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Opening Night Was a Splendid Time For All!
The Bijou launched its 7th season on October 10 at 8 PM in the State Theatre, in
a concert that featured the first-time ever collaboration between the Bay County Historical Society and The Bijou Orchestra.
The concert included the performance of works preserved in hand-copied manuscripts from Michigan WPA Orchestra libraries.
Thanks to the support of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Library and the Wayne State University Libraries, these manuscripts
have found a new home in the library of the Detroit Symphony which has loaned some of them for our use in this concert. To
learn more about these beautiful works of art, go to http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/w/wpaic/info.html. The impact of the WPA and CCC workers was significant in Michigan. The concert was preceded by images of projects from
throughout Michigan and a lecture on the subject was at the Bay County Historical Society by Leo Najar and BCHS Curator Ron
Bloomfield Ron also proved himself an able banjo player in three selections that he played with the orchestra. Plans are already
under way for another project next year.
The Bijou at the Traverse City Film Festival!
The Bijou performed live at Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival on August 2. The orchestra
played the original salon orchestration of the score to Metropolis, the silent film by Fritz Lang. The two hour score
is a monumental undertaking for players because of its length and difficulty—most players play continuously without
any pauses for the duration. Our performance was greeted by a standing ovation that lasted the length of the credits. The performance was preceded by an extraordinary job of moving us into place. We had 15 minutes
to move chairs, stands, keyboards and percussion equipment as well as place a stand light at each place get those wired together.
Our crew of volunteers led by Stage Manager Kathleen Scott did an outstanding job pulling this off. It was an exciting artistic
experience for all of us, and we hope to be able to return to the festival again next summer.
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