BAMC at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts

In the Summer of 2008, the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra was contacted by the Greek-American mandolin virtuoso, Dimitris Marinos with regard to participating in a 2009 concert in Skokie, Illinois. There was a multi-media event being developed and Dimitris wanted to see if the MMO would be interested in performing an original composition by noted composer, Robert Lombardo. The piece was not completed at that time and our performance would be a world premiere.

Being familiar with Mr. Lombardo's writing, we knew that we would be distancing ourselves considerably from the standard period repertoire with which we are most familiar. Our experience with modern composition at that point included presentations of Truhlar's "Bad Haller Romanze" with Daniel Ahlert and Birgit Schwabe as well as Mike Marshall's "Concerto." The scope of Robert Lombardo's piece was even broader than we'd anticipated.

Thankfully, Dimitris Marinos made himself available to the Orchestra for several rehearsals, even though that action included several hours of driving on his part. Without his direction, in combination with the superb guidance of our own Linda Binder, handling this "Concerto" and several other pieces in the program would have been impossible.

You may be able to find video available from the program on youtube. This concert took place at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, Illinois on February 20, 2009.

Analects IV

This is a picture of Dimitris Marinos that we found on the net and used in our promotion of the concert. We found him to often be happier than he appears in this image.

The program entitled, "Analects IV," included theatre, dance, recitations in Greek, a chorus in the style of ancient Greek theater, and a constant underpining of solo mandolin provided by Dimitris Marinos. For a portion of the program, the members of the Orchestra sat on stage and beheld the remarkable event. In this picture you see the first mandolin section, our mandolist and mando-cellist seated before the chorus.

Takis Theolokatos recites and Anya Yerrakova plays the piano, while the Mandolin Orchestra plays an accompaniment and the Hellenic American Academy Adult Chorus sings. Further to the right, Dimitris Marinos played the lead mandolin.

When we played the Lombardo piece, Dimitris faced the Orchestra in order to direct from his chair while soloing. The piece was a tremendous challenge for the players, but the experience was very good. Marinos' playing and intensity were inspiring.

Many parts of the program were spectacular. Aside from Dimitris Marinos' playing, the chorus, the pianist and Takis maintained an extraordinary performance standard. Members of the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra who are on stage in Skokie are: Linda Binder, Mischa Litvin, Paul Ruppa, Tom Gaudynski, d'Andre Willis, Jeff Binder, Scott Emmons, Mary Kehoss, Laurie Asch, and Lisa Lyons.