The sounds of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 ring through Irvine Auditorium as the University Symphony rehearses for its upcoming concert, but something sounds a bit off.
In the throes of midterms, one of the violinists has fallen asleep mid-fiddle.
But under the leadership of its new conductor and with a flurry of fresh energy and eager new faces, even setbacks such as sleeping musicians seem to be easy to overcome for this group of talented Penn players.
J. Karla Lemon, who served as director of orchestras at Stanford University for nine years before moving to Philadelphia a few months ago, is the Music Department's new director of ensembles.
This fall, Lemon replaced former symphony orchestra and wind ensemble conductor Ricardo Averbach, who left earlier this year after working at Penn since 1995 and who now holds a conductor position at Miami University of Ohio.
Students say Lemon has turned the two ensembles around.
"It's a lot more organized than it was last year, and she really has a good emphasis on where we are and where she wants us to be," says Alyssa Rubinstein, a College sophomore who plays the violin in the symphony and is one of the rotating student concertmasters.
Heading up the University Symphony and Penn's wind ensemble, Lemon says her job entails holding auditions, programming all of the music that the ensembles play, hiring guest artists and "maintaining the artistic integrity of both groups."
She also stresses her role as an advocate for music on and around Penn's campus.
"I believe that a conductor of any orchestra, whether it's a university orchestra or a metropolitan symphony orchestra, should act as an ambassador for music and art in that community," Lemon says.
From cutting the size of the orchestra, doubling rehearsal time and finding talented and vivacious freshmen to selecting a variety of pieces and tirelessly preparing for rehearsals, Lemon has revolutionized the symphony and wind ensemble, the student musicians say.
"I feel very lucky, like I'm at what may be a new era of performance at Penn," Lemon says with excitement and conviction in her voice.
Waking before 6 a.m., Lemon listens to WXPN radio, her "new favorite station," as she gets ready for her day and then spends two hours studying some of the 12 pieces she is currently working on, from the works being performed at her groups' upcoming concerts to pieces that she will not conduct for several years but that require special scrutiny because of their high level of difficulty.
While students across campus use notecards and rhetorical devices to prepare for exams, Lemon studies by internalizing the music that she is aiming for, making artistic decisions about the tempo, pace and color of the pieces she will conduct as well as deciding how the players should convey the different tones of the works.
"I'm developing a concept of sound in my imagination of how each piece will sound from the moment the first sound is struck to the last moment in time," she says of her preparations.
From her studying at home, Lemon goes to the gym and then heads to her office in Irvine, which she says she loves because of its size and because it is so near Irvine's Main Hall, where the symphony orchestra and wind ensemble practice and will perform on the evenings of Nov. 23 and Nov. 26, respectively.
"The great thing about having my office in Irvine is that I get to work where I rehearse.... The hall itself is really the gem," Lemon says and stresses that the aesthetic beauty and excellent acoustics enhance her work as a conductor.
Throughout the day, Lemon works with students and professionals to plan for concerts and get ready for rehearsal, which she says is one of the best parts of her job.
"That's where all the fun really happens," Lemon says of the three-hour sessions she holds several times each week.
Though students say that Lemon holds three more hours of rehearsal per week than in previous years, they also feel that her method of conducting has helped them get more out of rehearsals.
"We have a lot more rehearsals, so it's a lot more stressful for students, but we'll be a lot more prepared than we had been in the past," Rubinstein says. "She's definitely put an emphasis on making sure that we understand what we're playing. We're not just playing it, we really have an understanding of where the composer was coming from and what the music is supposed to represent."
Rubinstein also says that since Lemon brought in so many freshmen, the group will have a better chance at growing in years to come.
"I felt like the old guy [at our first rehearsal], but it's really good for the program because it means we can really build upon the freshmen because they'll be here for four years," she says.
Lemon is also excited about working with freshmen and all young students because of their outlook on music as something to explore and discover, unlike professionals who may have performed a piece so many times that it loses its excitement.
"What I love about working with students is how open they are with regards to certain kinds of music and also even interpretation," she says. "Because they generally tend to rehearse much more than professionals, there's usually a really high level of quality that's also spontaneous."
Lemon's peers also applaud her ability to work with students and bring out their potential.
"She gets a good sound out of them," friend and previous Penn symphony conductor Jennifer Highdon says. "She knows how to work with them."
Students say they appreciate Lemon's ability to relate to them.
"Yes, I've been in the orchestra for four years," Wharton senior Stella Chen says. "But this is a new experience for me because of Karla."
