Photo: Music Director Cynthia Woods rehearses the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra for the gala opening concert of its 35th anniversary season. The concert presents works by Beethoven and Copland. It will take place at 4:00 pm on Sunday, December 20 at MIT's Kresge Auditorium at 48 Massachusetts Avenue.

This concert will be a festive occasion. It highlights a local musical group that plays an important part in the Greater Boston cultural scene. It’s also a chance to hear some of the most powerful and dramatic music ever.

The Cambridge Symphony Orchestra began on the 18th of April in ’75. That was 1975, of course, not 1775, but it’s a date that resonates here in Paul Revere country. Rachel Spiller of Cambridge, a bassoonist, was one of three women who got together on that day and started an orchestra.

“We very much shared the ideals of equality, independence and community that go back to the country’s early days,” she says. “We don’t have auditions—if you want to play, you are welcome. We don’t hire ringers, and we rotate parts—we’re very egalitarian in that respect. If you’ve always wanted to play first chair, you can give it a shot. And we’re community-oriented. Outreach is a big part of our thinking.”

Those values also played a part in the choice of music for the upcoming gala opening, according to CSO Music Director Cynthia Woods. The program features Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 (Choral). Ticket information is on line at the CSO website, http://www.cambridgesymphony.org.

“This concert is a tremendous challenge for us,” Cynthia Woods says. “We wanted pieces that celebrate what we do on an artistic level, but we also had the composers’ ideals in mind. Beethoven was inspired by a vision of humanity and brotherhood when he wrote the Ninth Symphony. That’s what he was trying to express in the music, and that's why he chose Schiller’s poem as the text for the last movement.”

The poem is Friedrich von Schiller’s An die Freude (Ode to Joy). The symphony was first performed in 1824. By the late 20th century Beethoven's fourth-movement setting of the poem had become the anthem for the new European Union.

Woods said the orchestra is also interested in works by American composers. Sunday's program opens with an American piece, Copland’s Fanfare (1942).

“Originally he was asked to write a fanfare in honor of people in the armed services—it was the middle of World War II. But he wanted it to be more inclusive, something that would honor defense factory workers and farmers and everybody else who was part of the war effort—women as well as men.”

Soloists for the fourth movement of the Beethoven will be Rochelle Bard, soprano; Rebecca Folsom, mezzo-soprano; Ray Bauwens, tenor; and Robert Honeysucker, baritone. The Cambridge Community Chorus with Music Director Jamie Kirsch will perform the choral passages.

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CSO background: Cynthia Woods is the orchestra’s eighth Music Director. Her predecessor in the post was Mark Latham. The group rehearses at the Greater Boston Vineyard Church at 170 Rindge Avenue in Cambridge, and many of their concerts take place there.

The group now numbers more than 70 musicians. The three who began it in 1975 were Rachel Spiller; her mother Gertrude Spiller, an oboist; and Harriet Fierman, a French horn player. Today Rachel Spiller is the orchestra's president. Gertrude Spiller passed away a few years ago. Harriet Fierman is now in Indiana. Initially known as the Little Orchestra, the group organized as a non-profit in 1978. The name was changed to the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra in 1995.

This week Rachel Spiller shared some recollections and observations about the orchestra.

Early days
“We were all playing with different groups back then, but we used to talk about what we’d want our own orchestra to be like. One day we decided to send out a letter to our musician friends and see if we could get together. We said, ‘Let’s just try this and see if it works.’"

“We used to rehearse at the Agassiz School (now Maria L. Baldwin School). Parents would bring their kids already in pj’s—they’d fall asleep and the parents would carry them home afterwards.”

Outreach and public performances
“In addition to our regular concerts, we take music to people who can’t get out. Over the years we’ve played in places like Neville Manor, the Veterans Administration Hospital, the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center, and the Perkins School for the Blind. We have several chamber groups that play in smaller spaces. We’ve played at libraries and some City Hall events; not long ago we played at a Mayor’s reception, and this week we played at a holiday party.”

New Venture
“We commissioned a new work by Lisa Bielawa, the winner of this year’s Rome Prize in Composition. We’ll play it at our concert in May.”

Funding
“Our concerts were free in the beginning, but in recent years we’ve had to charge for tickets. We keep the cost low so people can afford to come. Orchestra members contribute, and we get some funding from the Cambridge Arts Council; Alfred Vellucci helped us to obtain that when he was Mayor. Local businesses and friends have been very generous.”
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Some proceeds from CSO concerts are designated for local charities. This concert benefits the Cambridge YWCA Emergency Shelter for Homeless Families.