Linda Echegaray, 31, a third-year law student at Pepperdine University, takes a break on her piano bench during a rehearsal of the orchestra. LOS ANGELES | If a defense attorney, a prosecutor and a judge were to walk into a music hall, what would be the first thing they'd do?
"Spend a half-hour arguing legal motions," veteran Los Angeles lawyer David Waller says one of his colleagues told him when he learned Mr. Waller would be toting his cello to a rehearsal of the fledgling Los Angeles Lawyers Philharmonic Orchestra.
But there was no time for that on this night.
The orchestra had just two hours to run through Johannes Brahms' "Hungarian Dance No. 5," Edvard Grieg's "Triumphal March" and a rousing John Philip Sousa number, followed by two more classical and pops pieces.
In just a few days, the group's 60-plus members would be decked out in black tie, playing their biggest gig to date -- the grand opening of the Los Angeles County Bar Association's new downtown office. Not that anyone in the ensemble of brass, woodwind, string and percussion sections seemed to be showing any nervousness.
"We're not just a bunch of lawyers playing music. We're actually a good orchestra," maestro Gary S. Greene, who organized the ensemble earlier this year, said confidently before putting his players through their paces.
Mr. Greene, a litigation attorney, didn't threaten to sue anyone who intruded on anyone else's solo. But he did bring his baton down quickly whenever musicians wandered off to the beat of their own drummer during the rehearsal at Wilshire United Methodist Church, a cavernous but acoustically stunning building in a particularly tony section of Los Angeles' west side.
"Blend. Play softly. That's where I want everybody soft so you can hear the trombone," Mr. Greene implored as they struggled with a challenging selection from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The King and I."
A few minutes later, one could hear the crash of a music stand as it vibrated off an elevated rehearsal stage and came smashing down on the brass section.
Superior Court Judge Brett Klein, the orchestra's first trumpet player, refrained from holding anybody in contempt. The judge, who earlier this year oversaw a dispute pitting the estate of music superstar Michael Jackson against an auction house, was too busy concentrating on nailing his part in "Trumpet Fanfare."
By Jeannine Aversa
updated 45 minutes ago
The recovery lost momentum in the spring as growth slowed to a 2.4 percent pace, its most sluggish showing in nearly a year and too weak to drive down unemployment. Published 8:33 a.m. July 30, 2010
By Sean Lengell - The Washington Times
The House ethics committee officially lodged charges against Rep. Charles B. Rangel, including that he used his office to raise $8 million for a college public policy center named after him and didn't file taxes while he was Congress' chief tax writer. Published 8:56 p.m. July 29, 2010
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