Manhattan Symphony Orchestra on the Community Hour Show Episode - 290

We talk with Dr. Rachel Dirks about how the Manhattan Symphony Orchestra forms, grows, and keeps concerts free for the community. We dig into programming choices, real-world logistics, and the partnerships and donations that help a new orchestra dream bigger without losing its values.

• spotting a gap in Manhattan’s arts scene and deciding to start a community orchestra
• using practical startup steps and an open call that draws more than 90 interested musicians
• building an ensemble with pros and amateurs from ages 11 to 81
• programming a Mid-Century Modern classics concert with Bernstein, Howard Hanson and Paul Reade
• selecting repertoire by balancing player ability, time, and a single anchor work
• handling logistics with a working board and shared leadership
• covering expenses like music, venues and specialist players such as harp
• keeping musicians unpaid by design so concerts can remain free and accessible
• partnering with McCain Auditorium and performing alongside Celtic Woman
• planning future runouts, community venues and a September 11 commemorative performance
• inviting new musicians, sponsors and community partners to get involved

Just go to the website and give, learn. Check us out, learn more, join us uh in any ways you you think appeal to you.

GMCF

CFAs

Transcript

Sponsor And Segment Setup<br>

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Philanthropy today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode, we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMCF Community Hour, as heard on news radio KMAN.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

How do you grow an ensemble? How do you build it? What do you do? And so we decided to actually create a new ensemble. One of the things that's really wonderful about the state of Kansas is that there are community orchestras spread out throughout the entire state, vibrant ensembles that are just really exciting. And I thought, you know, Manhattan doesn't have a community orchestra. We should we should do something about that.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

That's a parallel probably to the community band.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Absolutely. There's a community band, but there there wasn't anything in terms of like a full symphony orchestra.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

So uh we went about, there's a beautiful website about how to start an orchestra.org uh where we kind of looked through all of the steps and and by the end of that spring, we had sent out a request for musicians to join. And there were over 90 musicians who expressed interest. Yes, who expressed interest in playing. And we gave our first concert that May.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

And uh Is that the one the Courthouse Lawn Plaza? It was. I was there.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Oh, just enjoyed the heck out of that.

First Concert And Who Plays<br>

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Well, it's so much fun. And the and the people who play in the ensemble range from professional musicians, obviously, to amateur musicians and ages from 11 to 81. And it's just a delightful ensemble. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

That's like 70 years span.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

I I did that quick math.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Yeah, you did.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Did you see my calculator pop up? I did. It was very impressive. Yeah, it doesn't take much. Especially on a Monday.

unknown 1:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

Well, yeah, I mean, I I just love how organic this was.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

You know, and and and it shows obviously the passion, not just for the community, but for the passion for the music. Sure. And sharing their talents.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

How many people do you have playing now?

Picking Repertoire And A Theme<br>

SPEAKER_01 1:53

I think in this concert series, we have 75. Um, it is a classics concert, which means we can't have as big of um as big of forces as we did outside. Um we are actually playing some really great repertoire by Howard Hansen, his Romantic Symphony number two. Uh, we're playing the Paul Reed Victorian Kitchen Garden Suite, featuring Dr. Amy Guffy on clarinet. It's the most delightful piece of music. It's just cheeky and fun and light, uh, and we could all use a little light.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

I've never thought about cheeky and classical being in the same sentence, unless it was Victor Borga.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

This uh right, right. Well, this piece does it.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

This piece does it. And then, of course, we're opening the concert with Bernstein's Overture to Candide.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

All right.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

How do you select the pieces you you play?

Logistics Costs And Free Concerts<br>

SPEAKER_01 2:44

That's a great question. I spend a lot of time. You you think about who are the musicians? What are they, what are they interested in, what are they capable of, how much time is it going to take? And then I love thinking about one particular piece and then building around it. And so in this in this concert, it was actually the Paul Reed Victorian Kitchen Garden Suite, um, because I really wanted to do that particular piece. And so then kind of thinking about what other pieces were happening that were being composed and around the same time, kind of mid-century, 20th century. Uh, and then of course, Candide comes up and the Howard Hansen. Uh, and so all of a sudden we have Mid-Century Modern as our concert series.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

So what are some of your biggest challenges as the director?

