As the lights dimmed in the auditorium the evening of Oct. 21, the sound of violins being tuned in unison filled the room with an elegant hum.
The audience grew silent and all eyes turned to the conductor who stood as still as a statue for a moment under the spotlight. Then, in a sudden movement he lifted his arm and waved his baton briskly over the orchestra.
The show began strong with “The Marriage of Figaro”, a famous piece by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart that is known for having a fast-paced and boisterous melody.
The theme of this year’s fall orchestra concert was classical. The musicians covered well-known pieces by Ludwig Van Beethoven and Antonio Vivaldi.
This year however, the orchestra decided to diversify their symphony by also playing songs made by women and non-white composers.
“Classical music has been dominated by white men for centuries,” said Roger Przytulski, who was the event’s conductor and is also a music professor at Long Beach City College.
“Today we are still unearthing classical pieces made by women and people of color because they have been ignored for so long and tonight we just wanted to showcase some of those artists’ work,” Przytulski continued.
One of the classical pieces featured in the concert was from Alice Mary Smith, a composer of the 19th century and the first known woman in Britain to have composed a symphony. The audience got the chance to experience the wonderful melodies of her song “Andante” that evening.
During the concert’s intermission, it was decided that “Amaparito Roca,” by Spanish composer Jaime Texidor would be played. Texidor was a military musician in the early 20th century known for composing an eclectic range of music, from military marches to waltzes to sambas and tangos.
“This college is all about being inclusive, there is so much diversity in our own orchestra group it would be crazy to only recognize music from white composers at this point,” said Alex Gonzalez, a trumpet player for the college’s orchestra.
The orchestra mentioned that in the future they would like to cover pieces by Michael Abels, a mixed race composer best known for his musical work in the Jordan Peele fims “Get Out” and “Us.”
However, Przytulski said that it is much more expensive to cover the work of composers who are still alive, so he would still have to figure out the budget for a project like that.
The school’s orchestra is set to have one more concert this semester on Dec. 16. Since that concert will be Christmas themed they will be sticking to classic songs but the orchestra looks forward to exploring more music from diverse composers in the upcoming semesters.