I hope everyone has reveled in your successes last Sunday! The energy and drive in the performance was amazing! That combined with a very strong audience attendance really made for a great day. Well, that and Darth Vader standing in the corner!

Today I learned that both Roger Zare and Viet Cuong were awarded residencies at Copland House here in Westchester for 2015-2016. Roger wrote to me to say he is arriving this week and will be in residence through mid-December! I’m hoping that we can arrange to have him come by one of the rehearsals or the performance this week. Both composers have added our performances to their sites – click the links above to see the WSW performances listed and read the Copland House news.

I’ve planned Monday’s rehearsal. Note that we learned last Sunday that TMH has an event booked prior to us on Monday and we can’t enter to set up until 7:30 pm. But I ask that you arrive at your ‘regular’ time, so we can set up quickly and start as soon as possible, earlier than 8:00 pm if at all possible. This will be our only review rehearsal of the rep for this Saturday’s benefit concert at Congregation Kol Ami. Wednesday is the dress.

Enjoy your weekend – See you Monday!

Thanks, everyone, for your concentrated efforts during today’s dress rehearsal. Here are a couple reminders/announcements about tomorrow:

• Many thanks to Jessica Slotwinski and Eric Milkie – they contacted Rachel to say their spouses can assist us tomorrow with the raffle and videotaping. We appreciate their offer to volunteer!
• Expect that parking will be difficult tomorrow. Please anticipate this by allowing more than enough time to park and make your way to TMH. I just discovered that the TMH website has this page devoted to parking information, which might be useful.
• Please assemble tomorrow between 2:30-2:45 pm at the front of TMH. We’ll all go into together once we get the signal that the crew is ready for us. We are counting on that being no later than 3:00 pm. The TMH crew will handle the shells and risers, and hopefully we can also harness their help with chairs, stands, and percussion. No matter what, I promise to wind up the sound check by 4:00 pm.
• Mary Schneider was very complimentary of your work with her two pieces today. Thank you for providing such a great experience for her!
• Click here for the Caramoor news brief posted this morning, which includes mention of us under “Music News and Artist Updates,” and references a link to The New York Times article. This recognition by Caramoor is significant!
• After sending the general ‘thank you’ email to all the commission participants regarding Vignettes winning The American Prize, David Avshalomov sent me this additional email. I didn’t realize he had submitted the WSW recording with his application!

Dear Maestro,

I wanted to share with you that I submitted your concert recording of the Vignettes to The American Prize this year–and the piece won First Prize! I sincerely believe that the high quality and musicality of your performance contributed to the win (even with the talking toddler from time to time).

Please share this news with the band and thank them on my behalf.

(PS., I have sketches for a second set, and as soon as this piece spreads widely I’ll be looking for commissioners for that too.)

All best,

David Avshalomov

Composer, Singer, Conductor

Santa Monica, CA

• Your continued dedication is reflected in all this positive publicity, and it benefits all of us.  There is a strong air of excitement and anticipation for tomorrow — I’m looking forward to experiencing it with you!
  

Here we go:

Saturday/Dress Rehearsal: We have access to the hall at 9 am. If you can, please arrive early to help set up. It’s not fair that Rich bears the weight of most of the set up each week. This is intended as a no-stops run-through, with a full 15-minute intermission, like Sunday. Exception: I’ve planned for extra time for Mary Schneider as this is her only rehearsal with you on the Latham and Biedenbender. My goal is to be done early, by 12:30 pm. Read the full rehearsal plan here.

Tickets: Rachel will have extra Friends & Family tickets available on Saturday. Please keep in mind our 6 tickets/member goal for the year.

Sunday/Sound check: We should have access to TMH by 2:00 or 2:15 pm at the latest. Again, please plan to arrive to help set up. Sound check at 3:00 pm, stop playing by 4:00 pm, rest for one hour.

Sunday/Performance: Downbeat at 5:00 pm. The TMH crew will clear risers, shells, chairs, stands, percussion after the performance on Sunday. Listen to announcements from Jim Savage for information regarding post-concert debriefing.

Schedule reminders:

• No rehearsal on Monday, November 9.
• Rehearsal on Monday, November 16, 7:30-9:45 pm at TMH (Temple Benefit program).
• Dress Rehearsal on site at Congregation Kol Ami on Wednesday, November 18, 7:30-9:45 pm
• Benefit Concert at Congregation Kol Ami on Saturday, November 21. Sound check at 6:00 pm, downbeat at 8:00 pm. Reception follows on site.
• No rehearsal on Monday, November 23.
• First rehearsal of Winter cycle: Monday, November 30, 7:30-9:45 pm, TMH.

Final rehearsal & dress

Like R2-D2, it’s time to plug it in for that last push! We have our last working rehearsal on Monday, and our all-important dress rehearsal on Saturday (10:00 am – 1:00 pm). On Monday, I’m starting again with the soprano solos. As announced on the Rehearsal This Week page, please help us to set up for the 7:30 pm start (all chairs, stands, and percussion in place), but feel free to sit in the orchestra seats to start if you don’t play for the duets, instead of starting everyone on stage. It’ll just save time.

It’s in print!

The Times article was published, as promised, on page WE8 in the Metropolitan section. If you subscribe to the Saturday/Sunday issues, it’s on your doorstep right now. Otherwise, look for it on newsstands tomorrow. Talk about perfect timing for our concert!

Promotions on social media

I will bring our four Star Wars characters on Monday (Luke, Han, Leia, Darth). Please consider taking selfies with them and posting them to Facebook and Twitter to help make one last push for ticket sales. We have a guaranteed “win-win” with the Star Wars connection on this program, so we need to squeeze every ounce of promotion out of it, because something like this is not going to come around again until the next blockbuster triple trilogy (ie, not in our lifetime).

Grand Street Community Band, Brooklyn Wind Symphony, Northshore Concert Band

Lastly, there are two concerts of significance this weekend. Locally, the Grand Street Community Band and Brooklyn Wind Symphony have a double-header concert tomorrow, Sunday, November 1 at 3:00 pm at 850 Grand Street, Brooklyn, NY (Grand Street High School Campus Auditorium in Williamsburg). Yes, it’s Marathon Sunday, which might make the trip difficult, but they are webcasting the concert live on www.michaelmarkoswki.com. The Grand Street program is at 3:00 pm, Michael is giving a pre-concert talk at 4:15 pm, and the all-Markowski program is at 4:30 pm. Jeff Ball and Brian Worsdale work magic with these groups, and a highly recommend this.

Also tomorrow afternoon, at 3:00 pm Central time at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, our friends in the Northshore Concert Band present their first concert of the season. This will not be webcast, but it’s going to be an amazing program. Christopher Martin, principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and his brother, Michael Martin, section trumpet with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, are the soloists. They are playing — yes, you guessed it — the Carmen Fantasia. Talk about sibling rivalry! This will make for some interesting discussion when NCB arrives at our doorstep next June!

Enjoy the beautiful weekend weather, and I’ll see you at TMH on Monday evening.