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ABOUT US
Formed in the late 1970s, the Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra has established a presence throughout the county. Early in its history, the CCCO performed regularly to standing-room-only audiences at the Walnut Creek Civic Arts Theatre and various local churches. When the spectacular Lesher Center for the Arts opened its doors in Walnut Creek in 1990, the group was invited to become the center’s resident chamber orchestra. In addition to the five-concert season at the Lesher Center, the orchestra nurtures a commitment to the East Contra Costa community by offering the same programs at the intimate Recital Hall at Los Medanos College in Pittsburg. The CCCO also appears in holiday performances, including annual performances of Handel’s Messiah sponsored by the City of San Ramon and First Presbyterian Church in Concord.
The orchestra’s founding Music Director/Conductor was Louis Franks, followed by John Maltester and Harvey Benstein, and is currently under the leadership of Timothy M. Smith. The group is comprised of forty-five musicians ranging in age from 15 to 94 who are music teachers, accountants, students, electricians, mechanics, homemakers, lawyers, retirees, dentists, engineers and computer specialists. Primarily Contra Costa residents, their only remuneration is the stimulation and satisfaction of rehearsing and performing together.
 • The orchestra’s MISSION is to provide cultural enrichment, education, and entertainment to the community
through their GOALS of
• Presenting professional-quality orchestral, chamber and solo performances at an affordable price.
• Providing opportunities for amateur musicians of all ages to perform in a high caliber community-based
orchestra.
• Encouraging students to participate in or attend performances.
• Supporting contemporary composers by providing a forum in which new works are presented to the
community.
• Showcasing local, established soloists throughout each concert season.
• Performing a wealth of works from all periods in history and various cultures, ranging from well-known
to rarely-heard masterpieces to regional and world premieres.
 TIMOTHY M. SMITH
Timothy M. Smith is Music Director and Conductor of the Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra. Smith is a seasoned conductor and veteran music educator, most recently serving a twenty-two year tenure as Professor of Music at California State University East Bay, where he was Director of Wind Studies, and taught courses in conducting, music education and music literature, in addition to serving for four years as Music Director/Conductor of the University Orchestra and four years as Chair of the Music Department. Professor Smith currently serves part-time on the faculty at CSU, Sacramento.
In the four seasons under Maestro Smith’s leadership, the CSU East Bay University Symphony Orchestra became a viable and vital performing ensemble in the department. Highlights of these seasons include the formal involvement of string faculty with the orchestra, establishing an orchestral residency for a young professional string quartet, expanding concert programming to include a wide variety of literature for both full and chamber orchestra, prominently featuring faculty as soloists with the orchestra, expanding the orchestra’s exposure to repertoire through regular reading of literature for full orchestra, chamber orchestra, string orchestra and orchestral winds and percussion, and establishing a formal relationship between the University Symphony Orchestra and the University Opera Program.
In addition to his responsibilities at CSUEB, Timothy M. Smith is in great demand as a guest conductor, adjudicator and clinician. He has conducted professional orchestras and wind bands, as well as high school and junior high school honor orchestras and bands throughout the western, northwestern and mid-western states. As an educational conductor Maestro Smith has conducted the Oregon Music Educators Association (OMEA) All-State Orchestra, appeared three times with the California Orchestra Directors Association (CODA) All-State High School Honor Orchestra, twice with the California Music Educators Association (CMEA) Bay Section High School String Orchestra, and conducted nearly regional, county, and district level honor orchestra in California and Nevada.
Professor Smith holds degrees in Horn Performance, Conducting and Music Education, is a former member of the Stockton, Modesto, and Spokane (WA) Symphonies, and was an active freelance horn player in the Bay Area. Involved in music education on several different levels. He was named the California Music Educators Association Bay Section’s “Outstanding Music Educator of 2006.” For several years he was Music Director of the multi-level Youth Orchestra of Southern Alameda County, and conducted the Senior Camp Orchestra at the Hayward-La Honda Music Camp for several years. He will be celebrating 20 years in the Summer of 2007 as a member of the La Sierra Fine Arts Camp teaching staff, and has been guest conductor of both orchestras and bands at the Cazadero Performing Arts Camp several times as well. |
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