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Um, logistics are always challenging. And and when you're bringing together 80 to 90 musicians, that can be timing's a problem. Timing is an issue. It is a challenge, but um I've been so incredibly impressed with the the musicians and how flexible they are to work together. We have an amazing board uh that is very passionate about um making things happen. And it's a it's very much a working board. We all roll up our sleeves and make things happen. And um, our uh executive director and assistant conductor, Russell Clark, does a really fine job. So he and I work together to kind of um manage personnel, music, all those sorts of things to make sure.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Are there expenses that are involved that you incur? I suppose probably music.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

For sure. There's music. Sometimes there are venue expenses, sometimes um we need we needed to hire a harpist for this concert. So, you know, there are musician expenses.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

You don't just have free harpists laying around. Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

I wish I did. Boy, that'd be really great.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

It would be nice. Now, are the rest of the musicians is there a pay involved?

SPEAKER_01 4:38

There is not a pay involved, and that is intentional. Right. And that's intentional. Okay. Uh we wanted to create a space where people could come together to just share music together. Um, and so in in turn, the concerts are free. So we want to make music accessible for the Manhattan community, both as musicians, but also as audience members. And uh that's something that we continue to talk about as a board, but we feel very strongly that we want that music experience to be open and available for everyone.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Okay. Well, there's and you got 75 some musicians. You had mentioned the word series.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Yes.

March Concert Details And Instruments<br>

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Concert series. That means more than one. Yes, sir. Okay. I see that you have an event coming up later this month. Next week. Or this weekend.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Yes, this weekend.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

29th, that's Sunday. That is, it is. Is that right? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Yes, two o'clock. Two o'clock at the McCain Auditorium. Oh. Um, and when I say series, we actually got to partner with McCain earlier this year. The Manhattan Symphony Orchestra accompanied Celtic Woman. Really? So we were on the stage with Celtic Woman and uh in kind of a quid pro quo, now uh we're working with McCain McCain and and they're supporting our performance in March, which is really exciting.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Well, it also says a lot about you know how things are managed up there, that they see the value of having that local connection. Absolutely. So tell let let let's focus on this particular concert that you have coming up Sunday afternoon.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Well, I've shared quite a bit about it. So that we are featuring Dr. Amy Guffey, and we're featuring pieces by Howard Hansen and Leonard Bernstein and Paul Reed. And um it's a big French horn feature. We have seven French horns.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

I've never heard of a French horn feature.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

I know, but this is this is a French horn feature concert. So they came loaded for bear last night at rehearsal. They were so excited, uh, and they sounded great.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

So how many different instruments are involved? You you you have 75 performers, players. How many different instruments do you have?

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Do you want me to list them? Sure.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Okay, we got seven minutes. Good.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Okay. Violin one, violin two, viola, cello, bass, harp, piano, percussion, which has a lot of different um instruments, including timpani, um, xylophone, glockenspiel, um cymbals, bass drums, snare drums. Oh, yeah. Just little bells.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

You gotta love a good Glockenspiel.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Okay, I'm moving on.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Then there's oboe.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

You see how I roll.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

I do. Obo, English horn, flute, piccolo, clarinet, bass clarinet, uh, E flat clarinet, uh bassoon, contra bassoon, seven French horns, three trumpets, three trombones, and a tuba.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

No partridge and a pear tree.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Not this time.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

We're working on it for next time.

Future Performances And Venues<br>

SPEAKER_00 7:39

What else do you have planned for the year?

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Yeah, so we are actually working with uh Wamigo community to perform in their community in June. And then on September 11, we are working with uh downtown Manhattan to perform a kind of commemorative um performance. Uh it's the 25th anniversary. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

Isn't that hard to believe?

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Uh it is. Um, yeah. But we we are looking forward to honoring that day and sharing some music that um hopefully will help people remember and and also not forget.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Yeah, yeah. Where will that show be? That's a great question. You haven't figured that out. I I do this for a living. I interview people, and so sometimes, you know, things just kind of come up and I am curious.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

One of the things that we're discovering is um as an ensemble, since we're new, we're trying out all sorts of different venues, like what works well for us, what doesn't work well for us. Um when we performed uh in partnership with downtown Manhattan last fall, we were on the Blue Earth Plaza. That was fantastic. We had probably I couldn't, I want to guess 600 to 700 people at that concert. That whole lawn was filled.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Well, you had so much there at the courthouse, you know, and that was a couple years ago. Right. I mean, it was just like it was hard to find a a good viewing area because there were so many people, and and I can imagine that Blue Earth would just be a magnificent place.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

It was a really great venue. So I'm I'm hoping that will work again, but we'll see.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Um one of the things that, like I've said earlier, the musicians are very flexible, so we're we're willing to try and play anywhere. Ready to roll at least once.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

Gotta like that.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Yeah.

Orchestra Needs Sponsorship And Donations<br>

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Let's uh talk a little bit about something else. Okay. What are your needs?

SPEAKER_01 9:31

What are our needs?

