The Sedalia Ragtime Orchestra consists of 11 musicians and two singers, all hailing from the Conejo Valley and Ventura County areas, who come from a variety of backgrounds, including an orthodontist, an acupuncture specialist, a musicologist, a retired Navy commander, and other sundry professions. They have in common a love for the authentic music of the ragtime era.

The group’s director, CARY GINELL, selects the repertoire, creates head arrangements to feature each member of the orchestra, and provides commentary on the history of each selection. He’s also the group’s flute and piccolo player. Two of the instruments the SRO is most proud to have are Ken Dickey’s 1951 F. A. Reynolds recording bass, which he has been playing for 61 years, and a bass drum that Sandy Harr meticulously constructed from scratch, using antique tension rods and a drum head resembling the calfskin used 100 years ago.

The other members of the orchestra include violinists MARY ANN MARX and IRENE SILBERT, cellist VALERIE WONG, pianist CORY EDELMAN, flutist LAURA HALLADAY, clarinetist RON ROTHMAN, trumpet and cornet player FAITH NEWELL and trombonist ED HIRSCH. HOLLY O’HAIR and IRENE SILBERT are the orchestra’s vocalists.

In June, the SRO will have the honor of traveling to Missouri to perform in its namesake town, Sedalia (“The Cradle of Ragtime”) at the annual Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival, and to Columbia, Missouri, for the Blind Boone Ragtime & Early Jazz Festival. The orchestra hopes to live up to its initials, SRO, by having Standing Room Only audiences wherever it goes. This is SRO’s first appearance at RagFest.