I am so very, very proud of our work together last evening! The energy, the excitement, the focus, and the projection of intent was palpable from the first drum roll to the final release. It was the perfect finale to an exceptional season. Madison and Shea were brilliant, and your collaboration with them was clearly magical. Kathy Schuman, the vice president of programming, was thrilled, and that is key to our continued appearances at Caramoor.                                  

You thrilled people last night. You made them feel proud of our country, our heritage, our legacy. The connection between community and communication was clearly evident. The performance was a clear declaration of our mission statement.

I thank you with my whole heart for your dedication and hard work all season. I’ll be working with the Board to produce the season’s program for next year, which we’ll share in August. In the meantime, know that you’ve selected, by 58.5% to 41.5%, Symphony No. 4 by David Maslanka as the Repertoire Bracket Challenge winner. My next step will be to research how we obtain the score and parts, and to create a plan to rehearse and prepare this epic composition.

I’m particularly grateful to the members of the Board for their additional efforts and support, and I especially want to thank Michael Lucke for taking on the coordination with TMH, and David Church for his continuous expert management of all personnel matters.

I wish you the very best for the summer, including safe travels and the best of times with friends and family.

Dang it – I’m human! The correct link to vote is here!

Thanks for a productive rehearsal last night. I’ve contacted Matt and he’ll have a solution to the sax section wrong note issue this afternoon. 

Here’s the link for the final vote in the Rep Bracket Challenge. There’s only one choice in this final round. Try to vote today (or this afternoon at the dinner break) so we can announce the winner before we leave tonight.

See you all this afternoon — check in with David by 3:45 pm, sound check begins at 4:00 pm. It’s gonna be a warm one — bring water bottles and fans if you’ve got ’em!

I’m sending this quick message to put out a plea to everyone who has not yet filled out the two current forms: the 2019-2020 Personnel Form and the Final Four Repertoire Bracket form.

After Thursday, I won’t see you all ’til the fall, so it’s very important to gather the information about personnel before we break for the summer. The personnel roster drives my selection of repertoire, so I need to know who’s returning, who may be taking leave, etc. Think of it this way: You wouldn’t program Seventy-Six Trombones if you didn’t have a complete trombone section. Right now we have only 34 out of over 60 responses, so please complete this personnel form if you have not done so yet.

Likewise, I committed to programming one work next season that you, the members of the band, choose. We’re down to the Final Four, but only 26 members have responded — and I promised to move forward only when at least half the members voted. So please complete this quick two-question form if you have not done so yet.

Our dress rehearsal is tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7:30 pm at TMH. There are only a few single seats left in the Venetian Theater — it’s going to be another sell-out! See you Wednesday evening!

PS – the two tickets I had available have been claimed!