Good afternoon, Senior Symphony!
Here’s wishing you the very best as your school year begins. Proud of you!
I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, Wednesday 9/2 at 5:30 for rehearsal of our Welcome Concert music and also a sight reading of Debussy’s Fêtes. Oui oui!
I have thoroughly enjoyed hearing you and visiting with you over the past couple of weeks, and I sincerely thank you and your families for helping get our great orchestra up and running before school got underway. I bet you are all busy as ever now!
Please fill out your 2026-27 Senior Symphony Attendance Plan – Fall Cycle….scroll down the page and send me what you’ve got. Thanks to those who have already done this!
There are just one or two more musicians for me to hear, and I will be sharing your music assignments late tomorrow before rehearsal. You will also receive all of your music for the November concert at 5:30 just before rehearsal. We are an outstanding orchestra and we’re going to have a fantastic season together.
We’ll be joined by some of our professional musician friends tomorrow, who will be on hand to get to know you and to help around the edges, too. I am confident you will make them feel welcome.
- Oboe – Grayson Eichmeier
- Clarinet – Besnik Abrashi
- Horn – Simon Field
- Violin – Paul Hauer
- Violin – Clay Hancock
- Viola – Amanda Koch
- Cello – Adrien Zitoun
- Bass – Paris Myers
We’ll rehearse in Copland Hall tomorrow since Youth Arts Hall’s floor is being refinished…It should look pretty beautiful by next week.
So, here’s what we’ll do tomorrow:
Wednesday, September 2: 5:30-7:30 pm – Rehearsal at MYAC in Copland Hall
5:15: Report no earlier, please, since we’ll be putting music out and setting up.
5:30: Announcements & Community Building
5:50: Pirates of the Caribbean
6:20: The Flight to Neverland
6:50: America, The Beautiful
7:00: Figure out Debussy : )
7:30: Rehearsal End
Wednesday, September 9 5:30-7:30 pm – Rehearsal at MYAC
5:15: Report
5:30: The Flight to Neverland
5:55: Community Building
6:15: Pirates of the Caribbean
6:40: America, The Beautiful
6:55: Close Encounters of the Third Kind by John Williams
7:30: Rehearsal End
PERFORMANCE: Thursday, September 10, 7:00 pm – Welcome Concert for Wind Ensemble Musicians
6:30 pm: Report & End at 7:30 pm
PERFORMANCE: Monday, September 14, 5:30-8:45 pm – Welcome Concert for String Orchestra Musicians
5:30: Rehearsal
6:45: Performance
7:00-8:30: Full Rehearsal
Monday, September 21
5:15: Report
5:30: Full Orchestra Instruction
5:45: Sectionals (90 minutes) (Debussy, Boulanger, Williams(?), Holst)
Brass with Mr. Sipe | Woodwinds and Percussion with Mr. Simmons | Strings, sectionals
Concertmasters, Principals, Section Leaders to coordinate as needed and lead/refine sections through necessary/difficult passages. Please let me know if you have any thoughts or concerns.
7:15: Break
7:30: Full Orchestra read Boulanger
7:50: Debussy
8:00: Holst (Mercury, Uranus)
8:45: Rehearsal End
Festival of the Spheres
Sunday, November 15 at Carroll University
Claude Debussy (1862-1918), Fêtes, Festivals) from Nocturnes 6’
Lili Boulanger (1893-1918), D’un Matin de printemps 5’
John Williams (b. 1932), Close Encounters of the Third Kind 8’
Gustav Holst (1874-1934), The Planets, Op. 32 45’
- Mars, the Bringer of War
- Mercury, the Winged Messenger
- Uranus, the Magician
- Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age
- Venus. Bringer of Peace
- Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
Remaining Rehearsals
- Monday, September 21
- Monday, September 28
- Monday, October 5: Guided Sectionals with Professional Musicians
- Monday, October 12
PERFORMANCE: Wednesday, October 14 Late Afternoon & Evening. WPR Classical Music Day for Radio at Bradley Symphony Center
- Monday, October 19
- Monday, October 26
- Monday, November 2
- Friday, November 6: 5:30-7:30 pm. Dress Rehearsal at MYAC
PERFORMANCE: Saturday, November 7, ~1pm: Play Your Part Performance, Sharon Lynne Wilson Center
- Monday, November 9
PERFORMANCE: Tuesday, November 10, 8:30 am-3:00 pm: Community Concert Day Performances
- Saturday, November 14, 3:00-5:30 pm, Dress Rehearsal at Carroll University (A change from MYAC)
PERFORMANCE: Sunday, November 15, 2:30 Sound Check at Carroll University: 5:00 Concert, Festival of the Spheres
