Musician pursues chamber orchestra for Clovis

Director founded similar ensemble in So. California

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Leonard Ingrande has visions.

He sees a chamber orchestra, its roster packed with professional musicians, entertaining a community. He sees violin bows dancing to Manuel de Falla's "La Vida Breve." He sees oboe and clarinet players swaying to the opening arpeggios of Maurice Revel's "Le Tombeau de Couperin."

And he sees it happening here.

"I like what Clovis has," said the Clovis resident who is Central High's director of bands. "It's a nice community, with a great way of life and a lot of wonderful schools. There's a lot of opportunity in Clovis. We do have a wonderful community band, which is fantastic, but we're missing an actual, professional, chamber orchestra."

A chamber orchestra is a smaller orchestra than the large symphonies generally associated with the word. One generally contains 30 to 35 musicians. Many top classical composers wrote their music for chamber orchestras, according to Ingrande.

The reality of a chamber orchestra in Clovis is still a long way off, but Ingrande already has the ball rolling. An invitation-only meeting earlier this month fell flat due to conflicts with graduations.

"There wasn't really anything we could accomplish," said Judith Preuss, one of two out of about 10 people invited who made it. Another meeting is set for 6 p.m. July 10 at the fire and police administration building, 1233 Fifth Street. This meeting is open to anybody interested in helping out.

"The project in my head has been in the works for a couple years," Ingrande said. "The first step is to get anyone who's interested. I'd like to have a dream-team assembled, and we'll go from there."

The director already has put together programs for the entire first three-show season -- Spanish Delights, The Beethoven Factor and The French Connection -- complete with cost analysis and tentative ticket prices. Eventually he plans for five concerts each season, and hopes to add engagements at the Old Town Clovis Farmers' Market or One Enchanted Evening.

If everything goes right, Ingrande sees concerts beginning as early as next year, and has various venues in mind -- such as Clovis North's Paul Shaghoian Concert Hall or Clark's Mercedes Edwards Theatre.

The orchestra would draw most of its musicians from the Valley, but some will come from as far away as San Francisco and Los Angeles.

"Getting the musicians here is the easy part," said Ingrande, who founded the Monteverdi Chamber Orchestra in his native San Diego. "Getting the people here, and the money, that will be somewhat difficult."

With ticket sales expected to cover roughly 35 percent of the group's expenses, Ingrande is searching for investors, grants and foundations.

"We're really excited about it. I think people are excited in getting it off the ground," Ingrande said. "It would be really great for Clovis."

Details: lingrande@sbcglobal.net.

E-mail David Witte at dwitte@clovisindependent.com.