Rent deal keeps orchestra in Melville

Minutes before the Senior Pops Orchestra of Long Island launched into "Kiss Me, Kate" at this week's rehearsal, members received some welcome news.

Suffolk County had agreed to restructure the group's rent, meaning the music will likely keep playing in the nonprofit's rehearsal space at Sweet Hollow Hall in Melville.

"We will be staying here," orchestra president Mark Flanzraich told the several dozen members gathered for Wednesday's practice. They responded with cheers and applause.

The 60-member orchestra, founded in 1979, has been using the hall for weekly rehearsals at West Hills County Park for at least two decades, said Carole Reinwald, a viola player from Huntington who serves as treasurer.

The band's rent had been $500 per year for as long as Reinwald could recall. But the county parks department reviewed the group's contract earlier this month and determined that the orchestra should have been paying $250 per day to use the facility, according to Vanessa Baird Streeter, spokeswoman for the county executive's office.

With an annual budget of roughly $13,000 from grants and donations -- most of which goes toward paying a professional conductor -- the new cost for the orchestra to stay at Sweet Hollow Hall would have been prohibitive, Reinwald said. Their concerts, mostly performed for groups of senior citizens, are free, and members don't pay to join.

Orchestra members had been looking for other places to rehearse, but Reinwald said she was concerned that a move would lead many of the older musicians to drop out.

Ruth Cort, 85, who plays in the first violin section, said she had been distressed at the idea of leaving Sweet Hollow Hall. Cort drives herself to rehearsals from her Oceanside home and said she likely would have dropped out of the orchestra if rehearsals were moved farther east.

"It's the only thing I've got left at this point," Cort said of her music

Flanzraich said the next step will be negotiating a new rental fee, which likely will include more free concerts for the county in exchange for use of the hall.

"We're going to come to an arrangement that will be [suitable] to the orchestra and the taxpayers through discussions with the county executive's office," he said.

Baird Streeter said the county considers the Senior Pops "important to the community" and will seek a deal that would be affordable to the orchestra.

"We're more than willing to work with them," she said.

At Wednesday's rehearsal conductor Stephen Michael Smith led the orchestra through "My Funny Valentine" and "When I Fall in Love" before the group paused to snack on cake and cookies. The orchestra reconvened to practice "Sophisticated Lady" before packing it up.

"See you next week," Smith called out. "Same time, same place -- believe it or not."

Senior Pops' schedule

Here is the Senior Pops Orchestra of Long Island's free concert schedule:

March 18, 2 p.m.: Huntington High School

April 15, 2 p.m.: Sid Jacobson Jewish Community Center in East Hills

June 3, 2 p.m.: Suffolk Community College, Brentwood campus

July 9, 1 p.m.: Lido Beach Park