We honor all those who gave the supreme sacrifice on this Memorial Day 2022. Remember that there is no rehearsal tonight, Monday, May 30. Our next rehearsal is next Monday, June 6 at TMH.

Please start to consider our concert dates for next season. The form asking for commitments by concert/dress rehearsal dates will be distributed in time for next week’s rehearsal, and the reply deadline will be Monday, June 27 so we can plan and prepare for next season.

2022-2023 concert dates – the 35th season

• Sunday, November 6 at 3:00 pm at TMH
• Sunday, February 12 at 3:00 pm at TMH
• Saturday, May 13 at 8:00 pm at TMH

Have a safe holiday.

Steve Williams

I’d like to first acknowledge the sad news that Rich Williams lost his brother, Steve, this past week, after a short but difficult battle with pancreatic cancer. Please join me in extending our sincere condolences to Rich and Diane, and their family. You can read Steve’s obituary here. The memorial visitation is on Friday, June 3.

Caramoor rehearsals

We restart rehearsals for this challenging and unique Caramoor program on Monday at 7:30 pm at TMH. As is our habit at the first rehearsal, we are reading through the entire program. The rehearsal plan is posted. Hard copies of all parts will be distributed on Monday (to be added to your current folders), but you can get a sneak peek at most of the parts in this Google Drive folder. Please continue to fill out this quick health screening form before every rehearsal, until the Board announces this is no longer necessary.

We are officially a “not-to-be-missed event,” according to Westchester Magazine (see below – thank you to Marge Hone for spotting this!). After Monday, our remaining rehearsals are:

• Monday, May 30 – no rehearsal (Memorial Day)
• Monday, June 6 at 7:30 pm at TMH
• Monday, June 13 – neither TMH nor White Plains HS is available. We need a site!
• Monday, June 20 at 7:30 pm at TMH
• Monday, June 27 at 7:30 pm at TMH
• Wednesday, June 29 at 7:30 pm at TMH with vocal soloists
• Saturday, July 2 – sound check at 12:00 pm; late lunch at 2:00 pm; performance at 4:00 pm (no fireworks again this year)

The word is out. This is a high-profile performance for a discerning audience. See the graphic below which represents the current ticket availability, and also note that Garden Listening tickets are also available at $20 each. We will re-announce the discount code for the rear section only at rehearsal.

Please make every attempt to attend every rehearsal. With this short rehearsal cycle and site challenges, please limit absences to only that which is absolutely necessary — please only ONE for this cycle. You are needed at every rehearsal! If you believe you can help us with a site with chairs, stands, and percussion on Monday, June 13, please contact me immediately.

Dear WSW friends,

I apologize for taking so long to write this note of thanks for your outstanding work last Saturday night. Upon returning to civilian life on Sunday, there was a whole week of stuff that needed my full attention. And I’m just coming up for air now.

It took 27 months for us to return to a full 60-program-minutes-with-intermission concert at TMH. There were many dark days for us, both individually and collectively, during that time. But we managed, and you made this happen, through your tenacity and resilience. I’m grateful to every single player in the ensemble for bringing your A-game to the performance once again.

I’m particularly grateful to:

• David, for his devotion to all the personnel tasks,
• All the players who subbed a single rehearsal or the entire cycle,
• Eric, for managing this large percussion program and helping to recruit additional players, and for managing our website, the web stream details, and helping me to keep this blog/site afloat,
• Marge, for managing our treasury so adeptly, as well as all the F&F ticketing and Will Call reservations,
• Ron, for his continuing professional advice during the pandemic,
• Rachel, for running our most successful 50/50 to date,
• Barbara and Joy, for the expertise and musicianship on keyboards and harp,
• Joey & Matt, our amazing guest artists,
• Barton, our incredible in-house arranger,
• Rebecca and Greg, our marketing and PR life-lines,
• Rich, our stage manager,
• Nancy, our librarian,
• Mary, for locating and transporting the herald trumpets
• all of our donors and endowed chair patrons,
• all members of both the Band Committee and Board for their assistance in running the mundane week-to-week tasks that make this organization click,
• and again, you — our players. None of this happened without your willingness to go the distance with us.

I apologize if I left anyone in particular off of this list. Please know your contributions are nonetheless critical and appreciated.

There’s no rehearsal again on Monday (TMH is not available). We start up again with the Caramoor cycle on Monday, May 23 at 7:30 pm at TMH. Some music is already available via PDF’s in this folder, more will be posted as the arranger completes them, and the rest will be distributed that night. The rehearsal plan is already posted.

1. Our concert protocols are listed as “vaccination required/masks required” for the audience. Masks continue to be optional on stage. However, we ask you to mask up if you intend to mingle with the audience at intermission or after the concert. Masks are optional for performers only, while on stage and while backstage. So if you intend to mingle in the house, please be sure to bring a mask.
2. I must ask everyone to complete the health screening form before arriving tonight. Some players became lax with this on Monday and Wednesday when I was busy with guest artists and didn’t have time to come around with my purple RFC card.

Please allow time for traffic caused by the rain. TMH opens for us to set up at 5:00 pm. Equipment will be moved on stage for us, but we need help between 5:00-6:00 pm to set it all up correctly. Sound check starts promptly at 6:00 pm!

I’m so psyched to perform with you tonight!
Curt