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When conductor Eric Kujawsky founded a community orchestra called the Redwood Symphony in 1985, he was looking for an opportunity to branch out creatively. In the decades since, the orchestra has certainly met that brief, taking on complex classics and challenging new works alike. After all, it’s no outlier that the symphony’s 40th anniversary concert features a piece in which the percussionists will play car parts.
The anniversary concert, which takes place Nov. 22, features a program of Emmanuel Chabrier’s “España,” Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, with soloist Karen Bentley Pollick, and Mason Bates’ “Alternative Energy,” with Bates performing electronica for the piece, which also features car parts used as percussion instruments.Â
Bates is the Grammy Award-nominated composer of works that include the opera “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.”Â
But a focus on new or demanding works is just one part of what makes the symphony special. The group has also become its own close-knit community
In the summer of 1985, Kujawsky had recently earned his doctorate in conducting at Stanford University and was considering what was next for his career. His wife, Valerie, suggested founding an orchestra.
“I had actually started sort of the skeleton of the orchestra three years earlier, when I did the first Stanford summer orchestra, and we did that over three consecutive summers, and so I had a lot of names and people to call. So the next step was to put together some people who could help me incorporate it and come up with a name for the group,” he recalled.
In need of a name that wasn’t specific to a city, but representative of the Peninsula, the orchestra became the Redwood Symphony.
“We started at Foothill College in the southwest hills, and after two years, we moved to Cañada College in Redwood City. So now people think we’re the Redwood City Symphony. But anyway, I like the name. And you know, we have the coolest logo of any orchestra,” Kujawsky said, referring to a design resembling a cross-cut from a redwood tree trunk, complete with the rings that denote a tree’s age.
Similar to its namesake, the orchestra’s roots run deep. In forming the Redwood Symphony, Kujawsky brought together friends and other local musical contacts, with many other musicians joining the group for performances as guest soloists.
‘We have 10 original members who are still playing with us. Forty years is a long time. I’ve seen so many members who have come and left and, you know, (some) have passed away, new ones who’ve come and married and had children, and in two cases, actually, their children are playing with the orchestra. It feels like having a family, and it’s something special that most conductors can’t experience because they haven’t been with the group as long as I have,” he said.
The orchestra has even brought together several families. Kujawsky said he was “honored to conduct ad hoc orchestras for two Redwood Symphony couples’ weddings,” including that of two now longtime members. He also officiated at the other wedding.Â
The symphony’s traditions include a family-friendly Halloween concert with favorite spooky musical selections and a raffle that offers a chance for audience members to briefly conduct the orchestra. Every summer, the group also performs a free concert tailored for families in Redwood City’s Courthouse Square.
Kujawsky’s goal has always been that the orchestra’s repertoire would be wide-ranging and adventurous — including many works that are typically less expected for a community, or amateur, orchestra.
“From the very beginning, we were doing pieces that other community orchestras would never dare to do, like (Stravinsky’s) ‘The Rite of Spring,’ lots of Bartók, Mahler’s symphonies, things like that,” he said.
Kujawsky said that, as founder and music director, he has an unusual amount of creative control as an orchestra director, so the group often takes on some large-scale, demanding works.
“Some of the things we’ve done, you would think would be impossible for amateur musicians, like (modernist composer Charles) Ives’ Fourth Symphony, or Messiaen’s ‘Turangalîla-symphonie,'” he said.
This past February, for instance, the symphony performed Mahler’s “Resurrection” symphony, and the piece required bringing in 170 guest vocalists, a group of singers larger than the 100-member orchestra itself.
Kujawsky’s penchant for musical fireworks presented a challenge when choosing works for the 40th anniversary concert.
“There’s a certain amount of pressure to come up with something special,” he said.
For the symphony’s 30th anniversary in 2015, the program featured two major, complex works: Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” and Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.”
“It was very ambitious. It went very well. But my first idea was, ‘How are we going to outdo that?'” Kujawsky said.
That’s why he decided to take the programming in a more personal direction, with the anniversary concert highlighting music close to his heart.
“We’re starting with my favorite concert opener, which is ‘España’ by Chabrier. Then I thought we should have a popular piece to bring an audience in, so (that’s) the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with our very good friend Karen Bentley Pollick,” Kujawsky said.
He has known and worked with Pollick for over 30 years.
“She’s a Palo Alto native. She was in the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra as a child, and she’s had a brilliant solo career, much of it new music and making recordings in Europe,” he said.
For the concert finale, he chose his favorite 21st-century piece, Bates’ “Alternative Energy,” and invited the composer to perform as a special guest.
“He agreed to do this, which was just amazing. And I’m so excited. So he’ll be playing in the orchestra on electronica, which is his special sort of DJ club-inspired electronic effects that he adds to a lot of his pieces,” Kujawsky said.
The symphony has performed “Alternative Energy” before, in 2016, in a concert that earned the group an audience choice award from San Francisco Classical Voice, Kujawsky noted.Â
“It’s a four-movement symphony that Mason wrote when he was the composer-in-residence at the Chicago Symphony. It uses electronica in three of the four movements, and the first movement, which is called ‘Ford’s Farm,’ referring to Henry Ford, uses a percussion section made up of car parts. It’s an amazing piece,” Kujawsky said.
The Redwood Symphony borrowed the automotive instruments from the San Francisco Symphony for this concert.
“There’s a tailgate and carburetor and a bunch of pipes and things that they bang on with different mallets,” he said.
Beyond their regular seasons, among the symphony’s notable moments have been two performances at San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall, including one with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. They have also performed over 10 concert operas, Kujawsky said, and are preparing to release their ninth CD next year.
“We’ve had some really great soloists like (violinists) Eugene Fodor and Miranda Liu, and many local soloists who come and play with us year after year. I built up a roster of friends who play with us now,” Kujawsky said.
In achieving some impressive musical feats, the symphony has also offered unique experiences for local audiences, and hopefully paved the way for greater openness to new music along the way, Kujawsky said.
“I think that gradually we’re wearing away at this perception that modern music is difficult or hard to listen to. There’s actually so much now that’s just wonderful, and that the audience likes and it’s just a matter of finding it and then presenting it to the public.”
The Redwood Symphony’s 40th anniversary concert takes place Nov. 22, 7:30 p.m. (pre-concert talk at 6:45 p.m.), at Cañada College Theater, 4200 Farm Hill Blvd., Redwood City; $15-$35; redwoodsymphony.org.
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