MUS I C
BY B RET T CA M P B EL L
ORCHESTRA NEXT
TUNE IN TOMORROW
Orchestra Next and Eugene Ballet bring live music back to dance
O
ne day last winter, UO music professor Brian
McWhorter chanced to encounter Eugene Ballet
Executive Director Riley Grannan at a local cafe.
The company had recently performed
McWhorter’s original score, Tyranny of the
Senses, he had just played trumpet with Portland’s
Oregon Ballet Theater and next year, his young children
would be old enough to attend their first performance of
Tchaikovsky’s Christmas perennial, The Nutcracker. Maybe
they could see dad play in the Eugene Ballet orchestra. Alas,
Grannan informed McWhorter, the company hadn’t been
able to afford to use live musicians for the show since 2008.
McWhorter was appalled. To him, and to many
choreographers and dancers, the energy of live music, even
with the unpredictability of human performers, invigorates
dance in a way no recording ever can. But caught in a
chronic funding crunch, many dance companies have
substituted pre-recorded music for paid live musicians to cut
costs.
“How about if I get an orchestra together for you?”
McWhorter offered, rashly. He’d conduct it himself if he had
to. Grannan agreed. McWhorter, a jazzman from way back,
quickly realized how impetuous his improvisation had been.
“I didn’t have an orchestra, I didn’t have money to pay an
orchestra and I’d never conducted an orchestra before,” he
recalls. Yet he knew he had to try.
In fact, he’d been thinking about the need for a particular
kind of orchestra for a while. A one-time whiz kid on the
New York avant garde music scene after graduating from the
UO in 1998, McWhorter had returned to his alma mater a
few years ago to take a faculty position. As an educator, he
knew that budding musicians needed mentored live
performance opportunities. He’d seen the value of such a
training orchestra in conductor Benjamin Zander’s Boston
Philharmonic, which complemented the eminent professional
Boston Symphony. But neither the ballet nor the Eugene
Symphony would lead such an effort here.
So despite his busy academic and professional careers
(primarily with his ensemble Beta Collide), McWhorter
decided to create Orchestra Next.
Using his abundant musical connections, Facebook and
other social media, McWhorter reached out to schools,
private teachers and other youth orchestras and institutions.
In a few weeks, more than 60 applicants (as young as 16 and
as old as 65, some from as far away as New York City)
auditioned via videos submitted through YouTube attesting
to the desperate need for learning and performing
opportunities for emerging musicians. He chose 30 students
and 15 professionals (many from the UO) who’d be their
mentors.
Rather than charging tuition, McWhorter decided instead
to pay the students a $250 stipend; the pros get union scale.
To play four ballet performances and three rehearsals would
cost $20,000. McWhorter decided to crowdsource the
funding using the donation site IndieGoGo. So far, with
money pledged there and from other supporters, including
Eugene Ballet’s dancers, he’s raised $13,000. Although he’s
far from wealthy, McWhorter (who’s spearheaded musical
fundraisers for good causes from Katrina relief to climate
change awareness) will probably wind up financing much of
the rest it himself. And he won’t pay himself a dime.
But he knows it’ll be worth it. If Orchestra Next succeeds,
this weekend’s The Nutcracker performances will be only
the beginning of a permanent regional training orchestra.
Groups like the ballet that are forced to rely on canned sound
— and most important, their audiences — could regain the
thrill of live performances. And McWhorter himself has
already benefited.
“I’ve learned so much,” he explains. “The politics and
practical stuff about fundraising and publicity aside,
musically I feel like I’ve grown a lot these last few months
just working on this score. It’s been surprisingly challenging.”
But he has extra motivation. “My 2-year-old wakes up every
morning and wants to put on her ballerina costume,” he says.
“She wants me to get my baton out and practice.” ■
Eugene Ballet and Orchestra Next perform The Nutcracker 7:30 pm Dec. 21 and 22,
and 2 pm Dec. 22 and 23, at the Hult Center; $15-$48.
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December 20, 2012 • eugeneweekly.com