“Chewie! Take the Professor in back and plug him into the hyperdrive!”

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Final rehearsal & dress

Like R2-D2, it’s time to plug it in for that last push! We have our last working rehearsal on Monday, and our all-important dress rehearsal on Saturday (10:00 am – 1:00 pm). On Monday, I’m starting again with the soprano solos. As announced on the Rehearsal This Week page, please help us to set up for the 7:30 pm start (all chairs, stands, and percussion in place), but feel free to sit in the orchestra seats to start if you don’t play for the duets, instead of starting everyone on stage. It’ll just save time.

IMG_4656It’s in print!

The Times article was published, as promised, on page WE8 in the Metropolitan section. If you subscribe to the Saturday/Sunday issues, it’s on your doorstep right now. Otherwise, look for it on newsstands tomorrow. Talk about perfect timing for our concert!

Promotions on social media

I will bring our four Star Wars characters on Monday (Luke, Han, Leia, Darth). Please consider taking selfies with them and posting them to Facebook and Twitter to help make one last push for ticket sales. We have a guaranteed “win-win” with the Star Wars connection on this program, so we need to squeeze every ounce of promotion out of it, because something like this is not going to come around again until the next blockbuster triple trilogy (ie, not in our lifetime).

Grand Street Community Band, Brooklyn Wind Symphony, Northshore Concert Band

Lastly, there are two concerts of significance this weekend. Locally, the Grand Street Community Band and Brooklyn Wind Symphony have a double-header concert tomorrow, Sunday, November 1 at 3:00 pm at 850 Grand Street, Brooklyn, NY (Grand Street High School Campus Auditorium in Williamsburg). Yes, it’s Marathon Sunday, which might make the trip difficult, but they are webcasting the concert live on www.michaelmarkoswki.com. The Grand Street program is at 3:00 pm, Michael is giving a pre-concert talk at 4:15 pm, and the all-Markowski program is at 4:30 pm. Jeff Ball and Brian Worsdale work magic with these groups, and a highly recommend this.

Also tomorrow afternoon, at 3:00 pm Central time at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, our friends in the Northshore Concert Band present their first concert of the season. This will not be webcast, but it’s going to be an amazing program. Christopher Martin, principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and his brother, Michael Martin, section trumpet with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, are the soloists. They are playing — yes, you guessed it — the Carmen Fantasia. Talk about sibling rivalry! This will make for some interesting discussion when NCB arrives at our doorstep next June!

Enjoy the beautiful weekend weather, and I’ll see you at TMH on Monday evening.