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Concertino Strings is a volunteer-based, self funding community orchestra located in Boulder Creek, California. The orchestra started during the pandemic in response to a desire for string players to play in a group in the absence of other opportunities to play. When a vaccine became available, the first rehearsals and concerts were held outdoors in the Carport Concert Hall down the street from the church. All members are currently vaccinated and include a former firefighter, educators, university professors, doctors and other medical professionals, and more. Our players come from all over Santa Cruz County and beyond, from Aptos and Aromas to Westside Santa Cruz and Bonny Doon.
The orchestra is led by Boulder Creek resident Joanne Tanner and Scotts Valley resident Renata Bratt. Joanne Tanner and Renata both have many years of experience as professional performers as well as academic degrees in music performance. Members of all ages who have intermediate to advanced skill levels are welcome.
Concerts are performed every few months. Rehearsals and concerts are held at the 120 year old Boulder Creek United Methodist Church, located in Boulder Creek, California. The all wood sanctuary provides wonderful resonant acoustics. The Concertino Strings orchestra is proud to consider itself an orchestra-in-residence for the church.
Concerts typically include a mix of 'classic' string orchestra repertoire (J.S. Bach, George Frideric Handel, etc.) as well as more contemporary music. The sanctuary of the church has a harpsichord, piano, and organ that we can incorporate when the music calls for it. The enjoy giving their local talented musicians a chance to shine as soloists, and they have also featured pieces written by orchestra members. |
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Concertino Strings is a volunteer-based, self funding classical string chamber orchestra located in Boulder Creek, California. They bring classical music to the San Lorenzo Valley and Santa Cruz Mountain communities as well as to the greater Santa Cruz area. They welcome string players of all ages who have intermediate to advanced skill levels to learn, play, and celebrate music and community with them. They perform at the Boulder Creek United Methodist Church, offering a new program every few months. Their concerts are gathering events for the Boulder Creek community, and have featured repertoire ranging from Baroque concerti all the way to modern music composed by their very own members.
Joanne Tanner, the Boulder Creek United Methodist Church in California said her adult students approached her in early 2021 asking her to initiate a symphony orchestra in the absence of any live performing orchestral group at Cabrillo College until 2022. Many Santa Cruz County musicians have been participating in Cabrillo groups for years, and there are no other orchestras in the county for skilled amateur classical instrumentalists.
Since Covid, some have been gathering in garages and on decks to form small chamber groups, quartets, and trios. But an orchestra, at first a daunting concept, once word got out, it wasn’t long before they had a full orchestration of violins, violas, cellos, and a bass. There were 12 performers for the first concert of Concertino Strings in late May 2021, which was held outdoors in her Carport Concert Hall, not far from the church. The first rehearsal was at the end of April 2021 and they have been playing weekly ever since, gathering more participants and hosting two more concerts, one in July and the other in September. Their final concert of 2021 was on December 2021 at Boulder Creek United Methodist.
Joanne Tanner takes the role of “concertmaster” rather than conductor, playing with the orchestra to communicate key features of the music instead of using a baton. About half the current group of 15 regular members lives in the San Lorenzo Valley and Santa Cruz Mountains, and the other half commute from all over the county as far as Aptos and Corralitos. Rehearsals occur outdoors in Tanner’s ample carport with a varied audience of dog-walkers, families with strollers, skateboarders, and curious crows. A typical music selection for each concert program is a complete Baroque work in its original orchestration, and then several movements from a more modern or romantic work. Joanne Tanner's life partner Michael Fisher does a lot of the heavy lifting as harpsichord and vehicle mover, publicist, greeter, and video taker. The two also have an old time quartet called The Open Heartstrings featuring banjo, fiddle, guitar, and bass. The name is in homage to the surgeries each band member has had.
Concertino Strings has hired a professional cellist, Renata Bratt, to assist Joanne Tanner as coach and player, and the group is replete with a harpsichord, played by Roy Stegman; elemental for an authentic and historically correct Handel Concerto Grosso. The Concertino Strings fills the classical music niche in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and the sweetness of the music can bring tears of joy to the eye. |
