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French horn player marks 15th season with Solano Community Symphony
Conductor Semyon Lohss speaks with the Solano Community Symphony before their practice warms Tuesday at the Vacaville Performing Arts Theatre. The symphony opens up it's 26th Concert Season this weekend. (Conner Jay/Daily Republic)
FAIRFIELD — Nancy Sanchez will see many familiar faces Saturday night – in a new setting.
Sanchez, a 15-year member of the Solano Community Symphony, will help launch the group’s 26th season at a new venue, Suisun City’s Kroc Center.
A French horn player, Sanchez began playing trumpet in fifth grade. In her last year of high school, she added the French horn.
“I would look at the French horns and think ‘that sounds pretty,’ ” Sanchez said. “Then, the (high school) band director asked if anyone wanted to play the French horn. I was ready.”
Today, it’s her primary instrument. However, the trumpet usually comes out when it’s time to play in a jazz group.
Sanchez loves the French horn for its versatility, saying it’s very flexible and has many voices.
“It can be singing a song, it can be hailing the king,” Sanchez said. “There’s so much I can do with it. The pitch range is so great, I can go very, very high and really, really low.”
Her husband of 23 years, Terry Sanchez, plays baritone sax with the Alive Music Orchestra. Their son is a trumpet player; their daughter plays the saxophone.
Nancy Sanchez teaches music at Harper Junior High in Davis. She taught music and computers in Vacaville schools for six years.
At Harper, she runs the school’s band program, which includes students in seventh, eighth and ninth grade. She directs a concert band for seventh-graders, a concert band for eighth- and ninth-graders and a jazz band for eighth- and ninth-graders.
She offers praise for Semyon Lohss, who conducts the Solano Community Symphony.
“I love being challenged. He’s a great combination of collaboration with authority. He knows what he’s talking about,” Sanchez said.
The evening’s selections are “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” “The Old Grumbling Bear” and Karl Goldmark’s Symphony No. 2 in E-flat major, Opus 35.
Bassoon player Eva Kidwell is the guest artist. The Swedish native studied at the Conservatory of Music in Gothenburg, Sweden. She was then awarded a full scholarship to attend the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
She initiated the Symphony of the Redwoods children’s concerts in the schools. Kidwell is the principal bassoon with Symphony of the Redwoods and plays with the Mendocino Music Festival.
Kidwell also performs with many Northern California orchestras.
Reach Amy Maginnis-Honey at 427-6957 or amaginnis@dailyrepublic.net. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/amaginnisdr.
Solano Community Symphony
- 8 p.m. Saturday
- Kroc Center, 586 E. Wigeon Way, Suisun City
- 455-7211
- 3 p.m. Sunday
- Vacaville Performing Arts Theatre, 1010 Ulatis Drive
- 469-4013
- www.vpat.net
- www.solanosymphony.org
Amy Maginnis-Honey
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