As I entered the Embassy Suites, I was expecting to hear a whole lot of “spooky” music in honor of Halloween. Instead, I was greeted with the wonderful, classical sounds of the Pasadena Symphony String Quartet.
As we ate, it felt like we were in the grand ballroom of some fancy hotel, listening to the amazing sounds of these talented musicians. We had no idea that the show had barely begun! Our special honored guest was David Lockington, the new Music Director for the Pasadena Symphony who is also an accomplished cellist, composer, poet and conductor.
David took us through a history of music as he narrated his cello performances of Bach, Bernstein, Gershwin and even an original piece he composed while studying the cello at Yale. David’s vivid descriptions of different types of arrangements such as saying Gershwin “Combined jazz with classical music in a very gritty way, developing the American wide-open sound” gave us all an insight as to how the great minds work.
One Rotarian asked David what types of music he likes to listen to when he’s not rehearsing or conducting and he said, “silence.” That got a huge laugh from the audience. But David went on to explain that it’s hard to just listen to music and focus on anything else at the same time, like eat in a restaurant if there is music playing.
Some Rotarians said they enjoyed the Pasadena Pops concerts at the Arboretum . According to the Pasadena Symphony their “Summer Home” at the Arboretum serves more than 15,000 concert goers over the Summer. A special shout out was given to Rotarian Pat Dolphin for making the Pasadena Pops possible through his rental company supplying all the tables and chairs. Yeah Pat!
David said he has been to Rotary clubs all over the country and he said we are the liveliest bunch he has seen. He also loved our singing, which was led by Tom Crosby acapella. If you would like more information about tickets to the Pasadena Symphony visit: PasadenaSymphony-Pops.org.