Dear Music Friends,

Welcome and thank you for your interest in the World Civic Orchestra.

While many aspects of this orchestra are described in other parts of this website, I would like to add my personal views and plans so you can get a better idea of what we are trying to accomplish.

First, it is very important to us to ensure that everybody enjoys playing in the orchestra and feels a sense of collegial camaraderie. A shared experience is not only essential but without it, even the best performance is nothing but an exhibition of egotism.

We plan to work together so that we can achieve the highest level of concert performance, beyond what each individual could dream of doing. In other words, 150% performance from a mediocre orchestra is much more impressive than 70% performance by the best orchestra in the world. I’ve become convinced of this view over the course of my long affair with music. The great violinist and humanist Joseph Szigeti expressed a similar idea once.*

As for selecting the performing members, the selection committee, described elsewhere in the website, will have the final say. Based on a preliminary study we anticipate a large number of applicants. In the future, if the number of applicants becomes significant, we’d like to create a rotation schedule among the supporting members so that everybody will be given the chance to perform. We plan to have concerts twice a year at various great concert halls throughout the world. We will update everyone with further plans and progress.

Participation in the World Civic Orchestra will demand lots of sacrifices - in time, expense and various arrangements one has to make, to name a few. I am especially concerned with the expense incurred. To defray the cost, we are working to develop various programs in the future, such as home stays and scholarship funds, however, currently, only a limited number of these are available. The relatively high membership fee cost is partly due to the high costs in Manhattan itself. Unique to our orchestra will be the professional coaches who will participate in the concert performance as well as provide intensive guidance and suggestions, similar to a music workshop. There will be sectional rehearsals and small ensemble coaching on an almost daily basis during the week in New York. This will provide the opportunity to increase one’s knowledge in individual instrumental and vocal skills, which in turn will enhance the quality of the final orchestral performance.

Therefore, this project may be interpreted as a hybrid of workshop and concert. Because of the limited time available for full ensemble rehearsals, all sections will be provided with music parts before the rehearsal week that will include detailed notations such as bowing, tempo, articulation, dynamics and phrasing among others. This will allow the rehearsal time to be spent focused on listening, balancing and advanced music making. In other words, the rehearsals in New York will be the finishing touch before the concert. I hope this intensive preparation, extensive support and the resulting high level of performance will help to justify the high expense and sacrifice you will make.

We are very excited to take on the new challenges and believe it will represent music-making of a very special nature. We would like to make this a model of what music can accomplish in many aspects of life. However, there will be many unforeseen problems. You may have suggestions or solutions. As the project grows, this website will provide you a means to collaborate on the orchestra. We have the utmost interest in receiving your comments on every aspect of this endeavor so that we can all grow together to make it successful.

Vincent Koh 
* Excerpted from “With String Attached"