Dexter Community Orchestra

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The musicians of the Dexter Community Orchestra aren't paid to play. They're here because they love the music and each other. The folks in the audience don't pay to attend. They're here because they love the music and the musicians. Together, they form a community of amateurs in the truest sense of the word: people who do it not for the money but for the love.

Sure there were some onstage slips. The violins weren't always together above third position. The cellos sometimes blurred in fast passages. A pair of woodwinds went out of tune once for a few bars. Even twenty minutes into the concert, dozens of patrons were still finding their seats. And there always seemed to be a little girl or two for whom the urge to dance proved irresistible.

So what? These were amateurs, and there was love in every note. Mozart's Jupiter Symphony had joy in the opening Allegro, bliss in the Andante cantabile, bounce in the Menuetto, and exhilaration in the closing Molto allegro. Bizet's Carmen Suite no. 1 had fire, sweat, blood, and a big bass drum. Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Overture had a platoon of percussion, a battalion of brass, and a ravishingly beautiful violin solo from concertmaster Fran Wakefield.