With Clyde Mitchell waving an historic baton, the Nov. 10, 2024 Culver City Symphony, along with the SoCal Chorale, offered a performance of musical might, with many in the audience singing along.
The Vets Auditorium was filled slightly beyond capacity, with more than 200 performers in both the orchestra and the chorus. Mitchell gave a shout out to the Culver City Exchange Club for the ‘Field of Honor’ display of American flags along the front and sides of the building. “We can’t take credit for it, but isn’t that just terrific?”
The music was all focused on history, from the Star Spangled Banner to the unique offerings that came with the conductor’s baton. A father and son, both composers, were featured on the program, with the International March by Juda Beresowsky and the Symphonic Variations on a Country Dance by George Berres (who Americanized his family name) being performed for the first time in decades. The baton had belonged to Beresowsky, and was part of a recently uncovered archival treasure trove containing the family’s music and historical ephemera.
Mitchell also conducted an arrangement of Night by Florence Price, a recently re-discovered African American woman who composed music in the early 20th century but had been largely forgotten. The piece was both intriguing and unique, and felt very modern – perhaps she was a composer ahead of her time
The SoCal Choral, led by Marya Basaraba, rang the rafters with the Battle Hymn of Republic, and Finlandia, bringing the audience in with them for a Rogers and Hammerstein medley of You’ll Never Walk Alone and Climb Every Mountain.
Closing the evening with always uplifting Ode to Joy from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, it was a musical celebration that felt both healing and inspiring, and clearly the audience was delighted.
Both the Symphony and the SoCal Chorale gave wonderful performances, and as the instruments returned to their cases and the chairs emptied, there was a sense of what music can do in a moment to keep that moment resonating.
Judith Martin-Straw
