When I got married in 2002, I moved about 12 miles outside of Auburn CA, which is 50 miles above Sacramento, where I had lived for 20 years. Auburn is only about 10,000 people, but it is the county seat and it has its own Symphony Orchestra. There are larger towns in the county, but they don't have a symphony.

The Matron of Honor at our wedding was a violinist in the Auburn Symphony, and my wife had season tickets. We've kept those same seats all these years. and attend three to five concerts a year. We know several members of the orchestra now, and lots of people in the audience. It seems like most of the music teachers in town are members of the Auburn Symphony. To my mind, the Auburn Symphony is better than either of the two symphony orchestras in Sacramento, a city of half a million.

Most of the Auburn Symphony performances are in the auditorium of Placer High School, a classic building built in 1926. And the performances are a delight, perhaps a little more informal than the symphonies you'd hear in the big cities - but we like it. Our favorite concerts are in the Fall, when they do spookier music and everyone dresses in costume - audience and orchestra alike. And on Mother's Day, the Auburn Symphony does a concert at the beautiful Mondavi Center. The Mother's Day concert is always something really special, not what you'd expect out of a small-town orchestra. Last year, they did the score for Walt Disney's Fantasia while the movie played on a screen above the orchestra.

We're so proud of our hometown orchestra, and of the many cultural events we have in our little town.