Jonathan Lane leading The Westwood Ensemble (The Westwood Ensemble)
The Westwood Ensemble, a community orchestra, serves a unique niche among Kansas City performing arts groups. Their March 8 concert will allow audiences to experience their focus on community, education and entertainment.
“We are a diverse group,” artistic director Jonathan Lane explained in a recent conversation. “We have high school students, young professionals and retirees playing side by side. Our first chair string players are paid professionals. We offer sectional rehearsals where players work on technique.”
Education and musical development are important to Lane, who worked for more than 30 years as the director of the Shawnee Mission East Orchestra. After retirement, he continued his professional life as a double bass player and teacher. “A few friends and former students recommended that I start my own orchestra. I lived in Westwood, Kansas, at the time and we rehearsed at City Hall” — thus the group’s name.
The ensemble began small, with about 20 string players. “We lost money the first few years,” Lane recalled. He wore a variety of hats — conductor, music librarian and board president. Gradually they added more wind and brass players, but then COVID hit. “I didn’t know if it would continue, but members wanted to keep playing afterward.”
The board and membership grew, and the orchestra currently has about 50 players. Most of the wind players have music degrees and many of the string players do, too.
In addition to Lane’s leadership, other professionals provide direction as well. For example, the ensemble’s concertmaster is Can Balcik-Moretti, an excellent violinist who was recently a featured artist in a performance with the Bach Aria Soloists in December. He teaches at William Jewell College, and in addition to performing and teaching private students, he is near completion of his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the UMKC Conservatory.
“We always have a sectional as the first or second rehearsal,” he explained. “I love working with the players. I write out the difficult fingerings and bowings and even write out exercises to help them. They are really dedicated and improve each week because they practice their parts regularly.”
Yixue Snow Zhang-Probst is another experienced professional, serving as principal second violinist and assistant conductor. She just completed her doctoral program at the University of Iowa.
The Westwood Ensemble will perform a program entitled “Dvořák in America” on Sunday, March 8 at 3 p.m. at Olathe Northwest High School. “Audiences love Dvořák,” Lane exclaimed, “but he often gets a second billing as a composer to Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Saint-Saëns. I think he is an equal or superior composer.”
Dvořák spent the years 1892-95 in the U.S. as director of the National Conservatory of Music. “Dvořák’s students taught composers like Gershwin and Duke Ellington,” Lane explained.
Balcik-Moretti emphasized the group’s entertainment value, stating, “We always have a lot of fun and laughter at the concerts.”
The concert will feature Susie Yang, the associate principal cello of the Kansas City Symphony, as soloist in two works: the “Rondo for Cello and Orchestra,” and “Silent Woods for Cello and Orchestra.”
Admission is free, but donations are gratefully accepted at the door. For more information, visit www.westwoodensemble.com.
