WSW – Carmina Burana!

WSW downstage

WSW at Tarrytown Music Hall

I’m continuing to enjoy my “retirement,” in the manner exactly as I planned. I’m thoroughly enjoying my work at The Masters School, but I am especially excited by my next program I will conduct with the Westchester Symphonic Winds.

I think it’s rare for any of us in the business of wind ensemble performance to say, “This is the perfect program.” But I really think it’s time to say it. This program is as close to perfect as I may ever come.

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At the February 2014 concert.

The Westchester Symphonic Winds will perform their last subscription concert of the season this Saturday, May 17, at 8:00 pm at Tarrytown Music Hall. Subtitled, “Hymns, Sacred and Profane,” the program explores the contrast of good and evil, darkness and light, in a most exceptional way.

The concert will begin with the glorious Fantasia in G by Johann Sebastian Bach. This magnificent work is a musical personification of the Divine, written in the highest style of the Baroque period.

Frank Ticheli’s Angels in the Architecture follows next. This musical essay explores the conflict between darkness and light, and features soprano Daniella Ashbahian.

At the end of Barbara’s triumphant Rhapsody in Blue

An emotional moment at the 25th Anniversary Gala.

The first half of the program closes with Leonard Bernstein’s chaotic and dynamic Profanation, from his Symphony No. 1, “Jeremiah.” My good friend, Dr. Shelley Axelson, takes the stage as guest conductor for this work.

And then we close with the epic Carmina Burana by Carl Orff. WSW will be joined by 120 voices from the Northern Valley Demarest Choir and Ars Musica, and adult community choir from Ridgewood, New Jersey. Soloists include Daniella Ashbahian, soprano, and Erich Tusch, baritone. The thirteen movements of this famous work will exhilarate you, and the finale — well, it will be spectacular.

This will be a monumental program, filled with glorious music expressing the extremes of good and evil. If you live in the area, I hope you can attend. Tickets are available at www.tarrytownmusichall.org. I hope to see you!

Next up: WSW plays the July 4th concert at Caramoor! We are very fortunate to have been invited to perform at this prestigious summer festival on this special night. This concert will certainly sell out, go to www.caramoor.org to buy tickets now.