Kenyon Hall on 35th Ave s.w. was packed to near capacity Saturday night, March 13, for the West Seattle Community Orchestra’s first Spring Gala fundraiser event.

75 tickets were pre-sold and several more showed up to pay at the door, making the event a success “in the black” according to Rob Duisberg, WSCO principal conductor of the upper orchestra and president of the board.

Food, drink and a silent auction augmented the live entertainment on stage, including a “woodwind ensemble, a brass quintet, a father-son trombone duo and a string quartet” according to the press release.

The money raised will be put towards WSCO’s youth program to provide “orchestra membership, coaching and mentorship to any interested K-12 student,” according to the event press release.

WSCO was started about six years ago by founder Toni Reineke, and originally called the Westside Symphonette, according to Duisberg.

“With all the funding cuts in school, music is not math, right, so it gets cut. The music programs are really suffering, especially orchestral,” Duisberg said of the driving reason Reineke started the program.

Reineke was a music teacher for Seattle schools and retired last June.

With her retirement came a big change for the WSCO. Since Reineke no longer worked for the school district their continued use of Chief Sealth High School for practices and performances became more difficult.

In order to continue using school space, WSCO had to make the transition to a non-profit organization and make the program available to students in the Seattle school system free of charge. Prior to becoming a non-profit, WSCO charged a $65 tuition per semester.

“It’s totally in sync with our mission but we took a financial hit and we didn’t want to turn around and ask our adults (to cover the cost),” Duisberg said, hence the creation of the Spring Gala fundraiser.

The WSCO is “intergenerational” according to Duisberg, made up of youngsters and 80-year-olds who all share a love for music.

“We tend to get together for rehearsals and we play music and we learn each others names, sorta, but this is great,” he said of the Gala, “it’s a good time to party together and get to know each other better.”

The WSCO is made up of amateur musicians, which Duisberg said is a good thing.

“When people say ‘amateur’ they kind of look down their nose at it, but I always like to say ‘amateur’ with the French inflection … which is to say ‘a lover,’ so an amateur is a person who does it for the love of it.”

For more information on the West Seattle Community Orchestra, visit www.wsorchestras.org.