A Classical San Diego Success Story

One usually associates children and musical instruments with sweaty recitals filled with overbearing parents, squeaky violin solos and a dozen renditions of “Fur Elise.” But the San Diego Youth Symphony, which has been around since 1945, has garnered praise throughout the world.

The symphony has been sponsored by the San Diego Park and Recreation Department since 1947, and is designed to provide young musicians with practical experience, professionalism and discipline in symphonic music.

Though musicians in the orchestra may be as old as 24, most are from 11 to 18. The dedicated group of 70 meets every Saturday at the Casa Del Prado in Balboa Park to bone up on their classical music. Many of the the string musicians who live in San Diego have extra practices on Thursday.

Some of the members’ parents drive them from as far away as Borrego Springs and El Centro to rehearse downtown.

Mischa Perrin makes a 2 1/2-hour trip every Saturday from Borrego Springs to San Diego. Mischa, a 15-year-old violinist, has been playing for 10 years and has been with the Youth Symphony for a year. While Perrin rehearses with the rest of the orchestra, her parents do their weekly shopping in town. The rehearsals are a trek for the family, but the violinist said her parents are happy she is involved with the Youth Symphony because her mother is the band leader at the Borrego Springs senior and junior high school.

Traci Duley, a 16-year-old violinist from North County, has been playing with the Youth Symphony for four years. She said she hasn’t decided whether she wants to be a professional musician but she enjoys playing with the orchestra.

Interests Besides Music

Traci’s older sister, Kelly, has been with the symphony since 1983. She, too, plays the violin, but she says it isn’t her only interest.

“I want to be well-rounded,” the 17-year-old said. “At my age, I’ve been to six different countries with the Youth Symphony. But I can’t see myself 10 years down the line majoring in music. Even now, I do other things. I’m involved in school and am on the swim team. I would like to get involved in political science or history when I go to college.

“It’s such a commitment to play with the symphony that it’s funny that I don’t want to become a professional musician. Many of the kids in the symphony go on to play for big professional symphonies. I do know that I’ll never give up music.”

Traci and Kelly’s mother, Pat Duley, has served as president on the Youth Symphony’s Board of Directors for the past two years and said many parents get involved. She and her husband are musicians and happy to see their children involved.

“It’s a wonderful experience for the kids that they couldn’t get otherwise,” she said. “A lot of parents help out by car-pooling, and some serve on the board.”

Busy Board Member

Wayne Airy is a board member and often answers the phone in the office during Thursday night rehearsals.

“I used to come and watch my son Mark play at the practices,” he said. “I was there all the time, so I figured I may as well get involved. Mark used to want to be a professional musician and still might.

“He’s good enough,” Airy said, “but as they get older, they get new interests. My son is now very interested in computers and mathematics.”

Airy, a sort of den father to the youngsters, knows everyone by name and likes to tease them while they tune up for their Thursday rehearsals.

Musical Family

Gabriella Brown, a bouncy 12-year-old, dragged two instruments, one twice her size, into the hall last week. She, like many of the musicians, is from a musical family.

She, her brother and father play the violin. The sixth-grader has been playing since she was 3 and has been with the Youth Symphony for a year. But she doesn’t like it enough to make music a career. She said she is always a little nervous when she performs.

Ellen Avakian is 14 and plays the violin. She’s been with the symphony 1 1/2 years.

“My music teacher thought I was good enough to try out,” she said. “My teacher knew the conductor and told him about me.”

She said she doesn’t want to make a career of music but wants to be an architect.

“Ever since the San Diego Symphony went under, you hear about all the musicians who don’t have work,” she said. “I don’t want to end up like that.”

Ellen said her parents are proud of her achievements but wonder whether the practices interfere with school.

“On Thursday nights when we rehearse with the musicians that live in San Diego, I don’t go to sleep,” she said. “After rehearsal, I go home and do my homework all night.”

Requires Dedication

Louis Campiglia, the symphony’s conductor, said playing for the symphony takes a lot of dedication. He has taught music in school for 24 years and knows how to work with young people.

“Although many of these kids will say they don’t want to be professional musicians, they are still young,” Campiglia said. “I bet if you asked them next week, they would say something different. Right now, the Youth Symphony provides them with a social life. But these kids are still interested in going to the beach and rock ‘n’ roll.”

Campiglia forgot to mention boys, which was Thursday night’s topic for two young girls tuning their violins in the corner of the room. However, when the young people collected their sheet music and took their seats to play, serious expressions covered the faces of anxious players.

“Sometimes, this is a very difficult job,” Campiglia said. “Almost every thing we do is new for these kids. But they’re extremely enthusiastic. A professional gets bored of playing Brahms, but to the youngster it’s something different to learn. I also try to give them anecdotes and history about the composer so they will learn and understand a little more about the music.”

Campiglia started rehearsal last week by commending the 25 violin, cello and viola players on their last concert.

‘Special Energy’

“There was a special energy the other night,” he said to the group of beaming faces. “There are so many orchestras that wish they could do what you did the other night. The people were just elated. A lot of it has to do with your cheap instruments.”

Everyone laughed, and the conductor motioned for the orchestra to begin playing.

“Too loud, cellos,” Campiglia shouted during the first part of the two-hour rehearsal, while the musicians rapidly bowed their instruments. “Pick up the beat.”

In the orchestra, the conductor said, there are probably only 10 students who are talented enough to become professional musicians. The patient but strict director also has conducted professional orchestras, and he came to the Youth Symphony 21 years ago to turn the small ensemble into a full orchestra. Every summer since, they have traveled to foreign countries to perform.

In 1969, the Youth Symphony played at the first International Festival of Youth Orchestras in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The tour included concerts in Austria and Germany. They were invited to perform in the National Theatre in San Jose, Costa Rica, in 1971 and were invited back in 1977.

In 1979, they performed the opening service at the Edinburgh Festival, which had never been done by a non-professional group, Campiglia said. The orchestra has also toured Mexico, China, Israel, Yugoslavia, Greece, England and Scotland.

Source of Money

“The trips on the average cost $1,200 to $1,800 for each musician,” Campiglia said. “But the kids raise all their own money. We have fund-raisers and have a strong board of directors that really help out.”

The Youth Symphony will perform at 6:45 p.m. Friday at the Westgate Hotel and at noon Sunday at the Tijuana Cultural Center. The orchestra will play Rossini’s “Il Maometto Secondo” Overture and Symphony No. 8 in G Major by Dvorak. Soloist Damien Bursill-Hall, former principal flutist for the San Diego Symphony, will perform Mozart’s Flute Concerto in D Major.

Campiglia said the Youth Symphony is a cost-recovery activity of the City of San Diego, meaning that all direct costs of the orchestra, including the director’s salary, must be repaid to the city. All the members pay annual dues to help pay back any debt.

Auditions for the symphony are held at 1:30 p.m. every Saturday. The conductor said he likes to keep the orchestra the same size as a professional symphony, so he limits the number of musicians he takes on.

The tryouts are relaxed, Campiglia said, and most of the people auditioning are referrals from music teachers.

“It’s harder to get musicians now,” he said. “So many schools are cutting their music programs that less students are inspired to play an instrument. So I can usually take as many strings as possible. It’s harder with the other instruments.”

The conductor said it takes three months to put together a full orchestra concert, and they do four different programs a year.

“We cover a lot of literature,” Campiglia said. “And it’s not junior high-level stuff, either.”

Kelly Duley concurs, saying it’s a lot of hard work.

So why do they do it?

“We’re all there for one reason,” she said. “To play better.”