The American Prize, the final chapter

I’m proud to announce that the Westchester Symphonic Winds has earned its third recognition for The American Prize awards for 2018-2019. Yesterday, the winners were posted for the Ernst Bacon Award for the performance of an American work, and WSW won third place in the community ensemble category for our 2017 performance of Brooklyn Bridge by Michael Daugherty! You may remember that the piece featured clarinet soloist Steve Cohen (professor of clarinet, Northwestern University).
This gives WSW a final standing of Win-Place-Show: First Place in the ensemble competition, Second Place in the conductor competition, and Third Place in the competition for the performance of Brooklyn Bridge. I couldn’t be prouder of all of you! Read the post of this final award here. Note also that May’s guest conductor (and T-Rex aficionado), Joe HIggins, earned an Honorable Mention in both the university conductor and Ernst Bacon categories

Ads due October 21

This year’s program ad form can be found on the Resources page of this site, or just click here. Please give ad forms, ad copy, and payments (checks payable to WSW) to Tom Sweezey by Monday, October 21.

Exchange opportunity

Via Travis Cross (and the miracle of Facebook), I received this message from Matt Dehnel at Roseville Area High School in MInnesota:

“I’m bringing my Minnesota HS concert band to New York, and I’d love to set up an exchange performance. In my experience, exchange concerts are a fantastic performance opportunity for kids. It allows them to share music, but also connect with peers somewhere far from home. Any chance such a thing works with a local HS program I should reach out to?  We’re looking at  [Friday] April 3.”

If you are a high school band director and interested in this exchange, please let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Matt.

Clarinetist needed

Rob DelGaudio, who has played percussion with WSW, is producing a children’s musical, The Headless Horseman, in Briarcliff Manor in late October. He had hired a clarinetist for the orchestra, but the player bailed on him.

Rehearsal Monday

The rehearsal plan is posted. See you Monday.

Quick notes for this week:

• On deck for rehearsal this week: the Warrington Concerto — soloists, please be ready. I’d also like to plan for a sectional rehearsal with the soloists in two weeks on October 7 at 6:30 pm (prior to rehearsal). Soloists, please check your calendars and advise me of your availability on Monday.
• The rest of the rehearsal plan is posted here. We’ll need all 8 trombones for the Higgins.
• If you haven’t picked up your CD set, we hope you will plan to purchase one this week.
• If you haven’t paid your dues yet, please consider taking care of this with Marge this Monday.
• We will rehearse next Monday, as noted on the schedule. I recognize that it is the second night of Rosh Hashanah, but as I understand it, this is not as significant as the first night. If you have holiday plans that evening, please let David know.
• Update: David has reported that he is recovering without complications. You can call/email him with any personnel issues as needed.

See you all Monday!

Thanks for a great read-through last week. Monday’s rehearsal plan is posted on the home page. 

I expect to have the 2018-2019 CDs in hand on Monday. Cash, checks (payable to WSW), and debit/credit cards all accepted. Sets are $30 each. We’ll also start to accept annual dues ($100) by the same means on Monday.

If you are interested in seeing the second American Prize posting, you can find it here. You’ll note that Joe HIggins was named as an Honorable Mention in the university category (without any T-rex’s in sight).

Away we go! See you Monday!

I hope everyone enjoyed the remainder of the summer. As always, it flew by way too fast for me.

Announcements, nuts, and bolts

• The updated rehearsal/performance calendar can be found here. You can always recheck it on this site from the menus at the top of this website: Schedules > Rehearsal Schedule Grid.
• Please note, as in the past several years, we have several rehearsals during the week leading up to the Fall Concert, including Monday, November 4; Wednesday, November 6; the dress rehearsal on Saturday, November 9; and the concert on Sunday, November 10. We need the Wednesday rehearsal to accommodate a rehearsal for our guest conductor. It’s my hope to cancel the Monday rehearsal, but that will depend on many factors, including our rehearsal progress and (I hate to say it) the weather. 
• The Resources page has been updated with the new season repertoire, new season brochure, season repertoire, updated Member Handbook, and ad form. Please visit the page, download these forms, and share them liberally. Ads for the new season (resubscribed and new advertisements) will be due on Monday, October 14, so please start to think about these ads. You may want to consider soliciting ads from friends, family, or your workplace to congratulate you, your section, or the band as a whole for winning The American Prize. Please consider this angle.
• The new season brochures were labeled last week and should be in the mail soon.
• The two-CD compilation from last season is currently in production by Candlewood Digital, and I expect to have copies ready to sell ($30 per set) at rehearsal on September 16. We didn’t take pre-orders this year. Just bring a check or use your debit/credit card to purchase. The best of all five concerts (including ACB and Caramoor) are included. Also, check out the Candlewood website; we are listed among their featured performers.
• If you didn’t see it already, you can read the announcement noting our win of The American Prize. Even though the deadlines for submission for 2019-2020 have passed, we are still waiting on the remaining two nominations. When we hear about our standing on all three nominations, we will send out a big press release as well as an email blast to our website subscribers.
• Update on Mislav Forrester: He landed on his feet in Chicago. He has a new job in the Chicago Public Schools, and he was accepted by audition as a new member of the Northshore Concert Band. We wish him all the best!

There’s more to share, but that’s enough for now. Enjoy the weekend and I look forward to seeing everyone on Monday evening for a prompt start at 7:30 pm!