Orchestra

A tile mural featuring the Costa Mesa-based Pacific Symphony was unveiled last month at a Mission Viejo park. Several hundred participants of all ages helped create the work, which is more than 12 feet wide and 3 feet high. The mural on permanent display at Oso Viejo Community Park depicts a colorful scene with Pacific Symphony conductor Carl St. Clair, orchestra musicians, performers and spectators. Surrounding the picture are 4-by-8-inch tiles that illustrate measures of music from USC music professor and composer Frank Ticheli, whose compositions for band and orchestra are repertoire standards nationwide.

Submit AFTER HOURS items to the Daily Pilot, 330 W. Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; by fax to (949) 646-4170; or by calling (949) 574-4295. A complete list is available at www.dailypilot.com. MUSIC BAVARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The Philharmonic Society of Orange County presents the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra playing a whole lot of Brahms in Segerstrom Hall at 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. The first night's program is Brahms' Symphony No. 3 in F major, Symphony No. 4 in E minor and Symphony No. 1 in C minor.

Due to a finger injury, Pacific Symphony concertmaster and violinist Raymond Kobler will not be performing at this week's 's Pacific Symphony American Composer Festival program, "The Passion of Philip Glass. " Symphony spokeswoman Jayce Keane described the left-hand injury as a chronic issue, but "nothing serious. " He will be replaced by the orchestra's associate concertmaster Paul Manaster for performances through Sunday. The concerts at Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall will showcase Glass' ties to Eastern musical traditions and feature the Pacific Chorale and soloists.

GETTING INVOLVED runs periodically in the Daily Pilot on a rotating basis. For information on adding your organization to this list, call (949) 574-4298. Mentor Program YMCA Community Services needs mentors to make a lasting effect on a young person's life. Students from 10 to 18 years old are matched with mentors to improve their school performance and self-esteem while developing positive peer and adult relationships. (714) 549-9622, Ext. 35. Mozart Classical Orchestra Orange County's only nonprofit resident chamber orchestra needs volunteers for ticketing, ushering, phones, mailing and help with receptions.

The Los Angeles Jazz Institute will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Stan Kenton Orchestra Aug. 23 with an evening of jazz at the Balboa Pavilion in Newport Beach. Alumni of the Kenton orchestra will perform their Big Band hits to celebrate the group's "New Concepts of Artistry in Rhythm" era. Bill Holman and Bill Russo will lead the band and soloists from around the country, including Charlie Mariano and Carl Fontana. General admission is $50 but reserved seating will cost $100.

With the modern-day Internet, one can turn to Google for just about everything: Web searches, maps, news, e-mail or lucrative advertising, to name a few. But who knew Google was making orchestras, too? Turns out one young musician from Irvine did — and it's getting him a free trip to Sydney, Australia. Andrew Chilcote is a 22-year-old double bass player finishing up his senior year at the New England Conservatory in Boston, one of the nation's top music schools. He was among the many musicians wanting to play in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, a worldwide affair that had folks from all over uploading videos onto YouTube — the popular Google-owned video-sharing website — of themselves playing their respective instruments.

. Renowned Russian quintet to perform As part of the Newport Beach Arts Commission Concerts in the Park series, the Russian National Orchestra's Wind Quintet is scheduled to perform at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Corona del Mar's Grant Howald Park. Sergei Markov, the orchestra's chief executive officer, will join the quintet on stage to narrate "Wolf Tracks," a contemporary update to the classic tale of "Peter and the Wolf." The Russian National Orchestra's recording featuring "Peter and the Wolf" and "Wolf Tracks" has earned the group a Grammy.

OBITUARY Leo Frankel Leo Frankel, a Pacific Symphony Orchestra board member remembered most for loaning his precious 1714 Laurentius Guadagnini violin to a concertmaster two years ago and starting the orchestra's instrument acquisition program, died Sunday. He had been battling cancer. Frankel, who lived in Corona del Mar, was 71. The New York native and violin lover joined the orchestra's board of directors four years ago. While serving in the army, Frankel had been a violinist for the Seventh Army Symphony.

NEWPORT BEACH — Natalie Cernius took a liking to the piano even before she was big enough to reach the keys. As a toddler, she enjoyed crawling under the instrument during her older siblings' lessons. The notes from those sessions resonated in the toddler's ears and throughout their Dover Shores home. It was Natalie's early beginnings playfully scrambling between the piano legs and hearing those notes that likely helped give the 14-year-old the perfect pitch she has today.

Jennifer K Mahal John Clayton walked into his first band class in junior high and saw an instrument that could be fun. "I said, 'Wow, could I play that,'" the co-founder of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra remembers. "The band teacher wrote down my name and wrote down 'tuba.'" That would have been that, except that as Clayton walked out of the room, he saw four "gorgeous" instruments standing on end. He asked if he could change his choice.