"An International Celebration", was the title of the concert performed by members of the Grossmont Symphony Orchestra at the East County Performing Arts Center. Approximately 35-40 musicians were seated on stage, most of which were string instruments, but also included some Flutes, lower brass (trombone, sousaphone), trumpets, French horns and two oboes. One of the violin players made an announcement and was seated, and the lead violinist came out and tuned the other musicians. Then the director, Dr. Randall Tweed, came out and conducted the first piece, Overture to "La Gazza Ladra" ("The Thieving Magpie") by G Rossini. In researching Gioacchino Antonio Rossini, I found out he wrote more than 30 operas along with some religious and chamber compositions. Among them "Gugliemo Tell" ("William Tell") Overture, The Lone Ranger Theme, and the Opera "ll' Barbiere di Siviglia" ("The Barber of Seville"). Rossini was born in Pesaro, Italy in 1792, into a family of musicians. His father was a trumpet player and his mother a singer. When Rossini was 6 his father was jailed for being a French sympathizer. His mother, a struggling singer, was unable to handle him as an unruly child and he ended up being raised by a butcher. Rossini was apprenticed to a blacksmith but ended up studying music under a master by the name of Angelo Tesei, where he learned to play the horn and sing. By the time he was eighteen he wrote his first opera "La Cambiale di Matrimonio" in Venice. He became quite rich from his compositions and died a wealthy man in Passy, France in 1868. The next piece was "Concerto in B-flat Major, op.4 no.6." by G.F. Handel. George Friederich Handel was born in Halle, Prussia (Germany) in 1685. In 1703 he intended to study law, but at the age of eight, he was appointed as a violinist-composer for Hamburg's German opera. In 1712 he moved to London and became the Chapel Master to the Duke of Chandos.
