Just a little more than two months after auditions, the Walnut Valley Symphony Orchestra and Master Chorale plans to perform for the first time tonight at San Lorenzo Ruiz Catholic Parish Community.
The sold out concert at the Walnut church will be a mix of holiday numbers, Broadway tunes, and classical songs, with the money raised to go charity.
Nove Deypalan, the musical director of the orchestra, said for the inaugural concert, the performance will be broken up into different segments with themes. One segment is all about stars.
"Each section has a story to tell," he said. "My goal is to touch people's lives through classical music."
Deypalan also serves as the church's musical director, which is how he helped come up with the idea for the orchestra and chorale.
The group is a combination of professional and amateur musicians, including some students from Walnut High School and the Tchaikovsky School of Music on Valley Boulevard in Walnut.
"There's a lot of untapped talent in our area," Deypalan said.
Deypalan, an experienced musician and conductor, knows talent.
The two-time winner of the International Conducting Workshop and Competition has led ensembles and performed in many well-known concert venues, including Carnegie Hall. He has a bachelor's in conducting performance from Chapman University, a master's in choral conducting from USC, and a doctorate of musical arts in instrumental conducting from the University of South Carolina in Columbia, S.C.
The Walnut Valley group has more than 100 members.
Cristina Pacheco, daughter of Walnut Councilman Bob Pacheco and executive director of the orchestra and chorale, said while most of the musicians are local, some have come as far as from near LAX to play in tonight's show. Pacheco herself will sing.
"This is going to a really amazing show," she said. "And so many of them are from right here in our community. This is a chance to showcase our community."
Pacheco works in arts advocacy for Los Angeles County, pushing to make sure students get music education.
She is a member of San Lorenzo and said the church seemed like the perfect anchor for the area's first symphony orchestra and master chorale.
"It's really a coming together of people passionate about their craft," she said. "These are serious music makers."
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