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Yeah, because you know, you you have expenses, you have things that you want to do, you're a new entity, you're growing, you have aspirations to do more, to do more shows. Sure. So what are your needs?

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Well, first we need a harpist, full-time harpist.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Unpaid.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

Unpaid. That's number one. No. Um, we are always looking for new musicians who'd like to join our ranks and become a part of the ensemble, and they can learn how to do that by looking at our website, which is mhksymphony.org. Um, we are also looking for community members who'd like to partner in ways, whether it's financial or through other community partnerships. Um, we love to kind of uplift different community partners. Um, so if they would like to sponsor a concert or if they would like to table at a concert, they'd like to share information. So when we performed at Blue Earth Plaza, we actually partnered with the zoo, uh, Sunset Zoo, and they gave us information, really cool information about their animals. Uh, we were playing the Carnival of the Animals. And so we wanted, we wanted to have some information. So, partnerships with the community we're really interested in in looking at. And of course, financial support is always welcome. Um, as we expand and dream about bigger performances and and ideas, having a financial stability in order to think big is exciting.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

So is there a mechanism to donate on your website?

SPEAKER_01 11:04

There is a mechanism to donate on our website. They people can also, of course, donate through the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation, okay. Where we have a spot as well.

Biggest Hope And Sustainable Growth<br>

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Awesome. What's your biggest hope?

SPEAKER_01 11:15

My biggest hope?

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

World peace.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Okay. Let's talk. That's uh Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

I don't know how that's working for anybody right now. But uh let's talk about your biggest hope for the Manhattan Symphony Orchestra. Okay. I'll we'll we'll just leave it. We'll dial it down. Yeah. Okay. But I appreciate your input.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Absolutely. Absolutely. Uh biggest hope. I would like to create an ensemble that enjoys music together, has a vision that it goes far into the future, um, is active within its community and supportive of its community, and um just and continues to enjoy growing and learning together.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

That's my hope.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Okay. Well, do you have a goal in mind of how many shows you'd like to be doing a year?

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Oh, that's a that's a sticky question. Because we have some.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Because you don't have a free harvest.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

No, right? I mean, these are these are things. You know, you'll have some people who when you when you're working with professional musicians and amateur musicians, doctors, lawyers, dentists, students, there's a balance and we're still trying to find it. Like how many concerts feel good? Like we're having a wonderful musical experience and it's not overwhelming. Right. So that's also something we're feeling out. When we started the orchestra, my goal was one concert a season. We are now three concerts a season with a couple of different runouts.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

So define season.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Season um from July 1 to July 1. So that's our fiscal year. So, you know, next season we're looking at um performing with uh downtown Manhattan. We're also looking at a chamber music series, we're looking at a run out to Meadowlark, we're looking at a classics concert. Um, so there and and there are a couple of local partners who have asked us to potentially consider performing in their spaces. So there are lots of things that we're kind of toying with.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Are there any little spinoff groups, uh people that I mean smaller, you know, groups, quartets, quintets, whatever that uh have transitioned out of the Manhattan Symphony?

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Yeah, actually um last fall and I believe the fall before, we partnered with downtown Manhattan and during their kind of holiday open house, we had small ensembles performing in businesses throughout downtown. So we had a brass quintet and a woodwind trio and a string quartet, and we had different ensembles all over downtown, which was really fun.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

You do some stuff during the holidays?

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Um, we have uh it just we're still learning. Still burn still building. Still building, still building.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Flying the plane while you build it.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

Absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Well, how can people help most? Just go to the website and give, learn.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Check us out, learn more, join us uh in any ways you you think appeal to you.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Talk to Rachel Dirks. This has been delightful.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Well, it's very nice to be here.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

You saw me and Rick in here, so you did. It was a little scary. Was it?

unknown 14:20

No.

SPEAKER_00 14:21

Yeah, I I I I think maybe I just need to have a little hanger over here for some kid gloves so that when people walk in, you know, they you know, it doesn't seem quite so.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

It's delightful. It's good to see two friends having a good time together.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

Yeah. Hey, great to have you in. Thanks for coming in and joining us, and uh, we're delighted to be helpful uh in the way we need to from the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation for the Manhattan Symphony Orchestra.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Thank you so much, and we hope to see everybody this Sunday at two o'clock at McCain.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

All right, sounds good. Dr. Rachel Dirks is her name coming up next. Jaina is ready. I learned something about Jaina yesterday. Yes, I did. So we'll talk about that and some other things that are happening on the calendar and give you a preview of next week's show here on the GMCF Community Hour on News Radio, K M A N.