The Strings perform October 25 at Highland Park High School at 3:00 p.m with a concert featuring works of Schumann and Beethoven.
The Highland Park Strings entertains 700-800 concertgoers four times a year and has enjoyed a four-decade evolution into a major community event.
Who knew that would happen when the group was created back during the Jimmy Carter administration? Certainly not Strings founder Larry Block.
“There was a group of us here in Highland Park and we were playing chamber music,” Block said, thinking back to December, 1979. “I had a dear friend in (conductor) Francis Akos and I asked him to come and coach us one night a week and it fun for us but I discovered that there was no incentive for people to attend every rehearsal so I came up with the idea of a Christmas concert.”
That initial performance, which Block believes was in front of about 30 people, served as the foundation of the Strings, which begins its 37th season October 25.
A longtime Chicago attorney, Block never shook the music bug.
“Even when I was practicing law I had an urge to be a professional musician and many others shared this same passion for music,” Block said. “We’ve had such wonderful support from our local audience.”
The audience Block refers to is usually about 700-800 people listening to a core group of approximately 35 string players along with a number of wind and brass musicians. They have four concerts scheduled through May all in Highland Park.
In addition to the steady roster of string players, Block has brought in a steady collection of prominent soloists through the years. Yet the core of the group is composed of about 11 volunteers in combination with young music professionals.
One of the people donating her time and talent is Fran Shonfeld Sherman, who followed the footsteps of her mother and now sits as first-chair violin.
“Despite the fact the Strings have been around so long, Larry continues to attract talented young players to perform with the group,” Sherman said. “It’s a community orchestra and has always been a community orchestra that allows both people who have university degrees in music and those who went into other professional fields perform together. Even someone who did not achieve a degree, but they had to spend and hours, months and years to become proficient enough to perform with an orchestra.”
Sherman enjoys performing but takes some gratification that she and her fellow musicians have connected with people of all ages.
“These audiences really motivate us,” Sherman said. We have a multigenerational reach. You’ll see grandparents with grandchildren. The intermissions take a long time because everyone is greeting each other.”
Over the course of time, the audience has not been limited to Highland Park residents. As with the success of the Strings, there have been tours of Italy, Israel and Puerto Vallarta.
Have there been challenges along the way for Block? Of course. “For three years in a row at our benefit concert where we raise $40,000, the soloist canceled the week before and I had to find someone who could step in on one week’s notice,” he recalled. “But I managed to do so.”
Bumpy moments aside, the Strings has continued to draw audiences to the point that other local entities including the Park District of Highland Park and Yea! Highland Park (a local organization that supports arts and social services) are willing to help underwrite the concerts — making them available free of charge for the general public.
Block is not certain how much longer he will be overseeing the daily operations of the Strings, an effort that he says requires about eight to ten hours a week for administrative duties in addition to his practice time for the cello he still loves to play. But whenever the day comes that he hands off the chores to someone else, he is still thrilled by the contribution he has made to the community tapestry.
“I get real satisfaction in how this crazy idea has blossomed into this musical institution of Highland Park,” Block said.
The Strings perform October 25 at Highland Park High School at 3:00 p.m with a concert featuring works of Schumann and Beethoven and highlighted by an appearance Ecuadorean cellist Francisco Vila. Filling in for Strings principal conductor Francesco Milioto – who is engaged with another commitment will be maestro Robert Hasty, music director of the Kenosha Symphony Orchestra.
[infobox]Highland Park Strings ‘A Season of Love’- Music from the Age of Romanticism (1790-1910)
Schumann & Beethoven
When: Oct 25, 3 p.m.
Where: Highland Park High School
433 Vine Ave
Admission: FREE (Sponsored by First Bank of Forest Park]
Daniel Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press
