Tonight we played our own Requiem

The recent decision by Linfield College to disband the Linfield Chamber Orchestra after the 2012-2013 season has left me reeling. This organization has been a part of my life and the life of my community since I was four years old. My first memories of concert-going as well as my first experiences as a professional orchestra musician will forever belong to the LCO.

For the past twenty-one years, the LCO has been composed of talented and dedicated musicians from McMinnville, Portland, Salem, Vancouver, Bend, and many other communities near and far. On the evening of May 4th, we gathered at the First Baptist Church in McMinnville to perform the last full orchestra concert that the LCO will ever present. Featuring Mendelssohn's Reformation Symphony and Mozart's Requiem, with the wonderfully vibrant Linfield Concert Choir, it was a concert that will reverberate through our community for a very long time. Next year's season, according to the College, will see a reduced orchestra and only two concerts. After that, there will be no more inspiring orchestra concerts, no more informative and engaging pre-concert lectures from our dear Maestro, and no more yearly Children's Concerts for Yamhill County's eager and enthusiastic fourth graders.

The end of the LCO has brought home to me the pressing need for a community to advocate for itself when it comes to the arts. I don't really know how to do that yet, but what I do know how to do is play music, write music, teach music, listen to music, love music, write about music, and show others why they should care about music.

I hope to use this blog for exactly those things. I want everyone in our community to know about the rich musical life that we are so lucky to enjoy here in McMinnville, and I want us to be vocal about our support for our musicians and artists. I'm sure that I myself haven't even scratched the surface of the musical offerings that are present in our community, but I hope to explore those areas that I'm not familiar with and share them with others.

Visit Musically Mac for notifications about all types of performances in McMinnville and the surrounding area, reflections from me and others on our musical community, information about what you can do to support and promote our local musicians and artists, and musical media offerings including recordings and videos of McMinnville's finest.

Music is vital to a connected, caring, and dynamic community. We would be a far poorer people without The Twilighters, Gallery Players, or Second Winds, to name just a few.

We will surely be a poorer people without our Linfield Chamber Orchestra.

Sincerely,

Amelia