This week: news about our rehearsal on Monday, our concert, inspirational recordings, and a tour of the Grainger House. And — Happy Birthday today to Gerould McCoy!
Rehearsal on Monday evening
We return to TMH this week, and all of our remaining rehearsals/dress rehearsal and concert will be held there. This is a big program, requiring your best musicianship and stamina, and we’re down to the final two Monday rehearsals.
I’ve posted the rehearsal plan for Monday. Our guest conductor, David Blumenthal, will be on hand for his working rehearsal of the Dunton. Jessica will also have her final working rehearsal of the Standridge. We need to include a run-through of the Navarro (keep in mind it’s our opener) and the Tull (to gather all the past week’s work into a cohesive whole). We’ve been working intensely on the Thomas for many weeks; we’ll put that to the side this week and return to it next week on February 6, before the dress on February 8.
Concert on February 12
Click here for our listing in Westchester Magazine. Our press release has gone out to 100+ local media outlets!
Remember this is a 12:00 pm sound check/2:00 pm concert (because of the Super Bowl). Pick up Friends & Family tickets ($10) at rehearsal on Monday. They are also available on the Box Office concert site for an additional $5 convenience fee; use the coupon code shared in the separate email to unlock the discounted tickets. If you are a music educator, remember that you can request free tickets for your school group. Please share info about the concert –including the Box Office page — with friends, family, and neighbors, post the flyers we printed for this purpose, and bring in the audience!
I’m very grateful to Rebecca Weissman for her amazing talents with marketing our concerts, and to my former student Greg Governale, who continues to spearhead our publicity distribution from his home in New Jersey. Let’s pack the Music Hall once again as we did in November!
Lift Every Voice and Sing
If you haven’t yet, please listen to these recordings to help us prepare for our most authentic performance of our concert finale, Of Our New Day Begun.
Click below to hear the powerful recording of Lift Every Voice and Sing that Andrew Hill described in rehearsal this past week.
And click here to listen to the Bear Mountain Brass recording of the same hymn. Many of our members are part of this ensemble, which includes Ben Acrish, Stan Serafin, Chris Larsen, Chris Carbone, Michael Lucke and David Church. (Also in the band are Austin Day and John Hahn, who have subbed with us, and Uma Karkala.)
Rehearsals after the concert
There will be no rehearsal on Monday, February 13, nor on Monday, February 20 (Presidents Day). Our next rehearsal, the read-through for the Spring Concert, will be on Monday, February 27. Follow the links on the homepage of this blog for the annotated grid version of our schedule, as well as the Google Calendar version.
Percy Grainger House Tour on February 19
The Grainger House has invited me to lead the inaugural house tour in their new Third Sundays program. Because this is specifically geared toward conductors and music educators, I’m hoping it will be especially enjoyable for any of you who’d like to attend. This is scheduled for Sunday, February 19 at 2:00 pm. The tour is free, but registration is encouraged. The house is quirky and full of history, intrigue, and surprises. As I move closer toward actually retiring (insert laugh track here), I hope to spend more time volunteering at the Grainger House, especially since I live within walking distance and conduct the closest world-class wind ensemble to Grainger’s home.