Lakeport >> On Sunday the Soper Reese Theatre will host the third concert of the La Voce del Vento Chamber Players music series. This particular event will feature a quintet, consisting of a flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon and French horn.
Patricia Jekel, the flute player of the group, has been exploring her musical side since her elementary school days. She started playing the piano in the first grade, picked up the flute in the fourth and, somewhat out of left field, started pursuing the fiddle later in life when she married a banjo player.
This last instrument presented some challenges to the classical musician. “I have to let go of all my formal training and not cringe when I’m not in perfect tune,” Jekel said. “It’s a real balancing experience for me. It’s completely different. I have to use my heart and it’s just very soulful music. I have to get out of my head and just follow my heart.”
Aside from pursuing multiple instruments, Jekel also teaches music and is responsible for setting up a band program for the Middletown school district. She moved to Lake County in 2006 with her two children, who didn’t have much access to music education. “There was no music program in the district here, so I wanted to start a music program here so they could have that as part of their experience,” she said.
The music program was an important endeavor for Jekel on many levels. “Some kids the only music they have in their life is what they hear on TV and the radio. I think it’s important to keep it [choral music] alive. And it’s going to help these kids get into college. They absolutely have to have something besides good grades to get into school,” she said. “A lot of modern kids right now have a lot of trouble focusing on one thing deeply. That’s one thing you have to do … you have to really focus. It really builds that ability to focus on one thing for a long period of time.”
Aside from starting a music program, Jekel also joined the Lake County Symphony when she moved here, which led to La Voce del Vento. This Sunday’s show promises to be something special. “It’s an opportunity to really hear these individual instruments up close and personal,” Jekel said. “But you really cant specify one instrument and one person. It’s almost like five soloists. You really hear the instruments very distinctly. It’s a very different experience than orchestral music.”
La Voce del Vento is a unique show for the audience and musicians alike. “One really different thing about a small chamber group like that and a big orchestra is we don’t have a director. No one is conducting us,” Jekel explained. “So we really have to listen to each other and follow each other and stay together. It’s just the five us of communicating with each other. That’s very different from a symphony where you have a conductor leading the way and keeping you all together.”
The Chamber Players will also be performing a new piece of music. Those in attendance will get to hear a piece by a composer from Mendocino County, which has not been previously performed. “We’re also world premiering a piece of music … This particular piece we chose of his has never been heard before,” said Jekel.
La Voce del Vento Chamber Players is Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Soper Reese Theatre. Tickets are $20 and $15 and are available at www.soperreesetheatre.com, the theatre Box Office and The Travel Center in Lakeport.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
