I have secured permission from The Masters School to use their facilities for our Les Miz vocal soloist competition auditions on Sunday, October 28. We have use of the Fonseca Center Recital Hall from 12:00-5:00 pm, and we intend to schedule auditions from 1:00-4:00 pm. This gives us a bit of a buffer at the the beginning and end of the afternoon.
We need two volunteers to assist us: one to sit at the entrance to the Fonseca Center and open the door to allow auditionees to enter, and one to sit on the staircase and direct them to the Recital Hall one floor up. Please email me or speak to me Monday night if you are interested and willing.
I’m in the process of finalizing a press release, now that we have an audition location, and will share it asap. In the meantime, please direct any adult vocalists who are interested to send an email of interest to personnel @ westchestersymphonicwinds.org. These emails will be redirected to David, who will put our audition schedule together.
It’s my hope to gather momentum early in this cycle, so that I can consider cancelling the rehearsal on Columbus Day, October 8. I always like to give time back to the group when possible. Let’s work together to make that goal a reality!
Welcome back! Lots of preparation has gone into getting the new season off to a great start. Now all we need is you, and your dedicated musicianship to excite our audiences in the new decade.
As announced earlier, we have our first rehearsal this coming Monday, September 10, starting at 7:30 pm at TMH. You can find the approved rehearsal schedule here. You can review the 2018-2019 season rep here. And you can always see the next rehearsal plan on the front page of this site.
ACB Convention
We’ll start on Monday with announcements, a recap of the performance information for the ACB Convention next April, and then ask everyone to finalize commitments for both the ACB dress rehearsal on Wednesday, April 24 (7:30 pm) and ACB performance on Saturday, April 27 (call TBA, concert at 4:00 pm). The convention is being held at the Woodcliff Lake Hilton, Woodcliff Lake, NJ (about 25 minutes from Tarrytown). Please review those dates in your personal/work calendars so you can be prepared with answers when we pass around a commitment sheet in each section.
I’d like to thank Nancy Mattson for all her work to prepare our Fall folders; David Church for his assistance with personnel and this year’s auditions, and Marge Hone for helping us with the arrangements to hold our annual auditions once again at the Irvington Presbyterian Church.
We are aware that Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on Sunday. If you are celebrating the second night of the holiday and wish to be excused from the rehearsal on Monday, please contact David Church.
Podcasts of note
I’ve recently become obsessed with podcasts, since I finally figured out how to manage them and sync them in the car. I’ve been listening to CoasterRadio.com and TED Talks Daily, but have also discovered two band podcasts you might find interesting:
Everything Band – Mark J. Connor. Mark has compiled a significant collection of interviews with major composers, conductors, and publishing industry figures. I especially enjoyed the interviews with Michael Markowski, Emily Threinen, Jack Stamp, and Gerard Schwarz — and that’s just the beginning.
Winds and Rhythm – Doug Brown. These episodes include excerpts from significant band recordings, conducted by the legends of our time. The liability is that I can’t seem to pull its content into my podcast player (Overcast). If anyone can explain this to me, please share.
London Symphony Orchestra
On Tuesday, April 16, the London Symphony Orchestra is performing at the Palace Theatre in Stamford. Yes, this is the theater in which we played in 2016. Ticket go on sale to the general public on October 15. Mark your calendars — this is a major event. (Thank you, Jim Savage, for sharing this with me.)
As we near the end of the summer, I have a couple quick announcements to share.
Remember that our first rehearsal is Monday, September 10 at 7:30 pm at TMH. Our annual auditions are scheduled for Tuesday, September 4 at Irvington Presbyterian Church. If you want to recommend a qualified player for an audition, please contact David Church. A constantly evolving roster of permanent and substitute players is crucial to our continuing success. You can view the concert/rehearsal schedule, repertoire, and more from the main page of this site at wsw.ebernet.biz.
If you are not traveling over Labor Day weekend, consider the VOB Film Festival in Carmel. They are screening the classic horror film Nosferatu with the original score, performed by a live orchestra! The orchestra will include WSW members Deb and Rich Dashnaw, Joe Mariany, Erin Dawson, Mark Dodge, Chris Larsen, and conducted by Nate Brewster! There will be two performances: Friday August 31 at 7:30 pm and Sunday September 2 at 7:00 pm. If you’re interested, move quickly — the Friday performance is almost sold out.
Enjoy these last fleeting weeks and we’ll see you soon!
Happy August, everyone! I hope you’re all enjoying time with family and friends. I am writing this on the beach in Cherry Grove, Fire Island, and really enjoying the beach weather this summer, as we dodge rain storm after rain storm. I’ve spent a good deal of time this summer with my mother in Lititz, PA, Tim has a new job as the manager of Renny & Reed in the city, and I had 60 roller coaster rides in 6 days during my zany cross-country trip in July. (You can see photos on my Instagram page if you’re interested.)
I’ve got some great news to share!
31st Season Repertoire
I’ve prepared the concert repertoire for the new season. You can inspect the entire list here. I recognize that last season was full of “special events” to celebrate our anniversary, so I was careful not to over-program or select another work like Music for Prague 1968, but I have included plenty of music that will challenge you as a players and as an ensemble, and allow us to have a good time, too.
Special for this season:
Joe Bergamini and Amy Wilcox will take the podium as apprentice conductors this year.
Gina Serafin is our featured soloist in November.
We have four West Point Band soloists joining us in January.
Our guest conductors include: Dr. Bob Ambrose (Georgia State University), 2d Lt. David Neil Regner (US Air Force Band), and Dr. Joe Higgins, (Rowan University). All of them are fabulous musicians with whom I’ve had great experiences, and I know you’ll enjoy working with them.
Major works include the Divertimento by Roger Cichy, Extraction on No. 9 by Michael Schelle, La Fiesta Mexicana by H. Owen Reed, Lauds by Ron Nelson, and Liturgical Dances by David Holsinger.
We put Barton Green to work again. Pending the acquisition of copyright, he will soon begin work on a new medley from Les Misérables, for band and vocal soloists, which we expect to premiere in May.
WSW accepted for 2019 ACB!
I’m very pleased to announce that we have been accepted as a featured ensemble for the 2019 Association of Concert Bands National Convention! And, we landed a first-class performance slot – Saturday afternoon, April 27 at 4:00 pm – the final day of the convention!
Our letter of acceptance from Tom Siebenhuhner, Audition Chair, included this statement:
Acceptance to this national conference was a very competitive process and we scrutinized each application carefully. It was the opinion of my committee that your submission represented both technical mastery and artistic merit. We have accepted your ensemble because we think that your performance at the Big Apple Convention will be a make an important contribution to the conference and will support both the ACB’s Mission Statement and musical goals and objectives.
Please expect a dress rehearsal during the week leading up to the convention on Wednesday, April 24 at 7:30 pm. Please check your calendars for both the dress rehearsal and concert date, and we will ask everyone to indicate their commitment for this performance when we see you at our first rehearsal on September 10.
We have 50 minutes total stage time, just as we did in 2012 in Poughkeepsie. I have to allow 3-4 minutes for the ACB representative to introduce us and 2-3 minutes for the plaque presentation before our finale. That leaves us about 40 minutes for music, comments, and transitions. I’ve assembled a tentative program that pulls the best of our season’s repertoire into this performance (or did I do it the other way around?), and will publish that rep list as soon as possible. The earlier I submit our selections, the better our chances of avoiding any duplication of selections.
Congratulations on what this invitation indicates — your dedication, consistency, and musicianship. I continue to be so proud to be associated with you all!
Enjoy the rest of the summer! See you in September!
