Next Event
Live Auction!
If you ever wanted to experience what it is like to conduct an orchestra, come see Bill Rudiak, our Season 26 “Conductor for a Day” winner, and bid on a chance to be this year’s winner.
For details on all the live auction items offered at the event visit the LIVE AUCTION page!
Tickets
Recommended Ticket Prices:
$15 adult · $10 seniors · $5 under 18 · $5 students
One of our long-serving members has just been diagnosed with breast cancer, so we have decided to donate 100% of ticket sales to the Oakland-based Women’s Cancer Resource Center.
Tickets to individual concerts may be purchased online at Brown Paper Tickets, through the ticket hotline listed below, or at the door (cash or check only) the day of the concert. See our NEXT EVENT page for full details!
24/7 Ticket Hotline: 1-800-838-3006 (USA)
Venue & Parking
Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, Oakland, 1330 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland, CA 94606
Limited parking is available in a small lot at the back of the church (South side, accessed from Lake Merritt Blvd) as well as in a small parking garage under the front church (North side, accessed from Lakeshore Ave). Street parking is available in the surrounding neighborhood and around the lake. Please note that due to recent construction Lakeshore Ave now dead-ends just past the church (as shown on map above).
Press Release
WOMEN’S ORCHESTRA CELEBRATES PEGGY GLANVILLE-HICKS’ CENTENARY; DONATES BOX OFFICE TO BREAST CANCER
OAKLAND, CA, May 8, 2012 – The Community Women’s Orchestra (CWO), now in its 27th season, presents its annual Spring Concert on Sunday, May 20, 5 PM, at Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, Oakland. In addition to performing standards of the orchestral repertoire, CWO features music by female composers on each of its programs as part of an ongoing Women Composers Series. The Spring Concert includes SINFONIA DA PACIFICA by Australian-American composer Peggy Glanville-Hicks (1912-1990), honoring her centenary.
CWO’s conductor Kathleen McGuire is also an Australian-American, having obtained her US citizenship this season. Dr. McGuire said: “I met Peggy Glanville-Hicks in Australia in the mid-1980s. I’m excited to be resurrecting this magnificent work as we celebrate her remarkable contributions to music.” The Sinfonia was written in 1952-1953 while the composer was traveling in the Pacific region. CWO will premiere McGuire’s new edition of the work.
Also notable is the 200th anniversary of BEETHOVEN’S SYMPHONY NO. 7, composed in 1812. Bill Rudiak – who will become the first man ever to conduct CWO in concert – will direct the Second Movement, which was encored by public demand at its premiere in Vienna. “I’ve always wanted to conduct an orchestra and it’s a great experience to be working with such a fine group of dedicated players,” said Mr. Rudiak. “Beethoven’s Seventh is one of the lions of the symphonic repertoire and the composer himself regarded it as ‘one of his best works’.” Rudiak won CWO’s annual “Conductor-For-A-Day” auction, which will be held again at the Spring Concert.
The orchestra is excited to welcome back violist Whitney Smith, performing the solo in Max Bruch’s ROMANZE. Smith, a former member of CWO, performs professionally and is completing her master of music degree at San Francisco State University. Ms. Smith said: “I am so pleased to have the opportunity to perform with the Community Women’s Orchestra, a group of women who have been both instrumental and inspiring to my musical career.” The CWO performance commemorates the piece’s 100th anniversary.
The concert will open with orchestral repertoire warhorse: Wagner’s RIENZI OVERTURE, just two days shy of the composer’s May 22 birthday.
Founded in 1985 by conductor Nan Washburn, the Community Women’s Orchestra includes female musicians who enjoy a fun, welcoming, and non-competitive music-making environment, promoting the music of women orchestral composers.
Recently, another CWO member was diagnosed with breast cancer. The orchestra will contribute 100% of ticket sales to the Oakland-based Women’s Cancer Resource Center. All survivors and their supporters are welcome to join us in sharing the healing power of music and community. For more information, please visit: http://www.communitywomensorchestra.org.
27th S E A S O N C O M M U N I T Y P A R T N E R S
