SMC Symphony Orchestra: Khachaturian, Bizet, Tchaikovsky
Written text adapted from “SMC Symphony Orchestra Performs Khachaturian, Bizet and Tchaikovsky” originally published in The Corsair.
Principal double bass Jay Rubottom’s 2004 Björn Stoll bass and bridge.
The musicians of the Santa Monica College (SMC) Symphony Orchestra wrapped their fall 2025 semester with a concert of Khachaturian, Bizet and Tchaikovsky, led by conductor Mercedes Juan Musotto. The orchestra performed at its home venue, the Eli and Edythe BroadStage, after rehearsing at the SMC Performing Arts Center every Tuesday night. The orchestra is comprised of students, alumni, community members and some SMC faculty.“I think of Tchaikovsky 5 as a standard repertoire piece,” said Jay Rubottom, principal bass. “I’ve played it with professional orchestras plenty of times, and it’s never easy… But the difficulty is, I think everybody kind of has to be on the same page, because these melodies get passed back and forth so quickly and so frequently, and it still has to sound essentially like one person sitting at a giant piano and playing it.” Rubottom considers the programming of the Tchaikovsky to be a special opportunity for many. “I think it's a really good opportunity, especially, for the students instead of community members to get to play this,” he said. “Because even though this is standard rep, it's still very hard standard rep. ...When I was in junior college, back in the day, we would never have thought of trying to play something at this level.”Clarinetist Arthur Naito, applied music instructor at SMC, plays regularly in the orchestra. “I missed it during the pandemic… I play in some other orchestras around town, so it's just nice to build repertoire, to read these great symphonies with a really enthusiastic orchestra,” he said.
“And so that's a real pleasure… So I’m really lucky. I'm really fortunate," Naito continued. "And I count my blessings every day.”
Leo Marcus plays the piano part in Khachaturian’s “Spartacus” during rehearsal.
Jonathan Stehney plays a bassoon solo during tech rehearsal.