Spring Gala Concert

I have to admit that I came away from last week’s rehearsal thinking, “Wow. I have so much to work on, and there were intonation problems, and those balance issues . . . ” And then I realized, “Dude, they just sight-read that entire program!” When I think back to ten years ago, and then compare it to the work you are doing now, it’s simply amazing. Yes, we have work to do, but I am so very proud of where we’ve come as an ensemble, and I think our 30th Gala program will truly be amazing.

With the Gala concert on the immediate horizon, Caramoor is not that far away. And as we return for our fifth performance in their garden of music, their expectations are naturally quite high.

Caramoor

Matt Podd finished the West Side Story arrangement this week, and sent me the parts and score. After I’ve had a chance to review the score, check the parts, and work out any wrinkles with Matt, I’ll distribute the parts way ahead of the first rehearsal on April 9. The medley was chosen along with the Overture to Candide to celebrate the Bernstein centennial, and is 9 minutes long. It features Cool, Something’s Coming, America, Maria, One Hand One Heart, Tonight, and Somewhere. I have not yet met our soprano and tenor soloists; they are both alumni of Caramoor’s Rising Stars program. Here are two YouTube videos to give you a taste of their voices. Miles Mykkanen is our Tony, and Meredith Lustig is Maria. I’m very eager to meet and work with them!

I’ve scheduled the Caramoor reading rehearsal for April 9. The program includes these works, which are reprises from previous concerts at the Music Hall:

• Smith/Sousa/Damrosch – Star Spangled Banner
• Bernstein/Grundman – Overture to Candide
• Markowski – Famishius Fantasticus (yes, I warned Caramoor about the confetti)
• Fillmore/Fennell – Americans We
• Sheldon – Metroplex
• Tchaikovsky/Lake – 1812
• Sousa/Brion & Schissel – Stars & Stripes

and these new works, including Barton Green’s latest and freshest arrangement:

• Wilson/Green – Selections from The Music Man
• Bernstein/Podd – Vocal Selections from West Side Story
• Ward/Rothman – America the Beautiful (a new arrangement which I heard at the Air Force Band concert last November)

We’ll then dig into rehearsals for this program after the the May concert is over. We have five rehearsals planned for the Caramoor cycle, but I will not hesitate to cancel one if the April 9 rehearsal produces a positive outlook.

This Monday, we’ll rehearse Burns, Grainger (movements I-II-III), Bernstein, Stamp, and Kalinnikov (first half).

I hope everyone survived the storm with minimal complications. See you Monday!

PS – Reminder: We have a Board meeting Monday evening at 6:15 pm, in the VIP room.

The Hudson Valley Music Club will present a concert this coming Monday, February 26 at 1:00 pm at the Dobbs Ferry Women’s Club (across the street from The Masters School). Marge Hone, our principal flute, and Joy Plaisted, who has joined us as harpist on several occasions, will be featured. Click the flyer at left for details.

The West Point Band has a concert this coming Saturday, February 24 at 2:00 pm in Eisenhower Hall. Billed as “Rhapsody in Blue,” the program is slated to include great works for military band. Visit http://westpointband.army.mil/calendar.html to reserve free tickets.

The Air Force Concert Band and Singing Sergeants has a concert coming up on Tuesday, April 3 at 7:30 pm at the Stamford Palace Theatre (performance site from our 2016 Exchange). Tickets are free, but you must RSVP to reserve. Visit The Palace Theatre for information and tickets.

And I’m the guest conductor tomorrow night, Thursday, February 22 at 7:00 pm for WindFest, at John Jay High School (2012 NY-52, Hopewell Junction, NY), which features the individual and combined concert bands of John Jay High School and Roy C. Ketcham High School. Holst, Hazo, Bryant, Arnold, Sheldon, and Sousa are on the program.

And don’t forget — we have the first rehearsal of our Spring cycle this coming Monday, February 26 at 7:30 pm at TMH. We’ll be reading through the entire program. Patrick Burns has kindly gifted a new fanfare to us, as promised last spring, in honor of our 30th anniversary. It is titled “Sennet,” which refers to the trumpet calls played to signal the ceremonial entrance or exit of an Elizabethan era actor, such as a play by Shakespeare. So we’ll be starting with a new fanfare and ending with a time-tested finale. I’m looking forward to seeing you all Monday evening!

It’s taken me a week to process everything that happened last Sunday. To say that I am proud of you is an understatement of immense proportions. The focus, energy, drive, and grit you brought to the presentation of Husa’s milestone work was amazing.

The Facebook webcast was tremendously successful, and we reached over 400 viewers beyond the Music Hall. Thank you so much to Jim Savage for manning both my phone for  the webcast, and my DSLR for the video of the concert. I would never recommend a livestream of a concert that might reduce paid patronage, but in this case it made a huge difference with our exposure to the broader wind band community. The video will remain on the WSW Facebook page, where you can find it if you’re interested. I’m working on publishing the video shot with my DSLR, for which I’m adding titles and captions for the movements. That will be found on our YouTube channel when completed and uploaded.

Was the Husa perfect? Of course not. But it was deeply emotional, extremely musical and so effective. Your response to the excerpts during the introduction made it much more accessible to the listeners. It was transformational in many ways. I truly believe that you are better players for the experience, but also better people. The empathy involved in preparing this piece could not result in anything less. In many ways, it’s clear to see the development of this ensemble influenced greatly by the Bolcom last season, the Daugherty in November, and now the Husa. What we do next to develop our mutual musicianship and engage our audiences will be heavily influenced by our experiences with this rehearsal cycle and performance. This is not to say that I will be programming a steady diet of this strata of works, but it will serve us so well for our continuing growth.

I”m very proud of Kelly Oram’s work with the Jacob. The band really responded to him with a very musical performance. I’m also grateful to Don Batchelder for performing these two classic solos with us, and for his amazing master class in January. Your response to Keith Hodgson was tremendous; I was especially moved by your applause reception for him when he came to the podium on Sunday at the sound check. He sent a letter of thanks which I will share at our next rehearsal.

The Fillmore march got us off to a great start, and Travis Cross’s Tribute was the perfect introduction to Prague. I was energized by the audience reaction to a la Machaut! Not only was the applause warm and sustained, but so many audience members who spoke to me afterward specifically mentioned how much they enjoyed the piece.

Enjoy one more week off until I see you all again on Monday, February 26. The rehearsal plan is already posted! I have allowed for some time to reflect and debrief the concert at the beginning of rehearsal. And then, as usual, we will read through the entire Spring program.

Thank you to each and every one of you. I am so proud to be associated with you all.

PS – If you are an Amazon Prime subscriber, catch my scene-stealing performance in Season Four of Mozart in the Jungle. (This photo is from episode 9. I was also an extra for an additional episode — featuring a performance for the Pope — but I haven’t found it yet!)