Congratulations on an exciting and well-received concert last Saturday evening! The response from the audience, both during the concert and in conversations afterward, was very positive. Thank you to each and every one of you for your positive commitment to and performance of this complex concert program.

Now we have two exciting programs coming up, and limited rehearsals for each. The rehearsal this Monday is for the combined personnel pool for both Carnegie Hall and Caramoor. The rehearsal on June 5 is at TMH; the rehearsal on June 12 is at White Plains HS. Check out the detailed rehearsal plan for Monday. Everyone should plan to arrive early on Monday to pick up new parts from Nancy to add to your folder. We will not be collecting old parts; this is a change from what we announced on Saturday because of the addition of the Carnegie Hall concert.

All details for the Carnegie Hall performance were emailed directly to those participants; you should have received that email right before this post. Let me know if you are playing Carnegie but did not receive that email.

We have been handed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday, June 13 at 8:00 pm. This offer is at no cost to the ensemble or individual players.. Please read the info below (I’ll try to keep it brief), and then please respond on this form to indicate your availability. Everyone should respond, whether or not your are playing Caramoor. I have no delusions that everyone is available, so it’s very important to assess whether or not we have a musical quorum to do this. But I believe this Golden Calf will not be offered again! Our acceptance to this offer is not a foregone conclusion. I need your input and commitment in order to say yes!

Curt conducting at Carnegie Hall in 2018.

World Projects is producing its Sounds of Summer Festival at Carnegie Hall in June. Like several other companies, they book the hall and recruit outstanding high school programs fro across the country to come to New York for sight-seeing, clinics, and an adjudicated performance (similar to our Avery Fisher performance in 2010). One of these performing ensembles has dropped out, and World Projects has offered us the stage time at no cost to the ensemble or individual players. The performance fee is normally $15,000. There is no requirement to buy tickets, although tickets are available at $49 each (including fees). And large percussion rental is included.

I received this invitation at 4:30 pm yesterday, and took this to our board last night. They voted to poll the personnel for availability. The deadline to reply is tomorrow (Thursday) at 6:00 pm. I must reply to my contact by Friday morning to decide whether or not we will accept the offer. So please respond on this form to indicate your availability. I’m asking EVERYONE to respond — whether or not you are playing Caramoor. We need everyone’s response so — if we accept — we can manage to plug open seats as needed.

If you read this far, here are more details:

• The primary personnel pool is the Caramoor roster, since we’ll be in the middle of the Caramoor rehearsal cycle. For players who are not available, we’ll fill seats first with full-time members not playing Caramoor but available for the three rehearsals (May 22, June 5, June 12), and then go to the sub list.
• Rep will be drawn primarily from the Caramoor program, but I may also pull one or two pieces from the Spring Concert to create a balanced program that we can prepare in three rehearsals.  I’ll make those rep decisions by Monday night, so we know what to collect/what to keep.
• We have 40 minutes from the time we step onto the stage until our exit. We would be the finale ensemble, and the only adult ensemble.
• We have a 30 minute sound check at some point right before the performance. I asked for the latest time slot possible, but do not know yet when our slot might be. If you are in a situation where you might miss the soundcheck but can arrive in order to play the performance, answer YES to performing. I am willing to be flexible with the soundcheck roster, since it’s a workday, travel to Manhattan, etc.
• The only rehearsals for this are May 22, June 5, and June 12. June 12 is an especially critical rehearsal, as it will essentially be our dress rehearsal. Please assess that carefully.

Lastly, these people could have contacted the Manhattan Wind Ensemble, the New Jersey Wind Symphony, the Brooklyn Wind Symphony, the Greater New York Wind Symphony, or any other adult ensemble in the area. But they contacted us. I think this is truly is an “aligning of the planets” situation, and one to consider very, very carefully.

Please respond on this form by tomorrow at 6:00 pm! Contact me as needed with individual questions.

This is our performance week, with Monday’s rehearsal at White Plains HS, Wednesday’s dress rehearsal at TMH, and the performance on Saturday night at TMH. Our soloists will be working with us on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, and our guest conductor will be working with us on Wednesday and Saturday.

Please visit the homepage for the complete rehearsal plan and schedule, plus directions to White Plains High School, if you need them.

Please continue to push tickets! Friends & Family tickets will be available from Marge at rehearsals, or send them to our TMH ticket page. Refer to the code I announced in rehearsal to unlock the Friends & Family discounted tickets. Remember you must enter the code first in order to see the discount!

Art Silent Auction Fundraiser

Our final fundraising project for the season is the silent auction for Tom Furano’s beautiful acrylic and ink painting, Symphony Variations on a Theme. (You likely received a separate email about this earlier this morning.) This original one-of-a-kind works was inspired by our performance of Desert Sage last November, a concert that Tom attended. The proceeds from this auction will be split between WSW and the artist. Please click here or the graphic below for more information and to place a bid. The auction timeframe is limited — May 6 at 12:01 am through May 12 at 11:00 pm only — and the winner will be announced at the concert on Saturday night. Please share this with friends and family who might be interested in participating in the auction.

Many thanks to Tom Furano, Marianne Lepre-Nolan, and Rebecca Weissman for putting this project together!

Rehearsal at TMH

We rehearse at TMH this coming Monday, May 1. We need to pull the piano out when we set up, placing it stage right, keyboard facing downstage.

On Monday, May 8, we rehearse at White Plains HS again (with the soloists) and then we’re back at TMH on May 10 for the dress rehearsal, and concert on May 13.

Art Auction

Artist Tom Furano attended our November concert and sketched his impressions in the hours following the performance. He was truly inspired by our concert, and has developed that sketch into a beautiful painting. The swirls of color reflect the energy of sound in a most engaging way. Tom has donated his work for auction. In the final week leading up the May 13 concert, we will be holding a Silent Auction for this painting. 50% of the proceeds will go to WSW and 50% will go to the artist. Watch your email for details, which will include a photo of the painting and the website to share with friends and family for placing bids.

And don’t worry — we’re still having a 50/50 raffle on May 13!

Music stands still needed for antiphonal brass

So far, we only have commitments for 10 of the 22 music stands we need to set up for the Kalinnikov antiphonal brass. If you are a band director and could loan 5 or 6 stands for the dress and concert, please give your name to Katherine Filatov. Plan to label the stands on the music side (so the labels are not seen by the audience), bring them at 7:00 pm on May 10, and take them with you after the concert on May 13.