Sebastopol has a new community orchestra—Sebastopol Harmonia Orchestra—organized by local maestro John Maas, who also conducts the Sebastopol Harmonia Choir at Sebastopol Center for the Arts.
The group had its first practice on Oct. 7 and another on Nov. 4.
“I’m amazed how well it’s starting to gel,” Maas said. “The first time in October, we had nine folks … The second rehearsal, we had 18 folks,” plus the two youth orchestra players—violin and viola—that Maas hired to keep things balanced. (The group still needs more violinists and viola players, Maas said.)
“We’re working on Beethoven’s First Symphony and Bach’s Second Brandenburg, and I’ll introduce a few more things,” he said.
“We have some folks who are semi-professional level, and then some folks who are more amateur level. And of course, I’m not a professional conductor, but I’ve done a lot of conducting, and I think I do a decent job.”
“Lisa Doyle, who’s a semi-professional violinist, is happy with it. She said, ‘I think this is going to happen,’ and she brought in a couple of other people, a violinist and a flutist.”
We reached out to Doyle, who is pleased with what she’s seen so far.
“It's great to have something in Sebastopol that gives local musicians of all levels a chance to play some music together,” she said. “It's just a really nice community thing. I'm so glad he's doing it.”
Although Maas was impressed with the first two rehearsals, he’s not planning any performances right away.
“My feeling is there’s no rush because I want the group to gel … Mainly I’m concerned about balance before we would perform … I mean, it still sounds very heavy on the winds.”
Maas grew up in Berkeley in a musical family—his mother was a professional opera singer—and he majored in music at UC Berkeley (he’s a pianist). He spent most of his professional life, however, as a psychologist with Kaiser. But his love of music was a constant in his life. He conducted the chorus at La Peña in Berkeley and then founded his own community orchestra and choral group, the Berkeley Harmonia Chorus and Orchestra.
When he moved to Sebastopol roughly 30 years ago, he began leading the Handel’s Messiah Sing-along.
“It’s just small town,” he said of Sebastopol’s Sing-along Messiah. “It’s so nice to be able to do these things … I just love bringing people together and creating music and with humor too.”
Maas organized the Sebastopol Harmonia Choir in August 2022, shortly after retiring from Kaiser at the age of 66.
Looking back at his long musical side-career, he notes a few “high points,” including leading his Berkeley Harmonium Orchestra and Choir in a performance of the Bach B Minor Mass and the Brahms Requiem, and also singing with San Francisco Symphony Chorus on Mahler’s 8th Symphony, which is called the Symphony of 1,000. (That’s a slight exaggeration, Maas said. “It doesn’t actually have 1,000 people, but has several hundred.”)
He’s looking to hit another one of those high points with this new orchestra.
“So I thought, well, maybe we could get this together here,” he said.
When I think of bucket list things for me, I love traveling, but if I never traveled again, it wouldn’t be a big deal. But doing this is definitely a big bucket list thing for me.”
He hopes to eventually have the Harmonia Chorus work with the Harmonia Orchestra, at least some of the time.
“My dream would be if we could get them together and do the Brahms Requiem, which is not as extensive, maybe not as difficult as the Bach B Minor Mass. They’re both my favorite major works,” he said. “I know that a lot of people in the choir were not joining a choir in order to do heavy-duty classical music. But I bet most of them would give it a try, and when they see how beautiful the music is—it’s just transporting.”
In the meantime, he’s concentrating on getting the new Sebastopol Harmonia Orchestra in shape. The group is currently practicing once a month—the first Wednesday evening of each month, from 6:30 pm to 8 pm. They are rehearsing classic works such as Schubert’s Fifth Symphony, Beethoven’s First, and Corelli‘s Christmas Concerto.
Maas says the orchestra is still open to adding new players. “We especially need more violins and violas, string players,” he said. “But we will welcome people on any instrument, and people should contact me. And if they are hesitant or want more information, I’m happy to talk with them.”
Reach out to John Maas at john.m.maas@gmail.com.
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