MAY 3rd, 2018

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Why have one mandolin when you can have two? Or three? Or… twelve?

Every Tuesday night, you can find the Providence Mandolin Orchestra (PMO), an ensemble of about 18 musicians, rehearsing in the basement of the Park Place United Church of Christ in Pawtucket.

The PMO was founded during the early 1900s when mandolin ensembles were all the rage. Introduced to the U.S. from Europe, they were enthusiastically welcomed into communities. Mandolinist Paul Wilde from the PMO reflects on the early 20th-century mandolin craze: “In the Sears & Roebuck catalogues there were pages and pages of mandolins. They were a huge thing. They were the Glee Club of the colleges.”

Three people playing mandolin in rehearsal

Mark Davis (left) leads the ensemble in rehearsal.

Photo by Devanney Haruta

But even with its long history, the PMO is by no means an ensemble guided solely by tradition. Under the direction of guitarist and mandolinist Mark Davis, a member since the 1970s and director since 1989, their repertoire covers all sorts of genres, from Renaissance classics to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” And there is no shortage of new music. Bob Margo, one of the PMO members, often arranges or commissions new pieces for the group.

Mandolins come in all shapes and sizes, analogous to instruments in a string orchestra. Mandolins, mandolas, and mandocellos make up the bulk of the ensemble. Within each section, the instruments vary in age and style. Mark explains the difference between the modern American and the older European designs: “The European instruments have a big round, lute-like back. But [Orville] Gibson designed an instrument with a carved top and a carved back, like a violin.” Gibson’s American mandolins borrow the violin’s F-hole design, while the European styles use a single oval hole, a design that originated from lutes.

A man with grey hair, a mustache, and glasses holding a mandolin

Paul Wilde with his Vega F-style mandolin.

Photo by Steve Schwartz

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The “M” in PMO doesn’t mean that the orchestra is exclusive to mandolins, however. Double basses and classical guitars add an extra dimension to the group. “We use string bass because it’s bigger sounding,” explains Mark. “And the guitars add a lot of warmth to the bass. They can do the chordal thing really nicely, much better than mandolins can. There are groups that don’t have guitars, and we always think they’re really lacking something.”

“We use string bass because it’s bigger sounding, and the guitars add a lot of warmth to the bass.”
–Mark Davis

Each mandolinist in the orchestra has their own tale about how they started playing. Many began with guitar or violin and were recruited to the section. Chris Chito, for example, was “playing guitar, and I fell in love with the mandolin, just the sound of it.” Others, such as Mark Chuoke, ventured to the instrument out of pure curiosity: “I took some lessons from Hibbard [Perry, former director of the PMO]. He lived across the street from me, actually. I didn’t know who this guy was, but I saw all these people going in and out of his house with mandolins. So, I knocked on his door one day and took some lessons from him.

“I fell in love with the mandolin, just the sound of it.”
–Chris Chito

In this composition by Owen Hartford, violinist Rachel Panitch performs a solo with the Providence Mandolin Orchestra in the Netherlands.

However they ended up here on this Tuesday night, mandolin in hand, exchanging smiles over their music stands, the musicians of the PMO couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. Many have been with the ensemble for 30 years or more. “When you come into this group, it’s almost like you’re coming into a family,” says Mark. “It’s a real community.”