Russian Romantics:

BY NANCY STETSON Florida Weekly Correspondent 
The orchestra's chugging along when the man at the podium waves them to a stop.

FLORIDA WEEKLY PHOTOS Maestro Andrew Kurtz leads last week's rehearsal of the Gulf Coast Symphony. "There's not enough clarity," says Andrew Kurtz, gently addressing the musicians. "What you're doing has to be exact, you have to be together. When it's all over the place, it starts to sound fragmented. over the place, it starts Keep it simple. Don't overplay, don't overthink. You have to play the phrase exactly as it's written."

Then, like a classical music human beatbox, he demonstrates what he wants, singing nonsense sounds to the musicians seated in front of him.

"Ba da PING," he tells them, vocally demonstrating the tempo and emphasis on each note.

He counts off the beats, and the orchestra repeats the phrase.

Kurtz smiles and nods his approval.

"Much better," he encourages.

He lifts his baton and the Gulf Coast Symphony continues their exploration of Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony, "Symphonie Pathetique."

It's a Tuesday night, and the allvolunteer orchestra's rehearsing for their upcoming Dec. 15 Classical Access Concert at Bishop Verot High School. In addition to performing this piece, which was Tchaikovsky's final symphony, they'll perform his "Variations on a Rococo Theme" (with guest cellist Ian Maksin) and Rachmaninoff's "The Isle of the Dead."

But right now, they're in the auditorium of a Fort Myers outpatient services building, rehearsing. The space feels like a high school cafeteria with accordion like moveable walls, and instrument cases, purses and jackets strewn on the tables.

"What's great about this orchestra is it's a true reflection of our community," says Kurtz during a break. "Everyone in our orchestra lives here, works here, has retired here, is a consumer here. Several people we know who moved specifically to Fort Myers, one of their requirements was a community orchestra."

Participants in the orchestra - now beginning its 13th season - come from three different counties: Charlotte, Lee and Collier.

"People here are retired professional musicians, music teachers," says Kurtz. "And a dozen doctors play with us, and a few students."

Ages range from 15 to 80s.

The orchestra also has nationally known guest artists perform in concert with them.

"The music we're playing is as challenging as any orchestra's," Kurtz says.

"It's very challenging," agrees Lori Poynter of Olga, who plays the French horn. This is her fifth season with the orchestra. "He challenges us more every year," she says. "We look at the music and say, 'There ain't no way.' But then we rise to the occasion."

Poynter took up the horn again after not playing for 23 years. She began playing at her church, Grace United Methodist in Cape Coral. A fellow band member at the church told her about Gulf Coast Symphony.

"And I thought, 'That's a new opportunity.'" So she joined. "There are some very fine-playing musicians in this group that wouldn't have any place to play otherwise," Poynter says.

And she landed a temporary job playing in the pit for "Oklahoma!" at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre. "I did 22 performances," she says. "Playing (in this orchestra) presents other opportunities. A paying gig!"

FLORIDA WEEKLY PHOTO The all-volunteer Gulf Coast Symphony rehearses at Southwest Regional Medical Center for their upcoming Dec. 15 Classical Access Concert at Bishop Verot High School. Kurtz, a violinist with the Southwest Florida Symphony, founded Gulf Coast Symphony in January 1996 and continues to serve as its Music Director and conductor. The orchestra began with three or four concerts a year at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall. They now do 11 concerts a year in a variety of venues: four pops/Symphonic Sensations concerts at the Mann Hall, two Classical Access concerts at Bishop Verot, three free family concerts at the Sam Galloway Ford Dealership and two free outdoor pops concerts at the new

Estero Community Park.

"Our one and only mission is education: the further education of the people in this orchestra, the concerts we do in the community," Kurtz says. "Our concerts are designed to provide access to the symphony for first-timers and classical music lovers. We want to provide the means to get a deeper understanding of what they're listening for and to."

The orchestra also works closely with a dozen schools throughout Lee County.

"We teach them about the artistic process," he says. "Our concept is to work as a partner with the schoolteacher, to give additional information, additional materials, and additional access beyond what they get in the classroom."

When they send their guest artists to work in the classroom with the teacher, they may give a master class or a mini-performance.

"We individualize with the teacher to fit their needs," Kurtz says. They also provide free tickets to students and their parents to attend concerts. And, Kurtz notes, the tickets are for the best seats in the house.

"We want them to experience a concert as well as someone else would," he says. "We have had kids who have come back. This is our 13th season, and some of these kids, we've made a profound difference in their life. Each school gets up to two artist visits a year. Twelve schools, that's 24 artist visits."

The symphony is financially very healthy with a budget over $250,000, says Kurtz.

"We have sponsorships from various people in the community. The orchestra wouldn't exist without the volunteers. Half our concerts are free. We get support from the medical community. They underwrite the cost. Symphonius Medicus, doctors for classical healing, and another anonymous donor underwrite the Access Classical Concerts. And Sam Galloway underwrites 50 percent of the cost of the family concerts. The rest of the money comes from grants and other private foundations."

Why did he start Gulf Coast Symphony?

"...Because there was a need," Kurtz says. "It's my best expression of who I am and how I communicate. Music is a universal form of communication, a universal language that can touch anyone and everyone. I'm driven. I'm passionate about sharing this. The arts are what complete us as human beings, as a society. Otherwise, it's all work. Once you get beyond subsistence, there's a real need for being creative."

That passion and drive is obvious to the musicians.

"He cares about the music," says Dr. Eleanor Blitzer, a Cape Coral pediatrician who's played viola with the symphony since it began. "He's always about making music. It's not: did you play the piece exactly? At our concerts, he always explains what we're doing to the audience."

"Andrew Kurtz is a phenomenal conductor, adds Phil Lefton of South Fort Myers, a retired schoolteacher who plays violin. He points out that in addition to being a violinst in his own right, Kurtz teaches and conducts every summer at the Luzerne Music Center. He's also founding Musical Director of the Florida Jewish Philharmonic Orchestra, one of only two orchestras in the US dedicated to performing music of Jewish performers and is the founder and Artistic Director of the Center City Opera Theater in Philadelphia.

"He's the key to our orchestra," Lefton says. "He's inspiring. He knows what he's doing. He conducts well. He knows what it's like to be in an orchestra because he's in the Southwest Florida Symphony."

Kurtz rehearses the Gulf Shore Symphony the way a sculptor fashions a figure from marble. First he gets the general shape, then he refines it.

"They get the basics to it, then it's adding layers of sophistication," Kurtz says. "My overreaching goal, always, is to make music. Missing a note is not a tragedy. Not being musical is a travesty."