Sammamish Symphony brings joy to seniors with holiday concert
The Sammamish Symphony Orchestra, a volunteer-based ensemble, spread the merriment of the holidays through music during their annual holiday concert on Dec. 8 at the Eastlake High School Performing Arts Center.
While people of all ages were at the “Holidays in Sammamish” concert, senior attendance, especially from local senior centers, was prominent this year. The Monroe Community Senior Center and Sunrise Senior Living each sent a bus full of people to the event.
Symphony president Heather Raschko, 50, was pleased to see seniors from the community at the concert.
“In the past a few senior centers have brought people to the concerts,” Raschko said. “It hasn’t happened in a while because of COVID so it was nice to see them at this last concert.”
The holiday concert included a combination of classical pieces and holiday specials.
Conductor Adam Stern, 69, takes pride in curating a set of distinctive pieces to play and surprising the audience. One piece he selected for this year’s concert was a compilation of well-known festive tunes — but set to a minor scale.
“I compare our concert to sort of a musical Christmas tree,” said Stern. “We only list a few things in the printed program that we’re going to be playing. The rest of it, you just have to come and unwrap with the rest of us, take the ribbon off and enjoy what’s offered.”
Harriss Mueller, 81, who came to the concert from Issaquah, noticed the carefully selected minor piece.
“I just enjoyed every bit of it,” Mueller said. “I thought it was enchanting that they played several songs in the minor key. That was fun, you get to see new stuff sometimes, you know?”
While waiting for their bus to pick them up, a group of 12 people from the Monroe Community Senior Center gathered outside the venue and discussed the concert between themselves. They brought up the minor piece and appreciated Stern’s conducting. Several of them looked forward to attending more concerts by the Sammamish Symphony.
For Mueller, the experience of listening to a classical concert live was valuable. She found that it enabled her to connect with the musicians as they played.
“There’s something really special about live music, a live orchestra,” said Mueller. “It’s person-to-person connection. You’re seeing people, you’re watching the musicians perform. Nothing can replace person to person.”
A personal connection with the audience was something that Stern was hoping to achieve.
“I think that the sense of being in a room with other people who have very warm feelings about this time of year…it builds a sense of community of sharing the musical joys of the season, and that’s what we offer,” Stern said.
