50 years of orchestral music in St. Anthony

Florence Marks grew up in a family she called “our own little orchestra.” Her mother was a pianist, her father played French horn, her sister played violin and Florence played flute. In grade school, she also played clarinet and saxophone. 

When she set out to play in public, Florence would go to local groups to sit in with other musicians. When she noticed in one of those groups that a Julliard School of Music graduate was only the second flute, she said to herself, “Oh dear — I’m an amateur!”

Amateur or not, Marks felt that if she couldn’t play in an existing music ensemble, she would start one in which she could. She went to the St. Anthony City Council in early 1975 and asked for money to form a local band or orchestra. She got $300 from city funds obtained as part of the Minnesota Bicentennial observation. 

After distributing flyers around the city, there were several string players and a few woodwinds who responded, so the decision was made to start an orchestra. Marks organized a first meeting with 15 other musicians, a meeting she admitted was “pretty disorganized.” The early funding for the group was meager, and yearly dues were set at $25 per musician per year. While the musicians weren’t paid, music royalties had to be, as well as costs for music and some percussion instruments.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the St. Anthony Civic Orchestra (SACO). The Northeaster spoke to organizers and players about their experiences, most of which go all the way back to 1975.

Marks’ first administrative move was to find a conductor. She had a friend whose daughter was getting French horn lessons from Carol Jensen, a local musician. Jensen expressed interest in the position, was quickly hired and has been the orchestra conductor ever since.

Jensen started playing piano at age five, and started trumpet in a band after fifth grade. She plays keyboard for the worship team at her church, and trumpet with the Minnesota State Band. She switched to French horn in 7th grade, which she played for the rest of high school and college, and professionally for many years, including with the Women’s Army Corps Band. She spent 26 years in the Army.

She said, “The military WAC band I played with was the quality of the Washington, D.C., bands, but back then they wouldn’t let women in the men’s bands.” She recalled that there was a euphonium player at one of the reunions “that wasn’t playing real well, and since I had my euphonium with me, I told the band director at break, that I could play that piece. Actually, I’d never played the piece before, but I had conducted it, and I knew the music. I played it right, and I’ve been the principal euphonium player there ever since.” After moving back to Minnesota, she played first horn with the Rochester Symphony and the St. Paul Civic Symphony.

SACO’s first rehearsal was in August 1975, and the first concert took place on December 4 at the Apache Plaza mall in St. Anthony. To date, the orchestra has played 435 public performances.

One of the highlights of the orchestra’s history was an August 1991 visit to St Anthony’s Sister City Salo, Finland, where SACO performed five concerts. The musicians were housed in private homes. The orchestra was joined by a Finnish choir at the final concert. The challenge was doing the rehearsal in both languages. Jensen said, “We haven’t been back, but someday we would like to return.”

She talked about the demographics of the current orchestra; the youngest member is 24 and the oldest is 90, with an average age of around 40. Some members are retired, but most have non-musical careers. She noted, “There are around 35 concert bands and 25 orchestras in this metropolitan area.”

Oboist David Braslau, the longest-serving member of the orchestra, recalled his mother taking him and his two brothers to orchestra concerts and Sunday afternoon band concerts in a park near their home. He played piano and violin in high school, “but the violin teacher never corrected my left hand position, so that went nowhere.” 

At MIT, Braslau was a singer, and later played balalaika in orchestras in San Francisco and Moscow. He said that other than some instrumental lessons before leaving home for college, his only official music study was an “Introduction to Music” class at college, and singing in the glee club. He said, “I seem to be one of the few players in SACO who did not study music in public schools or colleges.”

Braslau joined SACO in 1975, a few months after its founding. He had been taking oboe lessons from a friend of Jensen who recommended him to the conductor. By that time, he had taught geophysics at the U of M, worked at several companies and founded an engineering and acoustical consulting firm in 1971.

In 1990, Braslau and Jensen traveled to Finland to help organize SACO’s tour there. Braslau has since visited the country nine more times, including a Sister City tour to Salo last October. 

About changes during SACO’s 50 years as an orchestra, Braslau said, “Because Carol Jensen has been the lifeblood of the orchestra from the beginning, the only real changes are the players. We have played well-known works with a chorus in churches. We also had outside soloists and singers. Otherwise, we just keep playing.” Braslau, who just turned 90, was asked how long he might continue playing. “We will just have to see how long my embouchure and health hold out.”

Violinist Mary Hanson is a 16-year SACO veteran. She grew up in a musical family, and in her youth took violin lessons in the boiler room of Lincoln Elementary School in Austin, Minn. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in music education and played in the pit orchestra for musicals “Oklahoma!”, “West Side Story,” “Annie Get Your Gun,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” and “Pippin.”

Before joining SACO in 2009, she played with the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis, the Civic Orchestra of St. Paul and the Golden Valley Orchestra at different times. She was a music consultant in Bloomington in the ’70s, in charge of classroom vocal music and lessons for beginning orchestra and band members. She played violin in the St. Mary’s University orchestra in Leavenworth, Kan., while her husband was stationed there. After returning to Minnesota, she began to give private lessons on violin at her home, and later formed a string quartet and played for weddings.

Hanson said about Jensen, “She chooses all the music for our concerts. She composes, transposes, writes extra parts and whatever else needs to be done to make the music fit this orchestra. She is an accomplished composer and arranger.” She added, “It’s rewarding to play regularly in a group that helps me keep playing the instrument I love, the violin.”

Cellist Neil Olszewski said he went through several instruments in grade and high school, but it wasn’t until graduate school that he decided on one. He said the University of Minnesota had an arrangement with the Minnesota Orchestra for $2 student tickets. At the first concert, he recalled, “Our seats were front row in front of the cellos, so I think the choice was forgone.” He said that growing up in Lenox, Mass., where the Boston Symphony plays in the summer, he was exposed to classical music at an early age. “In college, I got in with a group of classical devotees — surprisingly, mostly listeners not players.”

Before joining SACO in 1982, Olszewski played in his high school and in student recitals after he started cello lessons. After his first season with the orchestra, he moved out of state. He rejoined when he returned in 1990. “I joined several rehearsals into Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2. I was overwhelmed and thought I was in over my head, but Jean Volna, my stand partner, convinced me to stick it out. I am glad I did.”

After the orchestra’s 1991 trip, a band from Finland visited Minnesota. “We did a joint concert and it was a fantastic experience to perform ‘Finlandia’ with them. I still remember the joy of that performance,” Oszewski said. “Another musical high that came from the Sister City and the trip was the commission to Finnish composer Olli Kortekangas. The music was ‘The Lost Melody,’ and I think we all felt pressure to do the piece justice, but it was also an emotional high to do the world premiere. The composer was there and we all went to the pub after.”

Olszewski said “For me, the orchestra has always been a close community. Carol is the heart and soul of the orchestra. We are very lucky to have her. I know of no community orchestra leader who does as many things she does for SACO.”

The St. Anthony Civic Orchestra rehearses on Thursday evenings at the St. Anthony Community Center, 3301 Silver Lake Road NE. Dues are $110 per year. Jensen suggests contacting her at cmj01a@msn.com to verify there is room for your instrument. SACO’s next concert, part of the celebration of its 50th year, will be held Sunday, March 9, at 3 p.m. in the community center.