“Music has charms to soothe a savage breast.” We have heard this old adage many times, but how many of us really think is it true? I don’t know about soothing the savage breast, but what I do know is that music is something that can be appreciated by everyone. Even those like my friend Jim who claims that he is not a “music fan.” “That’s my wife’s department,” he says. Well, if he had been with me last Saturday afternoon when South Valley Symphony presented a concert at Gavilan College Theater, I think he would have changed his mind.
It wasn’t quite a sellout, but for a Saturday afternoon it was a large and highly appreciative audience. There was a Mozart composition featuring two teenagers who blew the socks off the audience. Angela The, 15, a violinist, and Tessera Chin, 16, playing the viola, both attend Peninsula high schools. Between them, they have won so many awards and competitions that it would take this entire page to list them all. They were spectacular!
But the stage was set before these two young ladies made their appearance. Preceding them was a guest conductor, Christopher Niemann, introducing the audience, and the world, to his own composition, “Staircase into the Unknown.” It was magnificent and thoroughly appreciated by the audience. But the big surprise: Christopher is a native Morgan Hiller and currently a senior at Sobrato High School!
He wrote the piece, scored it, and conducted the South Valley Symphony in its performance. Folks, I have to tell you, I have witnessed lots of standing ovations – at The Met, at Davies – and at numerous other venues, but none rival the one given this teenager. Even the members of the orchestra couldn’t stop applauding Christopher. It was truly remarkable.
You’ve probably heard of John Williams, and Johnny Green. Well, remember this: one day in the not too distant future, you will see Christopher Niemann accepting an Oscar for best musical score for a bunch of movies and you can say, “I know him. He grew up right here in Morgan Hill.”
By the way, sitting directly in front of me were a family with three young ladies, maybe 4, 6 and 8. Their parents were exposing them to the wonders of beautiful music. It was easy to tell that they loved almost every minute of it. How wise of their parents.
Now for the stroke of genius of the week. Seems not too many of you picked up on my wonderful idea of turning El Toro into a ski run. So, I guess we better drop that one, at least for now. And I haven’t heard back from Mr. Dan McCranie on my idea of turning the now-vacant bike shop at the corner of Monterey Road and Third Street into a Chico’s and martini bar. Hopefully that one is being given serious consideration. But here’s one we can all get behind.
We’ve all read the many suggestions on what to do with Morgan Hill’s Granada movie theater. The answer: Turn it into the South Valley’s world famous music venue. Not only will it give the South Valley Symphony a home, but we could feature symphonies, big bands, jazz, country and western (if we have to), rock, every kind of music there is. And Morgan Hill can become the Mecca of music between San Francisco and LA. Maybe even Elvis will show up!
Santa Cruz has Kuumbwa which is always jammed; Oakland and San Francisco have Yoshie’s; The City just opened a new jazz center with something like $50 million invested. We could do it for a lot less and “pack the joint” night after night. Trust me on this one folks, Morgan Hill can do it. And everyone will prosper. The restaurants, the shops, the tax coffers, and most of all, Morgan Hill music lovers. Imagine dressing up, having a fine dinner at Ladera and attending an opera. Or putting on our tie-dies and catching Hootie and the Blowfish. All right here in Morgan Hill.
So, members of the Morgan Hill Intellectual Society and Martini Appreciation Club are hereby challenging every citizen to get on the “Band Wagon” – pun intended – and do it. It would be so great I get chills just thinking about it. Well, not really. I think it was just my retriever Annabelle chewing on my little toe. But it’s even a better idea than Chico’s and a martini bar. And that’s saying something.
