Happy September, everyone!

First, Shana Tova to everyone celebrating this weekend!

I’m very excited to start the new season with our first rehearsal this Monday in the APR, Lower School, on the Hackley School campus! Please make sure you’ve downloaded/printed the parts for our first rehearsal.

• Download parts from the Fall folder here. IMPORTANT: Please make sure you have the Rogers edition of Children’s March. The version was updated after it was first posted.
• Check the rehearsal plan here.
• We may be using the padded folding chairs on the rack beside the staircase. Our black chairs were relocated to the basement due to fire safety concerns.
• Review the news items from my summer posts as needed. Part 1 was posted August 23 and Part 2 was posted September 5.

Trumpet Day at SUNY-Purchase

Bill Owens, associate principal trumpet with the West Point Band (and guest soloist with WSW)  is reprising his Trumpet Day at SUNY-Purchase on Saturday, September 26, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm. It appears to be a free event, and ideal for high school and adult players alike. It looks like a great day once again this year!

This week:

• First rehearsal is Monday, September 14 at 7:30 pm in the APR at Hackley!
• If you have not already downloaded your Fall parts, click here to get them.
• WSW Online Box Office – Learn how ticketing will work this season.
• Communications Committee – A new committee for which we need volunteers!
• Redundant sets of music parts available – We have a number of works from our library that are redundant and available to member directors for free! (full sets of parts).
• 2026-2027 Handbook – It’s been updated for the new season. This link is also available from the home page.

First rehearsal – Monday, September 14 at 7:30 pm in the APR at Hackley

I am so excited to welcome everyone back a week from Monday in our new home at Hackley! ALL of our activities this season, including auditions, sectionals, rehearsals, and performances, will take place at Hackley. No more driving hither and yon week to week!

If you have not already downloaded your Fall parts, click here to get them. Trumpets, Horns, and Percussion — your section leaders will contact you regarding part assignments.

The rehearsal plan was posted several weeks ago, but the order of rehearsal has been adjusted slightly. Find it here on the home page, as usual. 

WSW Online Ticketing is now live!

As announced yesterday on Slack, our online ticketing is now live. We encourage you to try it out and give us feedback before the brochures hit area mailboxes on Tuesday, and the general public has access to buy tickets. Our ticketing page is linked from our main ensemble website, but consider bookmarking the direct ticketing page:

http://www.westchestersymphonicwinds.org/ticketing

Please see the end of this post for the Friends & Family discount codes, and details to guide you to help us with feedback on the ticketing site. Please give a big round of applause to our Ticketing Committee for their dedication and hard work over the summer!
Eric Mlikie, Chair; Dave Marchiony, Brian Macomber, Marge Hone, Marianne Lepre, Rebecca Weissman, and Curt Ebersole.

Communications Committee

At the August monthly meeting, the WSW Board approved the formation of a new Communications Committee, to help with social media, press releases, and more. We are looking for members not currently on the board to join the committee help get the word out. Rebecca Weissman will be chairing this committee — please speak to her to join.

Redundant library holdings

Shout out to Nancy Mattson for joining me two weeks ago at our offsite library (the luxurious Cubesmart in White Plains) to help file leftover single parts and create file folders for new purchases.

In the process of doing so, we discovered that we have a number of redundant sets of parts — hard copies for which we also have scans. As we try to reduce our physical library holdings (the board would like to eventually eliminate the storage rental costs, which would save us thousands of dollars per year), we are offering these sets at no charge to any member band directors who would like to add them to their school libraries. If you’re interested, contact me and I’ll bring the set(s) to you at the first rehearsal on September 14.

Details for ticketing and encouraging your feedback

Happy running-out-of-summertime-August! I’ve divided all the important updates between the post today and another pre-season post that I will send on September 4.

In this post:

• Transitions: new leadership positions and assignments
• Rehearsal schedule
• Parts download folder
• 2026-2027 season brochures

Transitions

We thank Chris Larsen for his many years of service as our WSW board president. Chris has chosen to step away from that position, so please welcome our new president, Eric Milkie, who will lead the board as we start our first year of residency at Hackley. Also, welcome these two new board members: Russ Ebersole, chair of the Donor Relations Committee; and Dave Marchiony, assistant treasurer.

