GNYWS concert this Saturday

Our friends and colleagues in the Greater New York Wind Symphony have the first concert of their season this coming Saturday night, at 7:30 pm in the Monroe-Woodbury High School Auditorium (up the hill from Woodbury Commons, in Central Valley, NY). Our own Steve Austin plays principal trumpet in this ensemble, and Rick Regan, who stepped in for me to rehearse the Schönberg last spring, is the Conductor/Artistic Director.

The program is unique and exciting. It features Carl Orff’s 20th century masterpiece, Carmina Burana, with a 170-member chours, plus Grainger’s Lincolnshire Posy, and more.

The GNYWS is sharing the evening with us on April 26 at the ACB convention. They are performing in the slot right before us, at 7:30 pm that evening. Rick and I are swapping guest conducting spots that evening, with Rick at the helm of our Strange Humors, and I’m taking a turn at Lincolnshire with GNYWS. We have a tremendous opportunity to create a supportive relationship with the members of this very fine ensemble. I encourage you to join me and attend this Saturday’s concert.

Only 2 weeks to go!

Our rehearsal this week features time devoted to our guest conductor, Joe Greco, and guest soloist, Rick Henly. Please read the posted rehearsal plan. I know that several members must be late for, or have called in to be absent for, October 31. So it’s critical to give Joe and Rick the time and focus they need this Monday.

On Thursday of this week, I open my concert season at NVOT with our Fall Instrumental Concert. It features my ninth grade Concert Band, upperclass Wind Symphony, the String Ensemble, and a standing performance of this year’s Marching Band. Of special note is the Wind Symphony, the programming for which includes the Clifton Williams Symphonic Dance #3. In addition, we are performing Un bel di, from Madama Butterfly, with our soloist for February, Kyunghee Kim. Kyunghee sang Simple Gifts and the soprano role in The Promise of Living in November 2010, and her rendition of this Puccini aria is absolutely thrilling. I programmed it this way to be a dress rehearsal of our performance with her (we are using the same arrangement).

If you would like to attend, click here for the directions to Northern Valley-Old Tappan. It is the same location where we had our clinic with Mallory Thompson.

See you Monday!

Brass Onion recital this Sunday!

Four members of our brass section are performing in recital this Sunday. Please consider attending!

THE BRASS ONION QUINTET
Sunday, October 23 at 11:45 am

Larchmont Avenue Church
Douglas Kostner, Music Director
60 Forest Park Avenue
Corner of Larchmont Avenue and Forest Park Avenue
Larchmont, NY 10538

 THE BRASS ONION QUINTET
 Kelly Oram, David Marchiony, trumpet
Allyson Bellink, horn
Claude Fried, trombone
Richard Williams, tuba

Free admission

Rehearsal October 17

The rehearsal plan for October 17  has been updated. Please check it before rehearsal.

Our Fall posters are ready! I will bring some hard copies to rehearsal on Monday night. You can download versions for emailing/electronic posting (GIF) and printing/enlarging (PDF) from the Resources & Forms page.

Also, please bring all ad forms and payments on October 17. I need the ad form so I don’t miss any ads when putting the program together. Even though I use technology a lot, I still depend on the forms to make sure I don’t miss anything!

Lastly, I rehearsed Un bel di with Kyunghee Kim on Friday with my NVOT Wind Symphony. She is simply amazing. To preview what the potential of our performance with her in February will be like, consider attending my NVOT Fall Concert on Thursday, October 27 at 8:00 pm (140 Central Avenue, Old Tappan, NJ) to hear her singing this Puccini gem, in the same arrangement we will be using. Admission is free.

See you Monday!