Magik*Magik Orchestra's Perfect Fifth

In 2008, while studying composition at the Conservatory, Minna Choi '09 had a simple idea: to field a session orchestra for rock bands. She combed the school directory, found skilled players with an abiding love of pop, and, using her savvy as an undergrad communications major, chose a catchy name. In short order, Magik*Magik Orchestra was sharing a stage with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, touring with Death Cab for Cutie and appearing in Rolling Stone (which called Magik*Magik "a smart addition to Death Cab's rich melodic sound").

The Dodos - Substance [Live with Magik Magik Orchestra]

Substance - The Dodos

with Magik*Magik Orchestra

As it turns out, in an era when studio engineers can gin up endless digital soundscapes, a thirst persists for the authenticity of strings, brass and winds. Magik*Magik has worked with more than 80 clients around the world on film scores, video games, electronic music and standard classical rep. Collaborators old and new will join the ensemble for its fifth anniversary concert at Oakland's Fox Theater on January 31, including singer-songwriter and record producer John Vanderslice, tape-looping solo cellist Zoe Keating and the San Francisco duo The Dodos, as well as Oakland's Pacific Boychoir and guest-conductor and Conservatory faculty member Michael Morgan.

Choi says Magik*Magik's success lies in quality, creativity and in making sure everything goes smoothly in the studio. "Did the band have fun? That's huge for us. It's not enough that they got what they needed... It has to be that they walk away feeling like they just got their mind blown or that they're just inspired by the music that was being created before their very eyes." Clients give Choi a surprising degree of artistic freedom. Typically, contract groups show up to find parts on stands and the clock running. But Choi says, "we're brought in a few steps before, when they don't know what instruments they need, when they don't know how many songs [they will record] and they don't know what the parts are going to sound like."

Before enrolling at the Conservatory, Choi interned at a New York recording studio as a utility player, taping demo piano lines, singing scratch vocals, writing string arrangements. But serious gaps in her musical education, from orchestration to basic theory, led her back to school. "I felt myself avoiding certain things because I didn't know how to do it, and I was like maybe it's time to go back to music school and try to learn this properly from the beginning." She left the Conservatory not only with new musical chops, but a rolodex of expert musicians. Magik*Magik's roster of about 150 includes a core group of 30-40 players, mostly Conservatory alumni.

Magik*Magik's
Musical Petting Zoo

Running a business has been another education for Choi, who, along with Magik*Magik Managing Director Anna-Christina Phillips '10, teaches a course on musical startups at the Conservatory. So far, the orchestra's income has come solely from gigs. But after organizing a handful of successful programs for kids, Phillips is pushing Magik*Magik to do more educational projects which will require a new income stream. The upcoming anniversary concert is a benefit for Magik-For-Kids. Choi calls this a "tipping point kind of moment" but seems undaunted by the prospect of launching a fundraising operation without prior experience -- or an in-house development director. "You just start. We started with a narrow mission statement. As that became successful and the demand grew, not only our activities expanded but our dreams got bigger too."

Magik*Magik's expanding mission is still a simple one: to attract new "users and participants" to the orchestral experience. For Choi, success lies in the fact that two-thirds of Magik*Magik's clients never worked with an orchestra before, and half of those called again within a year. In addition, more Bay Area kids will get to lay their hands on a trombone for the first time, and more Conservatory-trained musicians will get to work in a corner of the music world they may only have dreamed about. That's potent magic indeed.

Take Note: Conservatory News and Events, January 21, 2014