On Dec. 9, the Loyola Levite Symphony Orchestra (informally called the Loyola Orchestra) held its annual Christmas concert. The student ensemble performed a selection of holiday music conducted by Karoline Menezes and accompanied by Nick Leonard on the double bass and a notable alumnus Elijah Brough ‘25, who now studies music in California State University, Northridge.
A notable quality of this performance is that it took place in a local parish, St. Thomas the Apostle. This is a new (but not uncommon step) that the Loyola Orchestra is taking to share Loyola’s talents with others, along with cultural immersions and exchange programs the orchestra has embarked on.
When asked about the meaning of this performance to her pre-concert, Menezes stated that “it’s a great opportunity for us to share our music, our talents and our hard work with our community at Loyola, and I’m really looking forward to starting this collaboration partnership because it allows us to be more intercultural.”
Another facet of this collaboration with the nearby community was the history of the Church community at St. Thomas itself. Menezes commented, “The beautiful community that has been here in LA has gone through a lot of ups and downs, even the church burning at some point. There’s a lot of hardships that they’ve gone through and they’re still there very much alive and strong and they’re really excited to welcome us. So for me that’s extra meaningful for us to be doing that this year.”
Finally, Menezes went on to describe the reason behind all of this: the creation of this concert, the plans and schedules and the consistent rehearsals of the orchestra. As Menezes delightfully stated, “I hope that the audience is able to experience a kind of beauty that maybe they’ve never experienced before. I like to think of the orchestra as something that is so incredible by its nature because of the amount of textures and sounds that we’re able to produce. It’s that depth that we’re able to bring through what we do. So I hope that they are able to perceive that.”
