CBA Ode to Joy

somehow had that sour smell of an elementary school cafeteria, but even then . . . it felt like magic.” Rehearsals thereafter moved to Judge Julia Nowicki’s courtroom at the Daley Center, and rehearsals have been held at the Daley Center ever since. More than three decades later, the CBASO has grown from that small number of musicians at that first rehearsal in 1986–some of whom remain members to this day–to a group that now regularly fields more than 75 musicians. One fundamental thing unites the group, according to current co-chair Brian Chang (clarinet and bass clarinet): “We all share passions for both music and the law.” While every member has their own personal musical journey, most came to the CBASO for the same reason as Emily Fishman (violin). “To me, it was an opportunity to get back into something that I always loved but hadn’t done in 7 or 8 years, as I took a break from violin when I went away to college,” Emily says. “I thought it would be a safe place to resume playing violin after such a long absence from it, as I figured there would be less pressure among a group of other busy attorneys, judges, and law students. I also thought it was so cool that this group of professionals would come together to do something so different from their daily jobs.” However, the CBASO does not merely exist to serve as a creative outlet for attorneys. It is a musical organization with an ambitious artistic vision that has grown along with the orchestra. Members readily point to Maestro Katz as one of the reasons for the group’s evolution and longevity. According to Patricia Bronte (violin and original member), “The biggest change in the CBASO since its earliest days has been the quality of the musicians. We’ve always had a wide variety in skill levels: some outstanding players and some with pretty rusty chops. That was true in the 1980s, and it’s true today. But the overall ability of the CBASO has improved immensely since those early beginnings. In the past few years, we have tackled some very difficult repertoire and achieved some moments of sublime musical beauty–achievements that would have been impossible in the CBASO’s early years. I credit Maestro David Katz–who has remained with us loyally from the beginning– with helping us to improve and mature as an ensemble.” John S. Vishneski III (clarinet) agrees: “David knows the musicians, and he is brave in pushing us to try something a little bit different, a little bit harder, and he pushes us to be a little bit better.” Not only that, but he has always seemed to understand how to cultivate the best of what lawyers have to offer. “I shall always recall David’s comments that despite a poor dress rehearsal, his nerves were not overly frayed because he knew that as lawyers, we’d dig down, suck it up, and pull it off,” says former Violin I player (and original member) Gail Margolis. Among notable performances in the CBASO’s history were the first performances anywhere of Gilbert and Sullivan’s courthouse operetta, Trial by Jury , in which the entire cast–soloists, chorus, and orchestra–was made up of legal professionals, performing in a working courtroom. The CBASO has also collaborated with such notable soloists as Grammy Award winners William Warfield (on Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait ) and saxophonist Robert Black, Chicago Symphony Orchestra principal tubist Gene Pokorny, and former Lyric Opera concertmaster Henry Criz. But most members would confirm that a major watershed moment for the CBASO was when it marked its 20th anniversary in 2006 with a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at Navy Pier on the final evening of the convention of World Bar Associations. As Carlin Metzger (violin) recalls, “I feel like that performance (and the prep for it) was a turning point to bigger and better things.” The choral ensemble formed for that performance became the CBA Chorus, which has enabled the CBASO to expand its repertoire intomajor choral works ranging from Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Black British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast , to the German Requiem of Brahms and Rossini’s Stabat Mater . In 2009, the CBASO performed at a commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, and in 2010 the CBASO performed at a gala celebration for retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

CBA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS 51