L U N A T A L K with Eva Moon

Practice, my son…

June 12, 2009 on 9:15 am | | In General Musing, Music

Performing artist, Penny Orloff has been my teacher, mentor and friend for nearly a decade. It’s been a while since I’ve seen her, but she was in town yesterday and it led to the closure of a curious circle of events nearly two decades in the making.

Penny is the co-founder, with orchestra director Charles Long, of the Chaspen Foundation for the Performing Arts. Seventeen years ago Chaspen came to the Redmond Arts Commission seeking support to start an orchestral strings program in the local high school. The program started with a mere handful of students, but rapidly grew district-wide.

Fast forward. I am now serving on the Arts Commission and I invited Penny to come with me to last night’s meeting - for old time’s sake. The circle came around when she was there to witness our youth advocate commission member, Christine Ito relate a recent success: She and the entire Redmond High School orchestra, grown from seeds planted the year Christine was born, had just returned from New York, where they had been invited to play at Carnegie Hall.

What are the chances?

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