Monday night: rehearsal at Kol Ami

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I’m writing with details about our rehearsal Monday night, and also to pass on information about two upcoming concerts this weekend, plus the Columbia Summer Winds.

Rehearsal May 23

Rehearsal on Monday is at Congregation Kol Ami, 252 Soundview Avenue, White Plains,(914) 949-4717, in the small chapel at the back of the property. Everyone must bring his/her own folding music stand to this rehearsal. Mark Dodge will contact the percussion about their own separate percussion rehearsal. On Monday, I will play the recordings from May 14 of both Moth and Kingfishers, and encourage discussion about the performances, and rehearse both of these pieces plus Mare Tranquillitatis. Please make sure you bring all three pieces of music. You’ll also need Stars & Stripes, and we will hand out The Gallant Seventh; these two marches will once again be our combined numbers at the end of the concert with Northshore.

Upcoming concerts and performance opportunities

Here is information for Columbia Summer Winds, and concerts with the Cortlandt Chamber Orchestra and Connecticut Symphonic Winds. There is contact info within each item, or speak to me for more details. At a time when we are eager to sell tickets to our Exchange Concert on June 19, it would be great to “share the love” by showing support for these ensembles:

Cortlandt Chamber Orchestra – from Rich Simons, conductor

The Cortlandt Chamber Orchestra will conclude its 2015-2016 Season with a concert this Friday, May 21st at 7:30pm. The FREE concert will be held at the Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church – 110 Grand Street in Croton-on-Hudson. Our program will include Overture from Nabucco by Verdi, Selections from My Fair Lady, and the First Symphony by Johannes Brahms. As always, admission to the concert is FREE, but a donation of your choice to the Orchestra is suggested.  In lieu of donations, feel free to bring a few dozen friends to the concert. For more information, or directions, please visit the Cortlandt Regional Music Association on our website (www.cortlandtmusic.org), or contact us by phone at (845) 838-1077.

Connecticut Symphonic Winds – from Charles DePaul, conductor

The time has come to close out our 2015-2016 season and we’d like to give you some information on this upcoming concert, Saturday May 21st at 7:30 pm, at the Roger Ludlowe Middle School Theatre, 689 Unquowa Road, Fairfield, Connecticut. titled “Music of the Broadway Stage,” a history of stage music to musicals of Broadway!
We’ll hear the renowned team of Gilbert & Sullivan with a full selection of their operatic themes in the belovedPineapple Poll. Next will be the composer that changed how we went to Broadway, Leonard Bernstein withFour Dances from West Side Story.
We’ll bring you one of Stephen Sondheim’s most popular musicals that took New York City by storm in the late 1970’s, Sweeny Todd and how can we leave out Andrew Lloyd Weber’s contributions, not by playing his usual fare, but by visiting his work of British fame “The Woman In White” and a musical that was treasured by New Yorkers and now has a major revival, Les Miserables! There’s more than this being offered and we invite you to come down and join us for this very special evening of famous music of the stage.
The concert is free and we ask you as we always do to please send this notice to your family, friends and contacts. We would also like to let you all know that we are doing yet another of our pre-concert mini recitals, starting at 7pm in the main hall. We welcome the Saxophone Quartet of the Connecticut Symphonic Winds in a performance of several works sure to please.
Columbia Summer Winds – from Bill Tonissen, conductor
With summer just two months away, Columbia Summer Winds is getting ready for another fun season of music in the parks! You’re receiving this e-mail because you performed with CSW last summer or during previous seasons. If you’re interested in playing again this year, just reply to this e-mail and let me know! Exciting work is happening this summer, including our first ever performance at Astoria Park. We are also welcoming Gregory Whitmore back as a guest conductor. Below are details for the 2016 Summer Season. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Dahlia Yoeli, CC’ed here, or myself.

REHEARSALS – We will rehearse Tuesday evenings starting June 7th from 7-9pm in room 435 Horace Mann at Teachers College.

CONCERTS – We’ve lined up a couple of our favorite concert venues from last year, with the addition of one rain date:

  • Saturday, July 9th – Fort Tryon Park @ 2:00 PM
  • Thursday, July 14th – Washington Square Park @ 6:30 PM
  • Saturday, July 23rd – Central Park Bandshell @ 1:00 PM
  • Saturday, August 6th – Astoria Park @ 2:00 PM
  •  Saturday, July 30th – Riverside Park, 116th Overlook (Rain Date)

REPERTOIRE – I could not be more excited about our 2016 concert program!

  • Euphoria for Wind Ensemble – John Frantzen
  • Prelude, Siciliano and Rondo – Malcolm Arnold arr. by John P. Paynter
  • Burlesco for Band – Broege
  • The King and I by Rodgers and Hammerstein arr. Bennett
  • Commando March – Barber
  • Forever Summer – Michael Markowski
  • Stars and Stripes – Sousa

AUDITIONS – If you’re receiving this e-mail, you DO NOT have to audition. But if you know someone who would like to join us, please refer them to me or direct them to the auditions page on our website. Auditions will be held on Tuesday, May 31 and Thursday, June 1 from 7:00 – 9:00 PM at Teachers College. (As always, baritone horns, percussionists, and bassoons are especially welcome!)

ATTENDANCE – We are continuing our attendance policy from previous years: if you miss a lot of rehearsals and don’t tell us why or notify us ahead of time, we will reserve the right to dismiss you from the band. Additionally, we do expect members to be at all concerts. If you have to miss anything for legitimate reasons please talk to me, or Alicia Samuels, our new personnel manager – communication is key!

DUES – Remember that we are a dues paying group. Your support ensures that we can continue to perform four concerts in New York City public parks free of charge to the public. Dues will remain at $40 for community members and $20 for students.

BOARD AND STAFF MEMBERS – There is currently a vacancy on the board for president. In addition, we always welcome those who are interested in helping out with the logistics of the band, particularly in regards to the transportation of percussion equipment from Teacher’s College to the concert venue. Anyone who is either interested in becoming a member of the board, or helping out with the operations of the group, can reach out to Dahlia Yoeli.

OUTDOOR COMPOSITION COMPETITION – For those of you who were here last  year, we featured the winning composition of the 2014 OCC, If You Could Only See The Frog (by Paul Richards) in our 2015 concert. This year, we are collecting competition entries to be considered for our 2017 program! If you have any composition friends who are interested in entering, please re-direct them here, but hurry as the deadline is May 6! Once again, we will be playing through the entires of the finalists on August 2nd. We look forward to seeing what new music is in store for us this year!