A fitting end to the Downey Symphony's 2018-19 season

Bill Hare and Janet Hare Molinaro. Photo by Lorine Parks

“Here we go,” said Carolyn Osborn, and the Downey Symphony Quintet swung into action, playing the high-energy Cancan from Jacques Offenbach’s Operetta, Orpheus in the Underworld. The audience? Kids at Unsworth School, sitting on the floor and having the time of their life.

The Guild, the fund-raising auxiliary of the Downey Symphonic Society, was celebrating 35 years of Music in the Schools, by watching an entertaining short film of the famed quintet, five Downey Symphony Orchestra members who go every year to each of the 13 elementary K-5 schools, and the four middle schools, to show Downey school children what symphony music is all about.

After the Cancan, the quintet played Camille Sans-Saens’s remarkably eerie tone poem for orchestra, Danse Macabre. The xylophone helped tickle those bones, and the boys and girls learned about tempo and syncopation.

The occasion? The festive gala that the guild puts on, and this year they were showing us where the money they raise goes. The school visits of the quintet alone costs just under $24,000 every year, and the Music in the Schools outreach program, devised on the initiative of Dr. Thomas Osborn, does not stop there.

There are also two classical music morning concerts in the Downey Theatre, with the full orchestra, one in the fall for third graders and one in the spring for fifth graders These are put on with the cooperation of the Downey Unified School District and one is underwritten by the Kiwanis Foundation. The remaining funds come from grants, donations and profits from parties like this.

Hop Morrison, Barbara Beard and Larry Lewis. Photo by Lorine Parks

The guild’s contribution for this year, presented at the April concert, was a check for breath-taking $15,000.

“Every penny of it hard earned, and with love,” said Katie Hare, chair of the evening for the guild.

Guests met at the Los Amigos Golf Club and bustled excitedly around the silent auction baskets on display. Checking attendance at the door was Janet Molinaro, daughter of Bill and Katie Hare.

SEEN ENTERING: Herb and Mary Stevens, Symphonic Society board member who double at the program table on concert nights. Symphony patron Bernice Mancebo Stumps, who won the auction for the baton, wielded earlier this month by tenth-grader Aaron Saldana at the “Gershwin!” concert, was seated with Barbara Beard, Mary Golay, and Mary’s neighbor, Marie Bernal.

Marie is active in the Downey Lions Club, originally all males but right now the Downey club is all female.

“Where there’s a child in need, there’s a Lion,” said Marie. Marie’s daughter is the rental director for the Women’s Club of Downey. “That’s how they make their money, renting that lovely hall, plus bingo on Tuesday nights.”

Glad to see Hop and Karol Mrorrison. She’s on the board of the Symphonic Society too.

Symphonic Society Board Secretary Ruth Hillecke came with Nan Ramage, who is still raving about the evening at Segerstrom Hall she won at last year’s Garden Party.

Katie Hare and Lea Fratello. Photo by Lorine Parks

Also noted, checking out the auction baskets: Elizabeth Wilson and JoAnne Gronley. Prize items ranged from dinner at The Olive Restobar to a Trader Joe’s goodie basket and tickets to the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific.

Joyce Sherwin wore a leaf green silk jacket, in honor of Arbor Day, the theme for the evening, suggested by guild member Mark Keller. Mark and Joyce serve on the Symphonic Society board too. Lea Fratello was hobnobbing with friends, and deciding what items to bid on, splendid in her royal blue velvet jacket.

“We’ll be having some special events in the fall,” said Marge Lewis, membership chair. “We’d love new associates.”

Pat Gil announced the fall Garden Party will be Sunday Sept. 22, and the theme will be, “A Moroccan Fantasy.”

Don Marshall, president of the Symphonic Society, gave a preview of the 2019-20 concert program: Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony to open the season in October, and “Happy Birthday Ludwig” for Beethoven’s 250th birthday in January. April will bring surprises – contemporary American composers.

But first, there’s a pops concert in the park on Wednesday, June 26. Bring a blanket and a picnic and buy a dessert from the Rose Float Association. That’s how the service groups in Downey help each other.

And a big thanks to the guild for capping the 2018-19 symphony season with their gala spotlighting their support for the Symphonic Society’s gift to the city of Downey, the Music in the Schools program.