Letters to the editor: 04/05/01

Road assistance appreciated

To the Editor:

In this day of "highway fear and road rage," it is nice to know there are still some who will take the time to stop and render aid.

To these three, our heartfelt thanks.

Richard and Nancy Smith

Cane Creek Road

Orchestra program deserves praise

To the Editor:

The concert presented this year's winners of the Student Solo Competition sponsored by the Jackson County Arts Council. They were flutist Reuben Council, a graduate student at WCU who studies with Eldred Spell; violinist Kelly Dean Wohlman, a senior at Smoky Mountain High School who began her studies at the age of 4 with Cathy Arps and now studies with William Henigbaum; and soprano Jeanne Jolly, a senior at WCU who studies with Robert Holquist.

I will admit that I am not an impartial critic. I have friends and family who have been active with the orchestra over many years. But in my biased opinion, the Civic Orchestra is an genuine treasure in our community. Bill Henigbaum has gathered together an amazingly diverse group of musicians from seven Western North Carolina counties and formed them into a real musical miracle.

They aren't perfect. There's the occasional missed entrance and unplanned dissonance, but these folks make classical music relevant and fun. If the student soloists are musical jewels, the orchestra makes a fine setting for them.

The soloists were poised and gifted, and as a parent whose children once played in the orchestra, I appreciate the many hours logged by these students, their parents and their teachers to make these polished performances happen. I couldn't help picturing the 4-year-old knee-high sprite behind the talented and elegant young musician that Kelly Dean has become!

But most of all, I am grateful to Bill Henigbaum, who has nurtured this musical menagerie over the years. What a patient and gifted man! Thank you, Bill, for teaching and guiding these folks, for picking the music to showcase their talents, and for getting them all to play together as proof of the principle that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

And thanks to all of the other supporting players - Cathy Arps and Ray Menze and the other orchestra staff; the Jackson County Arts Council; Western Carolina University and the department of music; and each and every member of the orchestra for the hours of practice they put in to provide me and all of the audience with a Sunday afternoon of delightful entertainment.

Joyce Moore

Tuckasegee

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