The stage is nearly set for the opening performance of the Neponset Valley Philharmonic Orchestra - the region's first full-size, professional orchestra.
More than 80 musicians - most of them in their mid 20s and graduates of Boston area conservatories - have played for the 60 available seats, each heard by Music Director and Conductor Lawrence Isaacson.
Organizers have designated a place, time and a program for its inaugural show: Sunday, Oct. 5, at 3 p.m. at Sharon High School. The opening piece will be Mozart's "Overture to the Impresario."
Their mission is to enhance the musical life of the region through a variety of orchestral and chamber music offerings, and educational programs.
All that's left, organizers say, is to raise the remaining money necessary to fund an upstart nonprofit musical group. The concert is contingent on raising enough money, said Nicki Meade Draves, executive director for the Philharmonic Orchestra.
She stressed the group has jumped through several necessary hoops, such as obtaining nonprofit status. But it's a pricey production: Draves estimated it will cost $300,000 per year, slightly more than a third of that going to pay the musicians.
Regardless, people are getting excited, Draves said.
Isaacson, 50, founded the orchestra in June 2007. A lifelong musician and educator, he thought up the idea for a philharmonic orchestra in the Neponset Valley - encompassing 20 or so communities from Milton to Attleboro. And he remains confident all will work out.
From his current vantage point on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory, he sees an area "very under served" when it comes to high quality, professional orchestral music. People will support this, he said.
The area is filled with people who could support an orchestra of this size, and would likely want to support an orchestra, he said. Looking around the region last year, "there was really (no orchestra) of any size or importance."
His orchestra, he said, would fill that void.
"We're not a flash-in-the-pan," he said. "We want to have an orchestra that's here (for a while)."
Karen Bell, of the Walpole Cultural Council, agrees the area needs a professional orchestra. "It would be welcome in this area," said Bell, who is also a professional vocalist. It would also provide a musical draw beyond the amateur groups currently in existence in the area, she said.
Harry Williams III, in charge of publicity for the Brockton Symphony Orchestra, said he thinks there's room enough for another orchestra.
Would he find time to see both the Brockton and Neponset Valley orchestras?
"Absolutely, absolutely. There's an audience for both," he said.
The audience for the planned Oct. 5 concert will hear a program filled with classics: after Mozart's overture will follow Mendelssohn's "Violin Concerto," "Symphony No. 5" by Beethoven and "Rumanian Dances" by Bela Bartok.
Of the 60 musicians who will play in the October concert, many have already been told that the Philharmonic Orchestra is interested in hiring them, Isaacson said.
The group's schedule will allow its musicians the flexibility to participate in other orchestras to further their careers. Draves said organizers are counting on movement among the musicians.
After graduating from a conservatory, it takes a little while for young musicians to get their feet under them, said Isaacson - who played the trombone professionally. "We want to be that next step."
It should bring "freshness" and "excitement" to the music, he added - even the well-known classics.
Ideally, the orchestra will grow musically as the community grows musically, Isaacson said. He imagines, in the near future, introducing a brand-new piece from an up-and-coming composer in between other well-known pieces.
He imagines taking string quartets to area schools to show young students what it takes to be a professional musician.
One of those musicians will be 26-year-old Natalie Favaloro, a native of Australia who recently completed a graduate program at New England Conservatory.
Isaacson asked Favaloro, a violinist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, to act as concertmistress for the Orchestra's planned four yearly shows. A concertmistress is traditionally the violinist who sits at the conductor's left hand, who directs the tuning of the string instruments before a performance and who generally acts a leader of the orchestra.
Boston is one of the best places in the United States to study and play music, Favaloro said. But another orchestra is always welcome, she said.
"You can always have more really good quality orchestras," said Favaloro.
Though she started playing the violin when she was 3 and first performed a year later, Favaloro is excited about the hand-picked group with whom she will be playing. Some "really amazing musicians" have already auditioned, she said.
Before any of this is realized, the money must come.
In a struggling economy, it can be tough to get people to write checks, said Draves. In a month and a half, she guessed, if little progress is made, the orchestra may have to stop and ask if the Oct. 5 date is realistic.
Draves isn't worried. She's confident the October concert will go off, followed by three others over the next year.
Jeb Bobseine can be reached at jeb@walpoletimes.com or 508-668-0243, ext. 13.
