GRAND OPENING

Editor:

I cannot agree with Charles Shere's review of the opening concert of the

Santa Rosa Symphony Saturday night.

Our new conductor's opening program was a revolution. I heard a new

orchestra playing up there on the stage. One had only to observe the faces of

the orchestra members, lit up with enthusiasm, outdoing themselves with the

difficult rhythms and racing passages of the Bernstein, to realize we had a

new level of performance.

The atmosphere, even in the audience, was electric and the choice of the

two Bernstein pieces couldn't have been better chosen to spark joy in the

hearts of the younger members of the audience.

Jeffrey Kahane's baton work could not be faulted. He was emphatic, clear,

and expressive, ranging from the the jazzy Bernstein sections to the

subtleties of the magnificent interpretation of Samuel Barber's ''Knoxville:

Summer of 1915.''

I walked out of that concert exhilarated because of the program's

excitement, the orchestra's playing, the gorgeous singing of Nancy Allen Lundy

and the sure knowledge that Santa Rosa had something to be very proud of in

our new conductor.

ROBERT I. HAYDEN

Santa Rosa