This week: Sidestepping scenery on Monday night, upcoming member performances, and the “path of totality.”

Rehearsal Monday at TMH

We are navigating a number of TMH conflicts this spring. We are trying to balance staying at TMH while navigating their special situations, moving to White Plains HS and Port Chester Knights of Columbus when truly needed, and maintaining a wise allocation of our  funds for rentals.

The first of these special situations comes up this Monday, April 8. We are rehearsing at TMH, but a student musical production’s scenery will be in the wings. It’s likely that no matter how diligent they are about storing the scenery, it’s likely to impact us in some way. So please be prepared to be flexible.

The rehearsal schedule is posted, and includes a brief Bolero interlude during the mid-evening break, when I will rehearse the players who have volunteered to play at Masters on Tuesday for my Prism Concert.

Upcoming member performances

Westchester Chamber Soloists

Several WSW members, including Marge Hone, Russ Ebersole, Susan Davidson, and Kathy Davis, are playing with the Westchester Chamber Soloists concert this coming Sunday, April 7 at 3:00 pm in Reisinger Auditorium at Sarah Lawrence College. The program includes Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony, and two works highlighting Sarah Lawrence personnel (featured as composer/conductor, film creator, and conductor).

Tickets and info at www.westchesterchambersoloists.com.

Prism Concert at The Masters School

I am grateful to the 8 players who have volunteered to be a part of the flash mob finale for my Prism Concert at Masters on Tuesday. The concert is free and open to the public. If you’ve never experienced a Prism Concert before, it’s truly a unique experience.

Excelsior Symphony Orchestra (formerly St. Thomas Orchestra)

Marianne Lepre-Nolan will be playing, along with WSW sub player Jenny Pyne, with the Excelsior Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, April 21 at 3:00 pm. Featured trombone soloist is former WSW member, Doug Denniston.

Tickets and info at www.excelsiorso.org.

have an upcoming performance to share?

Please email me by Thursday of the week you’d like it to appear in the weekly post. Please include all performance info, performance website URL, and a flyer/graphic if possible (JPG or PNG is best; PDF will also work).

Monday’s path of totality

On Monday evening, be on the lookout as we take the next step of preparation with the Hindemith Symphony, focusing on movement 2. No sectionals this week, just fully immersed totality in the genius of Hindemith. But you should still be ready in case of extraordinary weather events inside TMH.

Photo editing credit: Ari Contzius, band director at Washingtonville HS (of course he’s a band director!)

Yes, we are rehearsing Monday (at TMH) – no April Fool’s!

The rehearsal plan is posted. I’m hoping to have one more week of flute & clarinet sectionals, so please bring a folding stand if you want to avoid moving the heavy Manhasset stands.

Coupon code for Caramoor

Ticket sales have begun for July 4. Click here to purchase tickets, and use coupon code that will be announced at Monday’s rehearsal for 20% off of Tier 4 & Tier 5 tickets.

Member concert spotlight

From Ruthie Garcia: The Westwind Chamber Group presents “Springtime Tidings”

A concert sponsored by VASA Freja
When: Saturday, April 28 at 3:00 PM
Where: Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Pleasantville, New York
Works by: Dring, Lalliet, Saint-Saens and more!
Suggested donation: $20
Come celebrate spring with beautiful chamber music and new and old friends @ the home of VASA Freja! All are welcome! Come and bring your friends. We will offer refreshments and fellowship after this concert (under an hour), so clear your afternoon! 

Rehearsal on March 25

We continue to rehearse at the Music Hall this coming Monday. For the Hindemith this week, we will focus on movement III. The evening’s rehearsal plan is posted here. Flutes and clarinets: please bring a folding music stand again this Monday; we may run sectionals again for part of the evening, if the upstairs space is available again.

The Whiskey Crows

Rich Dashnaw plays guitar and writes horn arrangements for the Whiskey Crows, which rarely plays in Westchester. They will be performing at Gleason’s in Peekskill the day before Easter, Saturday, March 30. It is a great venue with great sound and great food. If you’re in the area, check it out!

West Point concert at White Plains was a huge success!

I’m running out of ways to say how grateful and thrilled I am about our West Point project! You certainly hit a high point yesterday with the Day, Giroux, and Markowski — way beyond what I thought might be possible with this quick turn-around mini-cycle, wedged in between the Winter and Spring concerts. I recognize that this kind of success is attained only because of a myriad of personal sacrifices on your part, ranging from great to small. I want to acknowledge this, especially in light of the tremendous success that yesterday yielded.

I want to especially thank (and I do this at great personal peril, in case I miss anyone):

• Katherine, for handling this mega-project of subs and scheduling
• All of the sub players (I just finished a separate note to all of them)
• Kathy, for willingly taking on the additional tasks required of being our host for the performance day and all the alternate site rehearsals
• Our WSW Board, led by Chris, for their support of this venture
• Rebecca, for the amazing work she did on public relations and social media promotions
• Eric, for managing/scheduling/shepherding our percussion section and maintaining our website
• Rachel, for arranging the wonderful Brazen Fox event and for a terrific performance with Katrina on the S&S solo
• Michael, for stepping in on keyboard in place of the harp
• and I’m especially grateful for YOU – for preparing, rehearsing, and performing with us!

What’s next?!?!?

We have rehearsal tomorrow night at TMH at 7:30 pm. I’m still planning the details of the rehearsal, but you can count on:

• Grainger – both Early One Morning and Handel in the Strand
• Hindemith – second movement
• CLARINETS – Please bring a folding stand tomorrow night. If I can get permission to use the upstairs reception room, I’m going to send you all with Chris for a short sectional on the Hindemith, second movement, for part of the evening’s rehearsal. Bringing a folding stand will make the move upstairs and back much easier for you!

And then what???

• I could still use a couple additional volunteers for the Masters Prism Concert on Tuesday, April 9. It’s a once-and-done flashmob rehearsal/performance of Ravel’s Bolero. Sign up here to join us. I promise that’s it’s going to be fun!
• WSW is co-sponsoring the rebooted Wind Conducting Symposium on June 1-2 with the Music Educators of Bergen County, the original sponsor. We need volunteer players for the wind ensemble lab sessions, and I encourage you to consider signing up to come play for at least one session. It’s really a great experience, and I promise you’ll come away enthused and recharged. Complete information about the event can be found here, and you can register here. All the Conductor spots are already claimed, but we have unlimited room for Auditors, and of course, Performers. Robert Ambrose will join me as our guest clinician, and he is very excited to return to the area to work with this group.
• And of course we have our Spring Concert on Saturday, May 11 at 8:00 pm at TMH (dress rehearsal on Wednesday May 8), and our 10th Caramoor performance on Thursday, July 4 at 8:00 pm (call time at 4:00 pm, dress rehearsal on Monday, June 30).

See you Monday night at TMH!