Quiet in the glen -- for now

The eucalyptus trees that provided shade at the old Griffith Park Zoo picnic grounds have been cut down, victims of a disease, and the sounds of music heard there in recent summers have been stilled, at least temporarily. A shortage of funds forced Symphony in the Glen to cancel the concert it had scheduled for next Sunday to kick off its 10th-anniversary season.

But just as new trees have already been planted in the area, Symphony in the Glen -- which has provided free classical music experiences for innumerable adults and children -- promises to play concerts in August and September. And that’s good news for Angelenos who hear longingly of similar concerts in New York’s Central Park or near the lakefront in Chicago. Symphony in the Glen is one of the few organizations that offer such pleasures locally.

Says founding conductor Arthur B. Rubinstein: “The last thing I want is for somebody to get it in their heads that there goes Symphony in the Glen. Whatever we do, that will not happen.”

An Emmy-winning composer who has scored more than 200 films and TV programs, the 65-year-old Rubinstein dreamed up the series in response to the city’s riots in 1992 and the Northridge earthquake in 1994. He wanted a way to help people make the kind of contact with one another he remembered from his New York childhood.

“I grew up where you had free park concerts in almost every little park,” Rubinstein says.

“And these were not beautiful parks. There was an acre of something that was almost grass, with a chain-link fence. But there would be these wonderful concerts. And I witnessed something that was very powerful, because you’d have people and children flocking to these things, and it was a respite. It seemed to me that was something that was just holistic. That was the impetus for starting Symphony in the Glen.”

Itinerant group

It was an impetus taken up by then-Los Angeles County Supervisor Ed Edelman and the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks. With their support -- and after the hiring of a group of freelance musicians that now numbers between 40 and just over 60 -- Symphony in the Glen began offering free concerts in Bronson Park, Pan Pacific Auditorium and the Hansen Dam Recreation Area in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

The organization quickly outgrew those sites, however, because of limited parking and other logistical problems. It moved to the Old Zoo area in 1996 at the suggestion of Councilman Tom LaBonge as part of Griffith Park’s centenary celebration.

The site is perfect for the orchestra because of “its centrality, most of all,” says Barbara Ferris, Symphony in the Glen’s managing director. “There’s also the availability of parking and the fact that the Old Zoo is away from traffic noise.

“But the egalitarianism of Griffith Park is something we especially like,” she says. “You don’t know if a person sitting next to you has a million bucks, and neither do they know about you. It’s available to everyone, which is a great equalizer, and parents come with a blanket and they picnic and they get to lay out in the grass.”

Symphony in the Glen brings in everything it needs and even arranges shuttles from the parking lot to the concert site. Volunteers help keep costs down.

Even so, the tab averages $50,000 per concert. The money comes from private, corporate, foundation and some government sources.

“We’re actually quite proud that we’re tapping into taxpayer money hardly at all,” Rubinstein says. “But there’s a quandary in that. People assume when they come there that it is put on by the city and by the county. They help us as much as they can help any organization. But they have so many mouths to feed. So our constant challenge is to let people know -- and it’s a hard thing -- that we do need their help.”

Help was especially needed as business portfolios and the economy in general went south recently. Canceling this summer’s first concert was a way for the organization to avoid sliding into deficit.

“We still have to raise $80,000” for the season’s two other concerts, Rubinstein says. “But we’re confident we’ll be able to get it.”

The other programs are scheduled for Aug. 10 at 6 p.m. and Sept. 7 at 3 p.m. Activities for children, which are an essential part of the organization’s mission, will start an hour and a half earlier.

In the past, Rubinstein has used chopsticks to teach simple lessons in conducting, or made arrangements to provide kazoos so youngsters could make music. Volunteers have offered hands-on experience with orchestra instruments.

“The whole point is to make a physical relationship with music for kids,” Ferris explains. “Otherwise, the kids are sitting like something is on television.... This breaks that wall.”

Young initiative

One child who began coming to concerts six summers ago showed up last year with an instrument of her own.

“She brought a violin, and she stood up there and started playing for me,” Rubinstein says. “And two of the kids who used to come played in the orchestra last year. One plays trombone. One plays flute.”

The group has also picked names at random to give kids a chance to conduct or sit among the musicians “just to hear the sound, the vibrations, and to watch the way musicians work and to realize that it is work.”

“It’s one more step beyond just listening to the music. It’s so important that you have a physical involvement with the music.”

Rubinstein doesn’t offer just easy-listening favorites or potboilers. Last year, he conducted Bartok’s Divertimento for String Orchestra, and afterward, a 5-year-old came up and said to him, “Maestro, that was scary music.”

Breaking into a big grin, Rubinstein continues: “We never play down to children. I remember when I started it, I could see a family -- mother, father and four kids -- out of the corner of my eye. I thought, ‘Maybe this is going to be difficult for them.’ But they sat there and did not move for the entire piece.

“What did they learn? I don’t know. Maybe not to be afraid of this sound, this whole experience.”

For their part, audiences drive in from all over the area.

“We found we have people coming from Long Beach, Riverside, Canyon Country, the West Valley, the North Valley, from all around Los Angeles,” Ferris says. “L.A. is amazing in that when people hear about something, they’ll put themselves in a car and go attend it. They’re not bashful about driving.”

That may be because free classical summer concerts are so infrequent in Los Angeles. The Topanga Symphony will offer one Aug. 24 (www.topangasymphony.8k.com). Apart from that, the only other high-profile offerings are part of either the Marina del Rey Summer Concerts series, which runs until Aug. 21 (www.visitthemarina.com/index.php/windwinepromo.html), or the Redlands Bowl season, which runs through July 28 (www.redlandsbowl.org). (Symphony in the Glen can be reached at www.symphonyintheglen.org.)

Symphony in the Glen remains adamant about being free.

“We’ve considered charging a nominal fee, as some people have suggested,” Rubinstein says. “We don’t because we shouldn’t. It’s that simple.

“Look, there’s a fantastic orchestra in this city, one of the great orchestras in the world, and they’re going to be in this wonderful new hall. But there are thousands and thousands of people in this city who will never hear the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

“The way we see ourselves is sort of as a gateway. If we can bring families and children to Symphony in the Glen, let the kids’ minds and souls expand a little bit, perhaps one day maybe they may be filling seats at the Disney Hall. But they can’t go from where they are to the Disney Hall and the L.A. Philharmonic.”