concert series in the fall.

In addition to traditional concerts, Kocsis said she hopes the orchestra can do some less traditional projects such as possibly teaming with up with the AFI movie theatre in downtown Silver Spring to perform songs from film scores.