For most of the orchestra’s members, music is a hobby. The time spent preparing for a concert is time away from school work: a time to interact socially, emotionally, and intellectually with other musicians and to get away from academic pressures. Nonetheless, the college recognizes that the time committed to the orchestra enhances the educational experience of each participant, and that developing the skill required to perform in an orchestra is a valuable part of a well-rounded education.
For these and other reasons,
We meet on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, from
The orchestra collaborates regularly with the Pomona College Choir, usually for one piece each season. The 2006-07 season concluded with Carl Orff’s massive, well known cantata, Carmina Burana. The upcoming season will feature Mozart’s delightful and incisive “Coronation” mass and Poulenc’s colorful, atmospheric Gloria, both on the April 2008 program.
Generally one faculty soloist is also featured each year. In October 2006, viola instructor Cynthia Fogg and her husband, cellist and composer Tom Flaherty, appeared as soloists in Prof. Flaherty’s provocative tone poem, In the Midst of Darkness, Light Persists. This October, oboe instructor Francisco Castillo will join the orchestra for the lighthearted and pastoral oboe concerto by Bohuslav Martinů.
Of course, the orchestra plays plenty of music on its own, without the assistance of soloists or other ensembles. See for yourself what the PCO has tackled in previous seasons or the complete offerings for the 2007-08 concert year.