Photo courtesy of the Stone Soup Symphony

By Steve Sears

Rob Adams, President of the Hackettstown-based Stone Soup Symphony since its 1998 inception, is back at it. He’s been recruiting musicians as well as preparing with his group to perform for the summer, fall, and holiday seasons, and on into 2022.

But most of all, he is back with his “family” of musicians after a separation due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and that is paramount.

“When we had that first rehearsal (a few months ago), it really was amazing actually. You hadn’t seen these people in a year, and we really do operate more like a family than a business. It’s a group of about 40 musicians, and most of us have been in it for years, so you really kind of miss your family after having not seen them for a year.”

“It’s a great group of people,” says Edward Meisner, current Conductor and Music Director. “A lot of orchestras, the members show up, they play, and then they leave, but we’re like a family. It’s like friends and family; we socialize with each other even outside of the orchestra, so it makes it nice.”

George Akehurst, who co-founded the group and was its first Conductor and Music Director, died suddenly of a massive heart attack in 2010. Adams recalls, “We called an emergency board meeting, and I asked, ‘Do we want to have an orchestra going forward or not?’ Everybody said yes, and I said, ‘Well then, we aren’t leaving this room until we’ve picked at least a temporary conductor to run next week’s rehearsal.’ And Ed Meisner volunteered to do it on a temporary basis, and he’s still our conductor. It’s worked out really well; Ed loves doing it.”

“Rob asked for someone to volunteer temporarily to keep the orchestra together,” says Meisner. “I’m the director of the Palisades Park Fire Department Band and I had decades of conducting experience, so I said, ‘Okay, I’ll do it. I’ll get you through to the spring.’ And then here it is, 12 years later,” he says while laughing. He then adds, “I know many musicians were really anxious to get back playing again, and it’s a highlight of my life, so it’s exciting for me. I couldn’t wait to get back. It feels good.”

Stone Soup Symphony practices every Wednesday at the First Presbyterian Church chapel on Route 46, and indoor performances are held primarily at the current church across the road. The Symphony performs at outdoor venues as well. “We run three repertoires a year,” Adams explains. “We start the first week of January. We start with classical music, and we’ll work on that, and we present that at the end of May or early June. And then once that’s done, we get into summer, and we start to switch out, and we start prepping for fall shows, and we kind of jumped right into the fall this year. We are working on our Pops, like show tunes, medleys, light classical, audience pleaser type stuff.” Finally, the Symphony ends the year with Christmas music for the holidays. “We do a Christmas show every year,” Adams says.

“We draw over 500 people to the First Presbyterian Church in Hackettstown,” says Meisner of the Christmas show. “It’s quite a nice production. The orchestra I feel just keeps getting better and better. If you had heard us 10 or 12 years ago compared to now, it’s quite an improvement.”

“We’re always recruiting, and we’re here for the community,” Adams says. He then alludes to what he knows are key points. “What we’re trying to do here is make classical symphonic music accessible to everybody. And of the two ways of thinking ‘accessible,’ one is we always give free concerts. Nobody has ever bought a ticket for a Stone Soup Symphony concert. The other angle on ‘accessible’ is we don’t audition. We don’t do that; you want to play, you can come play.”

Stone Soup Symphony also offers a scholarship in Akehurst’s memory. The award is given to a selected student member who plays with the group for at least two years.

For musicians seeking to join, or those wishing to donate to or attend a performance of the 501c3 Stone Soup Symphony, visit www.stonesoupsymphony.org for more information.