Rehearsal schedule for 2026-2027

After several years of nomadic travels (not unlike Odysseus), all rehearsals, sectionals, and auditions will take place at Hackley this coming season. We will still keep up our relationships with New Rochelle HS and the Port Chester Knights of Columbus, but we will only rehearse there in dire emergencies.Click the link above or here to view the entire season of rehearsals, and note which Mondays we do not rehearse. Please write these rehearsals into your personal planner. It is important to plan to attend all Monday rehearsals!

You can also see the Google Cal version of our schedule here. To add this calendar to your personal Google Calendar:

1. Scroll down to the bottom right corner of the calendar embed on the page.
2. Click the + Add to Google Calendar button (located in the lower right corner).
3. A new tab will open in Google Calendar asking, “Add calendar?”
4. Click Add to confirm.

Once added, all events from this calendar will sync automatically and appear under Other calendars on the left sidebar of your Google Calendar.

Slack

Still not a member of our Slack workspace? Please join by clicking here! You can edit your notifications so you receive an email when there is a posting on Slack, eliminating the need to hover-check it all the time. Slack is available in your browser, in apps for Mac & PC, and in the Mac/Android apps stores.

Parts download folder

As noted in Slack, all the Fall Concert parts are now ready for download and practice. Click here to access the parts for printing or loading into ForScore on your iPad. Some section leaders will be contacting section members to detail part assignments. I encourage everyone to review these works before the first rehearsal on September 14, so you’re not caught off guard. The rehearsal plan for September 14 is already posted; the first rehearsal, as is our custom, will be devoted to reading down the entire concert. So I especially encourage everyone to review/practice the Camphouse, Richards, Thomas, and Markowski before our opening rehearsal.

2026-2027 season brochures

Along with our bold move to Hackley comes a bold new season brochure! Minuteman Press, our official WSW printer, has our production files and mailing list, and we expect the brochures to land in mail boxes by Labor Day. We will also have additional brochures to hand out to members at the first rehearsal on September 14.

Other news still to come in the “Part 2” post on September 4:

• Music parts available – We have a number of works from our library that are redundant and available to member directors (full sets of parts).
• WSW Online Box Office – Learn how ticketing will work this season.
• 2026-2027 Handbook – It’s been updated.
• Communications Committee – A new committee for which we need volunteers!

This midsummer post includes very important information about the upcoming season:

• The rehearsal/performance schedule is set for the coming 2026-2027 season.
• The board has chosen ThunderTix as our new ticketing platform.
• We have a formed a committee, chaired by David Church, to hire a Front of House Manager to oversee audience relations at our three Diller Hall concerts. Help us find the best candidate!

Rehearsal/performance schedule

We have successfully negotiated with Hackley to ensure that all WSW events this coming season will take place on the Hackley campus. This includes our performances (Diller Hall), rehearsals (APR in the Lower School), and also auditions and sectional rehearsals. After years of being musical nomads, we have truly found our new home.

Please read the season schedule carefully and add the dates to your personal calendars. The success of an ensemble operating at this high level depends on the attendance of its members. Short of emergencies, please be proactive to schedule personal commitments and events around our Monday night rehearsals and performances. Note that April 26 is a high priority rehearsal with our percussion soloist, She-e Wu. It’s critical that we aim for no absences that evening.

Reminder: Our attendance policy requires attendance at the dress rehearsal in order to play the concert. Contact Curt directly if you have any questions.

ThunderTix

Our contract with Hackley specifically notes that we must supply our own ticketing platform and Front of House Manager. After much research and discussion, we are excited to announce that we have chosen ThunderTix as our ticketing platform for our inaugural season of performances in Diller Hall. This platform allows us to sell tiered memberships, season tickets, and individual tickets, along with patron donations and customer relations management. We will be able to sell Friends & Family tickets directly to our members, manage comps and student group tickets, and integrate new patrons into our email database. It’s truly a one-stop experience for our needs, and extremely affordable as well. We’ll roll out details as the season begins.

Front of House Manager search

David Church will chair the search committee to interview candidates for our new position of Front of House Manager. (The hire will technically be an independent contractor, not an employee.) Please share this job description with anyone you feel would be qualified and interested. We are looking for someone with a performing arts background, who will manage the audience experience at our three Diller Hall concerts during the upcoming season (Caramoor is not included). This includes supervising on-site box office sales the day of the concert, general admission audience seating, usher management, program distribution, coordination with Hackley Security in case of an emergency, and more as detailed in the job description.

Interested candidates should submit a resume and brief cover letter detailing their venue or front-of-house management experience on or before August 15 to David Church, Chair, FOH Manager Committee at dc3winds @ gmail.com.

Please share as soon as possible — thank you!