Orquesta Z musicians

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Sandy Schniewind, Contrabass

Sandy comes from a very musical Bay Area family. Her mother was Concertmaster of Prometheus Symphony until 1973, when she joined the Oakland Symphony and played with them for 38 years. Sandy learned piano from her grandmother, then played violin. In fourth grade, she played in the Kensington Community Orchestra with Robin Hansen, conducted by Bob Hansen (who just might be related to Eric Hansen).

“In sixth grade, my music teacher said, ‘we need a bass player and since you play piano, you can read bass clef. Here’s a bass.’” Sandy basically taught herself how to play it. She played it through school, but got really tired of lugging the bass around on buses. The lure of jazz and folk rock led her to singing and playing guitar with the Oakland Jazz Choir and folk rock bands—that heavy bass fell out of her life.

Meanwhile, Sandy went to UC San Diego and University of the Pacific in Stockton, getting a degree in music therapy. She’s now Director of Rehabilitation at the Gladman Mental Health Rehabilitation Center, a facility for long-term psychiatric care.

In the summer of 2009, Sandy signed up for a chamber workshop week, on piano. The Director found out she had played bass and persuaded her to borrow one of theirs and play bass instead. “I had to use Google to see if the bass would even fit in my car. I realized then that I regretted giving up such a beautiful instrument.” Sandy started taking lessons and talked with Eric Hansen about joining Prometheus.

“It’s really great for me to have my own music to balance my life out. Prometheus is really fun and I love our bass section. Plus it’s a nice family connection with my mother.” And just to keep music interesting, Sandy also plays with a tango group and a chamber orchestra.

~Joyce Vollmer

 

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Elena Bouton, violin



“Our next door neighbor played violin and when I was about 3 years old, I just l latched onto it. I decided that’s what I wanted to play,” Elena says. So she did. Growing up in upstate New York, her Dad played guitar and her Mom piano, so they all played together sometimes. (Elena’s sister Emily Bouton, joined them on violin about four years later.)

Being so young, she used the Suzuki method, complemented with playing fiddle music, with her Dad on guitar, and making Christmas music tapes for the family.

Elena played in her school orchestras through elementary, middle and high school, and went to music summer camps with tennis and fiddle tunes. She also played in the Empire State Youth Orchestra and toured in China and Korea with that orchestra.

Elena then took a gap year after high school, living in Germany with hosts who also happened to play violin. She played in a community orchestra and had a grand time trying to follow a conductor in German.

Off to McGill University in Montreal for university. Elena played in the McGill Community Orchestra, trekking 1½ hours on the metro each way for rehearsals, which, in a Montreal winter, really shows dedication! “You don’t actually have to do these things,” Elena says, “but playing violin is so ingrained in me that I can’t imagine not playing.” Once again, she had to contend with a musical system she wasn’t familiar with (the solfège naming system, which uses Do, Re, Mi rather than C, D, E).

“You just read the conductor’s body language and gauge how loudly he’s shouting to figure out what he wants,” Elena explains. Oh! In Elena’s final year there, Emily also joined that orchestra, the first time they actually played in an orchestra together.

Elena made her way to the Bay Area for a Master’s Degree in Architecture from UC Berkeley, and now works here as an architect.

“I always prefer playing in an orchestra,” she says. “The intensity of a full orchestra, the enveloping of its full sound, is really exciting.” But that doesn’t mean she’s given up fiddling. You might also find her at a café on Irish jam night!

~ Joyce Vollmer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emily Bouton, violin

When Emily was very, very little, she would watch her older sister, Elena Bouton, during her violin lessons. By at the advanced age of 3, she too wanted to play. Since her Dad played guitar and Mom piano, they’d often play fiddle tunes and make Christmas tapes for family.

Emily played in her school orchestras through elementary, middle and high school (four years behind Elena). She went to music summer camps, with tennis and fiddle tunes. And played in the Empire State Youth Orchestra, touring in Portugal.

Next was McGill University in Montreal for a degree in Cognitive Science and Media Studies, where Elena also was (three years ahead of her, after a gap year). While there, Emily and Elena played in the McGill Community Orchestra, contending with a French-speaking conductor and also contending with a musical system she wasn’t familiar with (the solfège naming system, which uses Do, Re, Mi rather than C, D, E).

“I made peace with not quite knowing what the conductor was yelling about.” Her first year there, Elena’s last, they played together in an orchestra for the first time.

The pandemic closed the borders and sent Emily home to New York, where she finished her degree. Feeling the need for a road trip, she came to the Bay Area, where Elena had relocated. “I liked it so much I decided to stay,” she says. She now works for A Home Away from Homelessness, a nonprofit working with children.

She stills like to play fiddle music and is venturing into R&B and soul music—on violin and as a singer. You might find her around town at Irish jams and open mike nights! “Music is a time to get out of my head, and be with a big group of people all working on something together,” Emily says. “There’s nothing really like playing in an orchestra and putting our hearts, minds and bodies into it.”

~ Joyce Vollmer

 

 



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Bendrew Jong, director Orquesta Z, piano/bandoneon

Starting at 6-years old, Bendrew began piano lessons in Berkeley with the famed Shirley Adams, and continued through high school, where he was musical director, pianist, and composer for an original musical “So How’s Your Sister?” at Harry Ells High in Richmond. Then, attending UC Berkeley and graduating in Architecture, Ben took music classes through his 5 years at the University of California at Berkeley, including opera and chorus and music theory. Then taking a 40 year hiatus as a full-time architect, Bendrew discovered Argentine tango and the rest is history, first dancing tango throughout the world while in his 50’s and 60’s and now performing and composing tangos as part of Orquesta Z, which he helped form in 2013. He’s so pleased to be able to have performed with such stellar alumni of Orquesta Z as James Shallenberger, who founded the Kronos Quartet, and dozens of others who have added to the rich repertoire of Orquesta Z.

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