Seattle Youth Symphony members, alums gather for 60th anniversary

In the past 60 years, the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras have given some 20,000 local young people their first taste of a musical life. Some have gone on to perform in the world's great concert halls. Others pursued outside careers but still play occasionally. And some, like trumpeter Eugene Kidder, returned to music after leaving it behind for decades.

Kidder recalls his first rehearsal in September 1942, inside what is now the Harvard Exit movie theater. Under the baton of Hungarian violinist and conductor Francis Aranyi (who led the orchestra 1942-59), he and 46 other young musicians formed an instantaneous bond. "I remember a lot of excitement, and a lot of camaraderie," he says.

Now practicing psychotherapy in his 70s after a career in the ministry, Kidder recently dusted off his trumpet to play with the Seattle Symphonic Band. He admits, "It's a recovery of a part of my passion that went dormant as I was doing other things."

The Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras celebrate six decades of passionate musicianship this weekend with exhibits, panels, concerts and a gala performance Saturday night. Music director emeritus Vilem Sokol and current music director Huw Edwards will conduct a combination of current Youth Symphony players and over 150 alumni from across the country. (Full disclosure: My viola and I played with the symphony in 1984-86 and will be joining in.)

Opening refrain

Today, SYSO is a five-tiered organization, comprising the Youth Symphony and four training orchestras. But it started much smaller, in 1942, as the Seattle Music and Art Foundation's mission to provide fresh talent to orchestras depleted by World War II.

At that time, "There was such a close feeling in the orchestra that it was more like a family," recalls violist and assistant conductor Thomas Rodrique (1944-59).

In many cases, symphony members became family. Rodrique met his future wife, Evelyn Nerud, when she joined the viola section in 1947. (He went on to teach music in the Shoreline School District — for which he was inducted into the Music Educators Hall of Fame — and she played viola in the Seattle Symphony for 34 years.)

SYSO reached its full flowering under the baton of Sokol, who assumed the podium in 1960. He took two years to rebuild the group before performing a single concert. Many alumni from this period also attest to the familial attachment both Sokol and his orchestra inspired.

"(Sokol) is a father figure in the best sense of the word," says internationally acclaimed harpist Heidi Lehwalder, who played with the orchestra from 1960-68. "Nobody wanted to let him down. He just inspired tremendous respect and affection."

At nearly 88 years old, and with seven daughters planning to participate in Saturday's concert (nine of his 10 children are Youth Symphony alums), Sokol looks forward to what will likely be his final turn with the SYSO. "I owe a great debt to everyone I've conducted over the years," he said in a recent phone conversation. "I've always thought of the players in the orchestra as being my children, my musical children."

A family that plays together

Of the thousands of young people Sokol directed over the years, the four Dziekonski brothers and sisters were among the most memorable. Starting with Elizabeth in 1968, and followed by Tom (1969-76), Christa (1973-76) and Greg (1979-87), the siblings spanned almost 20 years in the Youth Symphony's history. And though the Dziekonskis might have been a little more talented (and idiosyncratic) than most families, in many ways they're typical of the SYSO family as a whole.

The siblings started out playing piano and violin at their mother's urging, but their first claim to fame came at the 1962 World's Fair, when they regularly performed Polish folk songs in four-part harmony, in costume, on the steps of the United Nations Pavilion.

Elizabeth, who went to Juilliard after being SYSO concertmaster, now plays with the St. Louis Symphony. Her husband, Gerald McManama, played French horn in the SYSO and is a vascular surgeon.

Tom, also a former SYSO concertmaster and one-time electrical engineer, now plays professionally for TV, musicals, quartets and even video-game soundtracks. He married then-SYSO principal cellist Virginia Luke, with whom he performs in the Metropolitan String Quartet.

Something of a prankster, Tom remembers the time at a rehearsal when Sokol told a story about a violinist who looked like he was playing brilliantly with an orchestra until it was discovered that he played with a soaped bow — which makes no sound. "So I tried it with a junk bow," Tom says, "with excellent results, until Mr. Sokol asked all the violins to play a passage individually."

Qwest software engineer Christa Dziekonski Gordon plays only occasionally with family but says she still "gets goose bumps" whenever she hears a piece she played with the SYSO.

Greg, the youngest, does paralegal work for the government and plays frequent gigs. He remembers the practical joking, but also understands the more profound value of participating in the Youth Symphony even if you don't go pro.

"(SYSO) gives people who don't go into music the chance to play in a decent orchestra," he says. "Those people create audiences for arts organizations, and they're the people who keep the professionals in business."

A new variation

After Sokol's retirement in 1988, the symphony — led by conductors Ruben Gurevich (1988-93) and Jonathan Shames (1994-2001) — continued to influence many young lives.

Amy Swanson (1993-96) considered becoming a professional flute and piccolo player, but has since become a copy editor for The Olympian newspaper. "A SYSO horn player, back when I was in college, was the arts editor of the (University of Washington) Daily and told me I should come write for him," she says. "That is how I got into journalism. SYSO has kind of gotten its tentacles into all the places of my life."

Swanson is a second-generation SYSO alumna. Her parents, Northwest Chamber Orchestra violist Eileen (1967-70) and SYSO recording engineer and former trombonist Al (1965-68), met in the orchestra. Her younger brother, Stephen (1994-96) is pursuing string bass.

Now near the end of his first season as its new music director, Huw Edwards praises the Seattle Youth Symphony for its positive effect on people's lives. "The sense of teamwork and discipline and responsibility they knew they had to have as a (SYSO) member stood them in good stead," he asserts. "I think this whole sense of unity and a team spirit is one of the few things left that young people can share. And I think that's very, very important."

Tom Dziekonski concurs. "It's more than just playing in an orchestra," he says. "It doesn't hit you until 20 years later what you actually picked up doing all this stuff — the experience and skills."