Freeway Philharmonic

Freeway Philharmonic depicts the everyday lives of seven classical musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area who rehearse and perform, but mostly drive from one place to another for a continuous series of gigs. Collectively they cover Berkeley, Marin County, Napa Valley, San Jose, Santa Rosa, Carmel, and all points in between. In an opening credit, producer-director Tal Skloot describes them as “road warriors,” often driving hundreds of miles between gigs (“my car has 330,000 miles on it; my accelerator leg hurts,” claims one musician). Viewers will meet bassoonist Karla Ekholm and French horn player Meredith Brown; the latter plays in eight orchestras and enjoys being on the go all the time, but would ultimately prefer to hold a regular position with a world-class outfit, such as the San Francisco Symphony. Trumpeter Kale Cumings, a married father of two, has been auditioning for 10 years and feels the same way. To Karen Shinozaki Sor, a violinist married to cellist Eugene Sor, the life of a classical musician, freelance or otherwise, “gives you such a rush, because you're really putting yourself out there,” but she worries that it will be difficult to work children into the equation. Freelancers do not qualify for maternity leave—or workman's compensation, which affects Ekholm adversely when she suffers a hand injury during a vacation. An interesting portrait of the lives of itinerant classical musicians, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)