A talented group of local musicians who balance their careers, families and lives with their love of giving life to music are about to take on one of the most challenging programs they've ever presented.

The approximately 35 musicians, fathers, mothers, doctors, music instructors, paper mill workers, lawyers and soccer coaches that make up the Augusta Symphony Orchestra get no pay for their time and effort, other than the love of playing and sharing their music.

"We do it because we love it -- we love the music," said Dr. Phil Tedrick, first violinist and a former director of the Augusta Symphony Orchestra. "Live music, when it all comes together, is so rewarding and exciting. Nothing else reproduces it."

The orchestra will open its season with the New England premiere performance of the Karlowicz Violin Concerto, Nov. 9 at 3 p.m. in the auditorium at Cony High School in Augusta.

The concerto was composed by Polish conductor and composer Mieczyslaw Karlowicz in 1902.

The local musicians will be joined in the Nov. 9 concert by a young, prize-winning virtuoso born in Poland and now living in the United States.

Soloist Kinga Augustyn, who earlier this year had her Carnegie Hall debut in New York, is pursuing a doctor of musical arts degree at the State University of New York. Tedrick said she is excited about the opportunity to play the Polish music in this country.

The Augusta Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Paul Ross, who also plays the cello in the Portland String Quartet and is conductor for the Maine Youth Orchestra and Androscoggin Valley Community Orchestra, and is a member of the music faculty at Colby and Bowdoin colleges. He's the only musician who is paid a salary by the orchestra, according to Michael Conley, of Manchester, chairman of the Augusta Symphony Orchestra.

Conley noted the orchestra members include, "doctors, lawyers, coaches, a variety of musicians from all walks of life."

Sometimes it's not easy for musicians to balance weekly orchestra rehearsals and practice with the demands of real life.

"I left halfway through coaching a soccer game to get here," said Monica Hedstrom, of Farmington, who plays violin and has been in the orchestra about three years. The junior varsity girls soccer coach was still clad in her "Mt. Abram Roadrunners," gear at a recent orchestra string section rehearsal. "I gave the half-time speech and got them started. The JV boys coach took over for me."

Hedstrom's sister, Heidi, of Rome, is also a musician, playing cello in the orchestra for the last four years.

Conley, who doesn't play an instrument, said the orchestra includes members in their teens and others in their 80s.

Ralph Turner, a tuba player from Augusta, has been playing with the orchestra in its various forms since 1986.

He works in the IT department at the Verso Paper mill in Jay.

He considered becoming a music educator in his youth but, after being drafted into the Navy, ended up with a career in business.

He hadn't touched a tuba in 14 years until, in the 1980s, he picked it back up because his daughter's band at the former Buker Middle School didn't have a tuba player, so he stepped in to play with them. Eventually, he joined the orchestra. He also plays with the Kennebec Performing Arts Center wind ensemble.

"I take pride in trying to play the music correctly," Turner said. "It's a good feeling when you do a concert and things go well."

The season-opening Nov. 9 performance in the 950-seat Cony auditorium will also feature Johannes Brahms' Academic Festival Overture and Antonin Dvorak's overture My Home.

Audience members don't have to be classical music experts to attend.

"We're thrilled when we have kids come, or when someone comes because the price was right, it's convenient, or they just always wanted to do it," Conley said. "If we double the usual suspects we'd be thrilled. Practicing and rehearsing is lonely stuff. There's nothing like an audience to put a charge into things. If you have an audience that is engaged, it's a symbiotic relationship between the two. Frankly, there aren't many organizations who can do this in central Maine."

The group rehearses in the basement of the main lodge at Granite Hill Estates in Augusta.

Originally founded shortly after World War I, the Augusta Symphony Orchestra spawned a jazz band, chorus and a wind ensemble, eventually coming to be known as the Kennebec Performing Arts Company.

The orchestra fell on hard times and was abandoned for a short time when participation dwindled.

Several years ago, former Augusta Symphony Orchestra musicians began looking for other players who might rejuvenate the group, an effort that eventually started with several string players who began to gather informally. The orchestra has since become an independent nonprofit corporation, though the Kennebec Performing Arts Company still plays shows of its own, too.

The symphony generally performs four concerts a year.

Tedrick and Conley said the season premiere program is one of the most challenging the orchestra has taken on. The challenge of the music itself will be made greater by the need to adapt to soloist Augustyn, who will only be in town for a few days before the performance to rehearse with the orchestra, and playing in an unfamiliar hall.

But they like a challenge, Conley said.

"Some groups, they just want to have fun -- our musicians' ambitions are a bit more than that," he said. "They want to get better. They want to be stretched. They want to have challenging pieces. Just like in sports. If you play against someone who is a better tennis player, you become a better player yourself."

Keith Edwards -- 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com