Spring Concert

I have to start this post by thanking everyone for your spectacular performance on May 11. The band has never sounded better! I received the recording, and removing the sound shell not only gave us more room, it actually improved the depth and resonance of the band. Rob and Rich completely agree. Tim Stoddard is our hero, the soloists superb, the students from Masters were patient and on point, and the Barton’s arrangement was epic in every way. Congratulations, all!

Memorial Day

I hope everyone is enjoying the Memorial Day weekend. Although we have picnics and trips to the beach, do take a moment and remember the real reason for this holiday — to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we all may enjoy all the freedoms that we too readily take for granted. If you’re working tomorrow, especially if you are participating in parades, all the best to you and good luck to your students!

Tootsie received 11 Tony nominations!

Sue Winthrop, bass clarinet, is thrilled with the recent array of nomination for Tootsie, for which she is an executive producer and a backer. Congratulations to Sue and the show! There are discussions about a WSW field trip to see the production. Details coming soon.

T-shirts!

We now have official WSW T-shirts! Thank you, Chris Larsen! See Chris to purchase at the next rehearsal.

RiverArts

Next weekend, Rich Dashnaw will be among many local musicians participating in this year’s RiverArts Festival. Catch Rich with Andrew V. Craig at 6:00 pm on Saturday, June 1, at the Upstream Gallery, 8 Main Street, Hastings-on-Hudson. Check out the entire RiverArts program here.  

Caramoor rehearsals begin June 3

The final push for the 2019 season begins a week from Monday at 7:30 pm at Tarrytown Music Hall. We’ll read the entire program that night. 

See you on June 3!

I am sad to report that our wonderful tenor, John Anthony Lopez, has been stricken with bronchitis. He contacted me early this morning to say he cannot sing this evening.

With a lot of assistance, we were able to find another wonderful tenor to sing the Jean Valjean role, Timothy Stoddard. The soloists are coming a little early to go over the ensemble numbers with him, but I have to give fair warning that we will have to run Bring Him Home during the soundcheck, in addition to the finale. Please adjust your warm up accordingly.

See you in seats at 5:30 pm.

Saturday’s concert

Here are a few notes for tomorrow:

• We have access to the Hall at 4:30 pm. TMH crew is bringing up percussion, chairs, and stands, and pulling out the piano. As discussed, we are not using the shell this time, to be able to conserve space upstage and give the soloists more room at the apron.
• Please arrive and be seated by 5:30 pm, ready in concert dress. Note that this is earlier than usual; see below for my plan. I’m asking that you arrived dressed so we can try to take a photo with the ensemble, soloists, and chorus before we break at 7:00 pm, so there won’t be time to change during the sound check. This is our only opportunity to do this — thanks for planning in advance.
• Please know that we are not going to play continuously from 5:30-7:00 pm. Far from it! At 5:30 pm, we will play (or in some cases, sing) critical starts/endings to establish tempi and review bows. We are not going to hammer through any of the pieces as a run-through, with the possible exception of the Biedenbender. I would rather keep you “hungry” to play everything else and give Joe some latitude with this one number, since we did not touch it on Wednesday.
• At 6:30 pm, we’ll make sure the soloists and chorus are set and ready, and run from Part 2 m.134 to the end (as we did on Wednesday) to check the chorus’s memory and insure that they are ready. That will be the only section of the medley I will ask you to play through.
• Just before 7:00 pm, we are going to try to get a group photo of the entire assemblage. So as noted above, please arrived dressed so we can be efficient with our time, and still give you a full hour to rest and reset before the performance.
• Please prep envelopes with any tickets to be held at Will Call, with your name as the return address and your guest’s name clearly written mid-span. Give to Marge at sound check. Thanks, Marge, for handling the tickets!
• Bring cash — tomorrow’s audience should be bigger than usual, and so the 50/50 is apt to be huge! Thanks, Rachel, for handling the raffle!

