Camerata featuring West Philadelphia Orchestra

WPO will more an orchestra than ever when we collaborate with Steve Framil's Camerata Chamber Orchestra on Sunday, January 11th, at 3 pm at West Catholic High School's auditorium (45th and Chestnut St. in W. Philly). This concert features Camerata performing works of Tchaikovsky, and then WPO will join them to perform 5 original tunes in full orchestration - Gregg’s Hora, Other Gods, What Innocence and What Surprise, Fall, and Gregg’s new gankino. The lush orchestrations, prepared by Gregg and Brendan, transform these tunes, adding drama, movement, and excitement. It'll be the biggest WPO sound to date. We'll also play some traditional tunes by ourselves.

With any luck, we'd like to continue working with other orchestras to present this type of collaborative concert all over the place. An essential part of the WPO sound is the string section. With Camerata, we'll have an additional 3 first violins, 3 second violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, and a contrabass to work with. And with such an expanded instrumentation, we have so many more options - more colors, textures, and so forth. Given these possibilities, we have the potential to transform WPO tunes completely.

The author is especially excited to hear his Gregg’s Hora, which was composed originally for Klez Dispensers, performed by WPO and Camerata. It begins as a zhok, a traditional Jewish dance, with a delicate, lilting melody played by the clarinet. But this is offset by a highly chromatic section, in which Elliott Levin will perform a swirling solo at the end of the piece. Nothing Left, recorded on 'WPO,' will sound more like it was originally intended to be performed, with the string ensemble alternating with the brass section. And we're happy to introduce a new singer, Gabor, who will perform the vocal on Cooney's 'Fall.'