“It’s a great group,” said music director Gerald Lanoue.
It’s a sentiment echoed by many of the players in this 63-piece community orchestra, whose members include a host of teachers, chemists, engineers, civil servants, retired musicians – and even a disc jockey or two.
It all began in 1974 when Myra King, a teacher in the Ballston Spa School District, placed an ad in the local paper to start a class to train adults for musicians who would form an orchestra.
“We all met at the Ballston Spa Public Library,” Kathleen McNerney said. “Eighteen of us showed up.”
It was a diverse group of ages and instruments — “a little bit of everything,” McNerney said — but enough to put together a piece. McNerney, a homemaker who took some piano lessons as a child, turned her skills to percussion, which she still plays.
“We had to hire the music, the stands, everything, and we rehearsed at the Ballston Spa School,” she recalls. “We did two or three gigs here and there and the word spread and more ads were released. We didn’t have auditions. We were hospitable. We had a conductor who somehow managed. Our name was the Ballston Community Orchestra.
Over the next few decades, the group expanded and conductors came and went. The band’s name was changed in 1983 to the Music Company Orchestra. As well as playing in schools, nursing homes, assisted living centers or for non-profits, some of these early shows were fundraisers for the Proctors as they tried to rebuild the theatre; at Cohoes Music Hall; and even at Saratoga Racetrack until officials told them to stop playing because they were disturbing the horses, McNerney recalled with a laugh.
Over time, the group began to stabilize as a number and began to gain a sense of musical community.
“In the early days, if you missed that weekly rehearsal on Monday, it wasn’t a big deal,” McNerney said. “But now you feel like you’re letting the group down if you miss out.”
The group also developed a more secure financial footing, allowing it to own its scores and instrumental parts instead of borrowing, and purchase necessary equipment such as a transport van and its own percussion instruments such as timpani, bells and xylophone. They don’t have a harp or a piano yet, but they do have a keyboard.
By then, as many as 11 conductors had come and gone. That all changed in 2011, when Lanoue, who was filling in as bassoonist at one of the rehearsals, learned that the band was looking for a conductor. With multiple degrees in music, including conducting training and an active performing and teaching career, he decided to apply.
“I applied on paper, then I did an interview and then I had a rehearsal like an audition,” he said. “And they chose me.”
In 2012, Lanoue became the band’s musical director and has loved it ever since, especially since his day job for the past 10 years has been working as a process engineer for a company in Bennington, Vermont, where he lives.
“Music informs my work and my work informs my music,” he said with a laugh. “That’s my problem-solving skills—breaking down components. Both lives have interesting intersections.”
The most special thing for him as a conductor is when during a rehearsal or a performance there is some kind of communion between him and the musicians.
“When that connection happens, it’s magic to me,” he said.
An orchestral guide has also been created, but it is run by the orchestra, which Lanou says is unique. However, he makes decisions about the program of each of the four annual concerts, although he is always open to suggestions from the players. What has changed, however, is that positions in the orchestra, which currently includes viola, cello, bass and French horn, require the applicant to submit a video or tape of their playing to mcomusic.org. In the past, interested musicians were only invited to come to a rehearsal and see how they liked the band, and later their colleagues decided whether the candidate would be a good fit.
Now, for some musicians who want to join, it can be a long wait. Ralph Hayes, who plays oboe and saxophone, had to wait 19 years.
“I had heard about MCO when I moved to the area in 2000,” he said. “I emailed them, but they had no vacancies. Then in 2019 an opening happened and I joined. It was 100% worth the wait. I love playing with this ensemble. My day may be long, but I can’t wait for Monday at 7pm.”
Hayes is currently a substitute teacher in the Shenendehowa School District, but also composes. One of his works, Reunion of the Elements, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2023. The work has been recorded and is available on Spotify and Amazon. His latest work, A Young Man’s Guide to the Bolero, will premiere at the cabaret on April 14.
The inclusion of Hays’ work is part of what Lanoue is doing to expand the orchestra’s repertoire. Over the years, the group has usually focused on performing light classical pieces or pop pieces. But the feedback now is that musicians want more serious classical works, such as Brahms and Beethoven, not just an entire Broadway or themed concert on cartoon scores, for example.
“My goal is to do more challenging pieces, but balance that with the pop pieces,” Lanu said.
That’s why the cabaret program will include older works as a tribute to the MCO’s 50 years and more current pieces to look ahead. These include the theme from the James Bond films; part of Prokofiev’s Love of Three Oranges, which was on the first MCO program; “My Fair Lady,” performed in Lanou’s first cabaret; Grieg’s “Hall of the Mountain King” as a pop work; the first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 that people will recognize; “Berceuse and Finale” from Stravinsky’s “The Firebird”; Barber’s famous “Adagio”; and the Hays premiere, which Lanoue said was “gorgeous” and featured snippets of the Star Trek and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice themes.
Some of Lanoue’s goals are to grow his audience and play in more concert venues such as the Zankel Music Center at Skidmore College. For now, however, the summer season is set. Schedule is 2 p.m. June 9 at Cohoes’ Van Schaick Manor; 2 p.m. June 15 at Clifton Park Public Library; and 7:00 p.m. on June 23 at Scotia Freedom Park.
For the cabaret, reservations must be made by April 7. Dinner selections and online reservation forms are available at mcomusic.org. Concert-goers only can purchase tickets at the door.
Music Company Orchestra: “Cabaret of Remembrance and Renewal”
WHEN: Sunday, April 14; 17:30 dinner; Concert from 7 p.m
WHERE: Holiday Inn, 232 Broadway, Saratoga Springs
HOW MUCH: $75 (dinner/concert); Concert for only $35
MORE INFO: mcomusic.org; email [email protected]; call 814 441-0852