Library for Caramoor

Please finish your swap out with Nancy after the concert, so all you have leaving the Hall is the Caramoor rep. I am bringing the Matt Podd medley with me tomorrow night, so make sure you pick that up.

After tomorrow, the next time I see you as a group is Monday, June 3 at 7:30 pm at TMH, for the Caramoor read-through. Make sure you look at the new parts before that rehearsal.

Other concerts of note

• Reminder: New Jersey Wind Symphony performs tonight at 8:00 pm at West Side Presbyterian Church in Ridgewood, NJ. Amy Wilcox conducts the NVOT Wind Symphony as the prelude concert.
• Connecticut Symphonic Winds performs next Saturday, May 18 at 7:30 pm in Fairfield, CT. The program is packed with finales: Tchaik IV, Kalinnikov, Berlioz, Scriabin, and Barnes — a huge program! (So you can’t ever complain I program too much!)

Rest up and we’ll see you tomorrow at 5:30 pm. It’s going to be an amazing night!

Spring Concert – Liberty! Equality!

This is the week we put all this together!

• Monday – Geoff is contacting clarinets about a sectional at 6:45 pm, on stage. When we set up, please set up in front of and behind them. We need to pull the piano to stage left again for this rehearsal. Vocalists join us for Les Miz at 7:30 pm. We will also review the Milhaud and Taylor this evening. Barbara will be coming to play the harp part in Les Miz. Marge will have Friends & Family tickets available. We will also have hard copies of color flyers available for distribution.
• Wednesday – Vocalists PLUS sound engineer PLUS flash mob chorus from Masters join us to put the final touches on Les Miz. Joe Higgins will not be coming this evening. Together we felt the Biedenbender is in great shape, and having Joe make an additional trip from south Jersey was not needed. He will touch the piece in the sound check on Saturday. We will also review the Nelson (second ending only) and Holsinger, plus the Milhaud and Taylor. In other words, it’s a dress rehearsal without the Biedenbender, out of concert order.
• Saturday – We have access to TMH at 4:30 pm for setup. We will begin our sound check at 5:30 pm — note the early time.The chorus/soloists are coming for a 6:30 pm sound check. We will end by 7:00 pm to allow you to rest before the 8:00 pm downbeat.

Video for concert

I am looking for someone who would be willing to man my DSLR to video the concert. I supply the equipment, but I need someone to re-direct the camera during Les Miz, change the battery at intermission, etc. If you have a technically competent spouse, friend, or child, please let me know.

Library

At the end of the May 11 concert, you will receive your parts for the Caramoor concert. Nancy will hand out music via inter-office envelopes. There are a couple pieces that have to move forward with us from your current folder to Caramoor, so be sure to listen to instructions carefully so you turn in all old music and have all the parts you need to start to prepare for our first Caramoor rehearsal on June 3. We have no rehearsals on May 13, 20, or 27, but I don’t want everyone sight-reading on June 3.

The Thrilling 32

We’ve had 24 responses to the Thrilling 32. Please follow this link and vote by midnight this coming Monday. On Tuesday, I’ll set up the Sweet Sixteen and create a new voting form. Will your favorite pieces advance?

Rich Williams recital

As announced, Rich is presented a trombone recital this coming Sunday, May 5 at noon in Larchmont. Click on the flyer for details. The performance is in the Larchmont Avenue Presbyterian Church in Larchmont. Good luck to Rich!

Tootsie

I’ve never known a Broadway show backer in my life — but we have one in the band! Sue WInthrop is one of the executive producers of Tootsie, and it’s gotten great reviews. See below for the YouTube montage.

We hope to put together a field trip to see the show. We took a hand count last week. We’ll make more formal decisions in the weeks ahead.

The American Prize update

We’ve made it to Finalist status among Bands/Wind Ensembles in the Community Division (although it appears that the semi-finalist and finalist list is exactly the same). Read the release here.

Enjoy the weekend — see you eager and ready on Monday!