I had to take a full day to reflect and recover from Saturday night. It was simply marvelous in every way. Here are just a few thoughts from the evening:

• Thank you to our guests: Tom, Mallory, Barbara, and Lois. You all brought unique energies to the evening and we are indebted to you for your contributions.
• Tom! The Lo Presti was incredibly passionate. Thank you for going the distance with Tom.
• The Persichetti certainly proved my “you usually peak at the concert” theory. It was moving and flowing and exciting! Tom was particularly impressed, and said so. The audience said so by their quiet and concentrated attention during the performance.
• Lois! I can’t ever remember a performance where the audience “cut in” after a cadenza! It was brilliant and we now all understand why you wanted to keep your cadenza a secret until the performance.
• Barbara! That was the performance of a lifetime – congratulations! And thank you to the ensemble for the stylish and supportive accompaniment.
• Mallory! I know everyone in the ensemble enjoyed both the rehearsal and the performance. The explosion of energy you brought to this piece had no peer.
• And the Kalinnikov, even with a few technical flaws in the first half, was everything I’d hoped it would be. A big thank you goes out to the additional players in the balconies. The antiphonal brass blended seamlessly with the stage ensemble, and it was an incredible coda to our season.
• Thank you to Rachel, Marge, and Claudia for pulling together the wonderful reception and other 25th anniversary activities.
• Thank you to the Jim and the Board for your tremendous support of all our projects this year.
• Thank you to Matt for all his work with audience development and ticket sales.
• Thank you to Claudia for her extensive behind-the-scenes work to communicate with and organize our personnel.
• And thank you to all the players for your dedication and commitment to what has become an exceptional ensemble of exceptional people.

Next up: The rehearsal with Mallory on May 31 at NVOT. We still have not heard from 100% of the membership. Please contact Claudia to confirm your attendance. We need to know so we can arrange for subs in critical areas.

Thank you all again — this was a “keeper!”

Thank you, everyone, for what turned out to be one of our most productive and successful rehearsals ever. I truly appreciate the commitment and spirit of teamwork you have brought to the table during this cycle. In particular, I am grateful for the shift of perspective we were able to attain to create more focus, particularly during the Gershwin.

As discussed last night, please allow extra time for unforeseen traffic, parking issues, parades, presidential visits, stray bee colonies, sidewalk sales, and sit-ins. In order to set up and have a successful sound check, including sufficient time for Mallory to rehearse, we must have a downbeat at 6:00 pm. We are also hoping to take an anniversary group photo and still give you time to relax and prepare before the performance.

There is a great deal of buzz out there about your performance. Keep talking about it online. Continue to hand out the business cards and reach out to people who have never thought about attending a band concert. There’s never been a better opportunity to bring in ‘fresh recruits!’

Lastly, I want to plug my summer Music Ed workshop at Northern Valley, July 23-25. We had a very successful inaugural event last summer, and this year will be even better. Download a flyer here. If you have any questions, please contact me. There is a special undergrad rate, and NY music educators are especially welcome!

I just received this email from Megan at TMH:

Just a heads up we’re doing a bit of spring cleaning here and have a dumpster set up in the back lot. This shouldn’t cut down too many parking spaces as it is on the right side of the parking lot and very close to the annex doors. This leaves the left side (where the numbers on the fence are) and a few spaces up against the other fence.

I’ve arrived here early, and I see the dumpster. The bottom line: about 3-4 spaces in the TMH rear lot are unavailable. More on this tonight.

This is it! The concert is this Saturday! We have only our regular Monday rehearsal tomorrow and the dress rehearsal on Wednesday. Lois, Tom, and Barbara are all on deck tomorrow and Wednesday, and Mallory will rehearse with us on Saturday evening at the sound check.

Please arrive in plenty of time at each rehearsal. Please plan to allow rehearsal on Wednesday until 10:00 pm if needed. See you tomorrow.