Six years ago, a music teacher at Centennial Elementary School in Orland Park led Ray Biederman into a tiny music room, pointed at the three stringed instruments lining the wall and told the Orland Park boy to choose one.
Ray glanced at the oversize viola. He glimpsed the mammoth cello. And then he eyeballed the violin.
“I ran right toward (the violin) because it was the smallest,” said the freshman, who attends Sandburg High School in the village. “It was small and I was small. I thought it would be the easiest to play.”
Ray and his violin have come a long way since that inauspicious beginning. In November, the teenager was selected from among hundreds across the country to join the International Youth Symphony Orchestra, a renowned group that for nearly 30 years has performed across the United States and in Europe.
The 80-member youth orchestra will perform Tuesday at Century School in Orland Park before embarking on a four-week tour of Europe, where the orchestra will play France, Germany, Austria and Belgium.
Tuesday’s performance, which will begin at 7 p.m., is the last stop on the group’s one-week tour of the Midwest.
The road-weary group arrived in Orland Park on Monday after a four-hour bus ride from Sandusky, Ohio. The orchestra, whose members range in age from 13 to 21, hopped off the bus and jumped into a four-hour practice session, brushing up on their Stravinsky, Schubert and Tchaikovsky.
“I’m excited to be going to Europe, but I’m really happy I get to play in front of all the people in Orland,” said Ray, whose lanky frame dwarfs the violin he chose because of its seemingly miniature size. “Of all the places, I never expected to get to play here.”
Ray can thank his mother for the chance to play before the hometown crowd. Kathy Biederman spent the better part of four months scrambling to find host families. She begged friends and neighbors, went door to door and advertised in church bulletins looking for generous souls. Only last week did she find a home for the last of the orchestra members.
“I almost didn’t pull it off, but I wasn’t about to give up,” said a beaming Kathy Biederman. “Call me selfish, (but) I wanted to see my son play this summer, and this was my one chance to do it.”
The International Youth Symphony Orchestra is part of a performing arts troupe based at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Mich. The camp, which opened in Michigan in 1965, trains more than 300 musicians each year from across the country. It hosts youth, adult and ballet ensembles and runs its own public radio station.
The International Youth Orchestra is perhaps the group’s most acclaimed program. Every year hundreds of students try out for the coveted spots. Ray is the only representative from Chicago’s south suburban area this year, but there are performers from Vernon Hills, Libertyville and Downers Grove.
“These are special young musicians,” said Gretchen Stansell, the director of the program who is married to the founder and conductor, Fritz Stansell. “They are chosen for their music abilities, as well as for how well they behave. If they can’t behave or if they have a foul mouth, we won’t take them, no matter how good they are.”
Knowing how to behave is of utmost importance for orchestra members because they spend five weeks traveling, practicing and performing. They also spend their nights with unfamiliar host families. They get agitated and tired and they often become lonely.
“But they are all very disciplined, and that’s what makes it work,” Stansell said.
Six years ago, Ray was a typical 3rd grader, concentrating his efforts on the latest Nintendo challenge and honing his baseball and soccer skills. He decided to take up a string instrument only after he scored above average on a music aptitude test given to local 3rd graders.
“I figured `Why not?’ ” Ray said. “I wanted to see what it would be like to be a famous musician.”
But fantasy rarely becomes reality. And in Ray’s case, growing into a famous musician seemed a long shot.
More Top Picks Carts Beach
“Well, when he practiced, it wasn’t the most enjoyable sound I’ve ever heard,” said Kathy Biederman, joking. “And he wasn’t always enthusiastic about practicing either.”
Though he hates to admit it, Ray wrestled for one brief moment with the thought of giving up his beloved violin.
“I sounded so bad and I hated practicing. I never thought I would get better,” he said, casting his eyes to the ground.
But Ray stuck with it. Every day for the last five years, he has spent at least an hour and a half practicing scales, mastering his finger work and learning to read complicated symphonic pieces.
“I know a lot of people looked at me and said I was a nerd because I played the violin, but I didn’t care because those people didn’t know who I was or what I was about,” he said. “I was proud of what I was doing.”