Nevada Chamber Symphony celebrates 20th anniversary

Friday, Sept. 17, 2004 | 9:13 a.m.

What: Nevada Chamber Symphony.

When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

Where: Henderson Pavilion, 200 S. Green Valley Parkway.

Admission: Free.

Information: 267-4849.

Twenty years. It's a long time for a chamber orchestra, born a resident string quartet in Las Vegas' only library, to survive with free concerts, lost grants, competition from a larger orchestra and a shoestring budget that pays only the musicians.

Like a complex composition, the Nevada Chamber Symphony has had its crescendos, adagios, cadences, harmony and dissonance, but surprisingly very few rests, considering its rugged journey.

"It's a miracle that we're here, really and truly," said Peggy Trasatti, chairman and general manager of Nevada Chamber Symphony. "The orchestra went for nine years with the library. The library got a wonderful professional orchestra. We were small and never had big funding because we were a people's orchestra and we were free."

When the library restructured its programs, the chamber symphony was on its own. The low-profile group, which gained and lost grants over the years and tried to offer subscriptions to little avail, found itself with no money.

"It was like a Camelot and then it was over," Trasatti said of the restructuring. "By the time we went out there, the people who supported the arts had already selected their groups."

Eleven years later the symphony's musicians -- musicians who played Las Vegas showrooms back when showroom music was live and not recorded -- are still following Rodolfo Fernandez's cue.

Its audience members, some of whom are known by the orchestra by name, remain faithful.

At 7 p.m. Sunday the orchestra will be marking its 20 years and expressing its gratitude at the Henderson Pavilion with a free concert of musical gems from the stage, screen and radio.

The evening's repertoire is packed with pop and classical greats, including "Tea For Two," "Carousel Waltz" from "Carousel," the overture from "Carmen," "76 Trombones," "Razzle Dazzle" and "All That Jazz."

Conductor Fernandez, a white-haired cellist from Chile, formed the string quartet as part of a library program when he moved to Las Vegas in the 1970s. In the 1980s, when showrooms switched from live orchestras and bands to recorded music, Fernandez had thousands of unemployed professional musicians he could use to form a chamber group.

"Year by year, it was such tunnel vision moving forward," Trasatti said. "As far as Rodolfo is concerned, it's a real gift to have an opportunity to perform."