Leaning against a stool with his conductor's baton at the ready, Raffaele Faraco is leading his musicians through their first reading of a complicated Beethoven symphony.
The 87-year-old former violinist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra interrupts the group repeatedly to offer suggestions. He jokes about his creaky bones and encourages them to "play music, not just the notes." And he pushes and prods his orchestra members - computer programmers, office secretaries, dietitians, court reporters and police dispatchers - to do better. And to try it again.
"It sounds like it has boots on. And there's no water and there's no mud out," Faraco said of a section of music that was supposed to be crisp and lively. "The lighter the better. And once in a while, a fortissimo!"
The Baltimore Philharmonia Orchestra is an unusual collection of musicians. An offshoot of the Gettysburg Symphony, the nonprofit community orchestra was founded 11 years ago to bring together musicians from diverse backgrounds and perform free concerts for audiences that might not otherwise be able to afford tickets to a classical show. Most of the musicians - save for the few professionals from the BSO brought in to fill out the orchestra's ranks for concerts - are not paid.
"I find it inspiring that everyone in the group loves music," said Merrell Weiss, a 53-year-old flute and piccolo player and a retired computer systems analyst for the federal government. "No matter what they do to earn their keep, they still want to play music."
The orchestra's next performance will be tomorrow afternoon at Loch Raven High School in Baltimore County.
When it started, the Baltimore Philharmonia could not afford sheet music. The musicians borrowed some from the Long Island high school that Weiss attended as a girl and where several of her friends now teach music. Because the orchestra isn't anyone's full-time job, rehearsals are sometimes hampered by the players' hectic schedules. (The group skipped a percussion section of one piece of music at a recent rehearsal because the percussion section - all two of them - had not arrived.) And as gas prices soared this year, they lost a cellist who found the drive to rehearsals at Loch Raven High too expensive.
