Pitching in Pairs : Symphony Films Twins Ad to Promote ‘Double Concerto’

VENTURA —  You could say the New West Symphony is doubling efforts to increase its audience.

And for this endeavor, conductor Boris Brott requested the services of Brian and Christopher, Danielle and Elisabeth, Erik and Grant, Sara and Alex, Ashley and Britton. And Cindy and Jackie. And so on and so on.

All in all, 18 pairs of identical twins in identical clothes packed a conference room at Ventura’s Doubletree Hotel on Monday to film a television commercial promoting the symphony’s next two performances--”Double Concerto.”

For Brott, getting these duos, ages 14 weeks to 38 years, to perform in unison for the cameras proved more difficult than conducting his 100-member orchestra. Instead of his usual baton, Brott balanced redheads Mark and David Trueman of Oxnard--each weighing 23 pounds--one in each arm. Mark seemed to be fascinated with the conductor’s wire-rimmed glasses and kept reaching for them. Around them, some twins looked away from the camera. Others played with their siblings. Others cried.

Eventually, the 30-second commercial was filmed, and the New West Symphony slogan--”where music is an adventure”--was recorded.

The commercial is part of a major campaign of ads to boost attendance at the orchestra’s performances.

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The New West Symphony, created out of the merger of the Ventura and Conejo symphonies, began performing last fall, generating rave reviews and poor attendance. But the “adventure” ad campaign, which has featured Brott piloting a helicopter over Thousand Oaks’ Civic Arts Plaza and driving a team of horses through a snow-covered countryside in Canada, may have paid off.

Attendance has been increasing about 20% at each subsequent concert, said Karyl Lynn Burns of State of the Arts, the symphony’s public relations firm.

“I think the ads helped start the ball rolling, “ Burns said. “But once people came and saw the quality of the music, they kept coming again and again.”

For the twins, Monday’s gathering was a cause for celebration. Some of them knew each other because they had met at a support group for mothers of twins.

But 38-year-old twins Jackie Waddill and Cindy Hewitson--each holding half of a set of 5-month-old twins--said they had never seen so many twins in one place.

“This brings a lot of really fond memories about switching classes and switching boyfriends,” Waddill said, as she and her sister laughed.

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“We really owe our mom, big time” for tolerating all their mischief, Hewitson said.

Leticia Carabajal, a Ventura mother of 3-year-old twins Sara and Alex, can relate.

“It is very difficult to be a mother of twins,” she said. “Alex and Sara are close friends. They also fight a lot.”

Before filming the “twins’ convention,” symphony officials recognized the winners of this year’s Discovery Artists program--Jessica Tivens of Calabasas High School, John Huang of Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard, Nicholas Bridgeman of Camarillo High School, and Elise Goodman of Thousand Oaks, who studies music at the Colburn School for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles.

The four young musicians, all of them 15, were selected by Brott through a series of auditions and will perform at a Discovery Artist concert with a youth symphony later this year.

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The New West Symphony is scheduled to perform its “Double Concerto,” featuring music by Mendelssohn, Brahms and Vieuxtemps, on May 17 at the Performing Arts Center in Oxnard and May 18 at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.