"If you don't know this symphony, you die here. If you know this symphony, it's cake," music director Jason Klein says about Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 1. Once more the musicians pick up from where they left off. When they're done, Klein rates their performance as a "B-" and tells them to raise it to at least a "B+" before the evening is over. It's September and the first rehearsal of the season.

The musicians come from all over the area and work in different professions during the day. But once a week, the 40-odd members of the Saratoga Symphony come together for one common goal—to satisfy their desire to make music.

And the music they make is as varied as the backgrounds of the individual players. With plans to perform works such as Engelbert Humperdinck's "Sleeping Beauty Suite" and Charles-Marie Widor's Organ Symphony No. 8, credit for the orchestra's artistic direction goes to Klein.

"I don't like to repeat pieces ever. The repertoire is so vast. I make programs fresh each time," says Klein.

Many of the musicians choose to play with the Saratoga Symphony for that very reason, including some who come from as far away as Gilroy, Castro Valley and Redwood City.

"We do great music by lesser-known composers and small pieces by bigger composers," says trombonist Russ Sanchez, who plays with various other orchestras in the area but considers Saratoga his regular stage.

The Saratoga Symphony kicked off its 2003­04 season with a Nov. 2 performance led by guest conductor Eric Kujawsky of the Redwood Symphony. With more than 100 members of the community in attendance, the Saratoga Symphony—much more prepared than at its first rehearsal—played "Suite Pastorale" by Emmanuel Chabrier and the Fourth Concerto for French Horn by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and finished off the evening with Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 1.

In January, the orchestra plans to perform Humperdinck, Felix Mendelssohn's "Trumpet Overture" and Jean Sibelius' Symphony No. 1. Other performances are set for March 14 and May 2.

Making sure the orchestra's sound is different season after season is contingent upon renting unique pieces of music—an endeavor that comes with a heavy price tag. To keep costs down, Klein sometimes selects music from his own personal library, but other times the orchestra must pay anywhere from $45 to upwards of $300 to rent a piece of music.

So how does an orchestra that does not charge membership dues or fees to concertgoers manage to stay financially solvent?

Besides finding free space for rehearsals and performances, the Saratoga Symphony hires itself out to play for the San Francisco Waltz Society once a year. The $2,000 the orchestra earns for that one performance is its main source of income for the season, along with generous contributions from donors.

In one case, a woman stopped buying season tickets to the San Francisco Symphony after seeing the Saratoga group perform and used the money saved to donate to the Saratoga Symphony, Klein recalls.

A niche in the community

The Saratoga Symphony started out as the Palo Alto Symphony years ago. Klein, who earned his doctorate in conducting from Stanford University and was conducting the Utah Youth Symphony at the time, returned to Palo Alto to lead the orchestra. Today, Klein continues to serve as music director of the Youth Orchestras of Southern Alameda County and associate conductor of the Oregon Coast Music Festival.

When the Palo Alto Symphony relocated to West Valley College in the mid-'90s, the orchestra changed its name to the Saratoga Symphony. The orchestra existed there as a class, with the musicians earning college credit, until the group had to look for new rehearsal space.

After using a church in Los Gatos as its temporary home, the orchestra settled at St. Andrew's on Allendale Avenue in Saratoga, just around the corner from West Valley College.

To offset its operating budget, the orchestra accompanies the choir at St. Andrew's Church on some of its performances in return for using St. Andrew's facility for rehearsals and performances free of charge—a savings of $1,200 compared to renting a concert hall elsewhere, Klein says.

Needless to say, the Saratoga Symphony is a community orchestra that offers local talents a venue to showcase their work with "very few fractions and internal politics," Klein says. Occasionally, the orchestra invites guests to perform solo and encourages members of the group and other local musicians to put their own spin on a piece of music and perform it with the orchestra.

"This is a community orchestra with a more interesting mix of people," says Saratoga resident Janet Morrison, who plays the oboe. "The people in this orchestra and the conductor are really special. They really want to play music."

Calling all musicians

Like the range of music it plays, members of the Saratoga Symphony come from a range of backgrounds. Some players are in their early 20s, while others are into their 60s, according to Klein. The orchestra has even been known to invite high school students to join it in a few performances.

While most of the musicians in this Silicon Valley­based orchestra work in technology fields, there are some librarians represented and even one person who works for a radio station.

"Music attracts people from a lot of other pursuits," says Klein.

Ask members of the orchestra why they play, and it's likely you'll get a different response from each person.

Beyond the unusual sounds of the orchestra, some of the musicians are drawn to the group because they like the pace. The orchestra rehearses once a week for 2 ¹/2 hours and performs once every two months, in addition to playing with St. Andrew's choir and its annual fundraising gig with the San Francisco Waltz Society.

The time commitment is minimal compared to those of professional orchestras, but it's enough to demand discipline of the musicians—a nice combination for the many players who make their careers in Silicon Valley's high-tech industry.

"I'm married to materials science, but I have an affair with music," admits corrosion engineer Barry Gordon.

Gordon, who lives in Monte Sereno, devotes about 10 hours outside of rehearsal each week to playing the percussion. "It's a real challenge for me, even more than my job," he says about the thrill of learning to play new music.

For French horn player Bob Sheets, his 12 years with the orchestra represent a balancing of his life. Having to focus on the music while playing forces Sheets to shut out all other worries in life.

"There's a lot of pressure in your regular job—your vocation," says the Lockheed Martin employee. "This is a lot of avocation."

Participation in the Saratoga Symphony is important to some of the members for still other reasons.

"I used to play by myself at home. It's different playing with other people," says violinist Samson Huang. The Saratoga resident began searching for new challenges after he became disinterested with playing alone without an audience.

Although Morrison appreciates that the orchestra plays around people's work schedules, she's also drawn to the idea of discipline within the music world.

"Being a musician playing an instrument is like being an athlete," she says. "It's a physical, intellectual demand. You have to keep at it and be dedicated, even as an amateur."

The Saratoga Symphony is always looking for fresh faces, particularly violinists. If interested in joining, call Jennifer Gille at 650.323.7467. For more information, visit http://www.saratogasymphony.com.