Performing News

Todd Groves on Broadway.com

2008-03-21T14:23:00.001-04:00

The musicians and two leads from Sondheim's revival of Sunday in the Park with George performed at Barnes and Noble at Lincoln Center, NYC on March 11th. Broadway.com added some video and photos of the event.

http://www.broadway.com/Gen/Buzz_Video.aspx?ci=562371

http://www.broadway.com/Gen/Buzz_Photo_Op.aspx?ci=562409

Here is the opening night video coverage of the show as well as the photos from the opening night party. Fun stuff to be there.

http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Video.aspx?ci=561136

http://www.broadway.com/Gen/Buzz_Photo_Op.aspx?ci=561091

PSO on WHYY Showcase 12/9/07

2007-12-09T19:30:00.000-05:00

Tonight the Pottstown Symphony will have the October 27th concert broadcast on Philadelphia's 91FM as part of WHYY's Showcase. You can stream it online at whyy.org.

Rosalind Erwin conducts Masterworks Concert I-Music for Lovers: Schumann: Piano Concerto in a (Kwan Yi, piano) and Tchaikovsky: Symphony #5!

Also, on Showcase is the Petite Symphonie by Gounod that was recorded last season at the Emmanuel Lutheran Church on February 17, 2007. A favorite of flute players since it features just one flute and an intimate group of winds. The guest principal flutist was Kimberly Reighly, I think.

Eastern Wind Symphony: Holiday 2007 Concert

2007-12-08T20:30:00.000-05:00

Holiday time is here and we are presenting our annual concert filled cheer and good tidings! Concert begins at 4pm at The College of New Jersey Mayo concert hall. Most proceeds go towards our Eric Maybury scholarship fund and this year's recipient will be awarded during the concert. Also included will be antiphonal brass from the College's wind ensemble.

Tickets are available at the door and our newest holiday CD, Symphonic Season, will be available for sale.

I will be kind of rocking out on piccolo and if you are familiar with the concert hall, you know that serious damage could ensue!

Holiday Carols arranged/transcribed by Dr. Silvester.
Reed: Praise Jerusalem
Anderson: Suite of Carols for Woodwinds, Sleigh Ride

http://easternwindsymphony.org
http://www.tcnj.edu/
http://www.tcnj.edu/~ccr/maps/
http://www.tcnj.edu/%7Eccr/about/directions.html

Pottstown Symphony Music for Lover's Follow up

2007-11-01T00:18:00.000-04:00

Before I forget: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/multimedia/10930211.html. This is posted at the Philadelphia Inquirer online at philly.com. We had guest Philadelphia Orchestra trumpeter (retired) Frank Kaderabek, flutist David DiGiacobbe, and oboist David Schneider (among others) as guest principals for this concert.

New post appeared in the Philly Inquire today. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/10936256.html. It's a very great article about the orchestra and we are lucky to have a write up by David Patrick Stearns.

Pottstown Symphony's 44th Season!

2007-10-26T13:53:00.000-04:00

Friends, yes, I have been delinquent in posting performance news. The feeling of guilt is so overwhelming that I almost want to stop eating peanut butter. Almost. Not that there are a huge number of readers out there (hi mom and dad!), but maybe you have randomly found your way here by some search engine and actually stopped to read some of my posts.

Anyway, back to the reason for this entry. The Pottstown Symphony Orchestra (Montgomery County, PA) will open with its 44th season THIS Saturday, October 27th at the Hill School in Pottstown. Romance and passion are truly in the air. Schumann's Piano Concerto in a minor and Tchaikovsky's Symphony #5 are on the program. Kwan Yi, pianist from the Curtis Institute is our soloist and Roz Erwin leads the group as our music director. Hearing Kwan Yi is reason enough to attend the concert. He has mad skill, but there's something else in his playing. Perhaps a high level of maturity and insight (love those inner voices...no not the ones in my head) that is expressed in his playing.

Of course the Tchaikovsky is great fun, too. Sounds a bit like 1812 Overture, the Nutcracker, and Sleeping Beauty combined. Old people love it because they know the themes (usually) and youngsters dig how loud it can get (but in a tasteful way..wink, wink). There is even a pre-concert discussion starting around 7:15 with Kile Smith and a cash bar at intermission!!!! Wow! All we need is dancing, which can be satisfied at our Viennese Ball later in the season. More to come on that, though you can get a sneak peek at the website.

The orchestra is still looking for sponsors and gifts to help keep the ensemble going, so if you are feeling kind and have so much money you don't know WHAT to do with it, please donate. No cash? Then donate your time as a volunteer. I love traveling from NYC to play with the orchestra and I hope that it remains a permanent fixture in the community for years and years to come.

Visit pottstownsymphony.org for more information, a bio on Kwan Yi, and directions. you can even print tickets online.

If you are attending and want to say hello or meet some of the musicians before they scamper off stage, please leave a comment and I will gladly meet you on stage after any concert.

See you there!

Reverbnation.com

2007-10-12T21:38:00.000-04:00

Another place to promote music and events!

Eat to Support Pottstown Symphony Orchestra!

2007-02-27T00:47:00.000-05:00

As you may have read in a previous post, the Pottstown Symphony Orchestra is looking for your support to help raise funds to keep the orchestra running for years to come.

One interesting fundraising campain the PSO Auxiliary is running is a "Night at Friendly's." Yes, you can eat, eat, eat and feel great about it for once because 10% of the receipts that evening will be donated to the orchestra.

What a brilliant idea!

So if you live close to the Pottstown area or feel like a road trip if you live a bit farther away, stop in for some grub and smile because you are giving back to your community in a really fantastic way.

I don't know if local PSO musicians and family members are going to make an evening out of this as well, but it's an interesting (and potentially fun) idea.

Where: Friendly's Restaurant
200 Shoemaker Rd and Rt. 100
Pottstown, PA 19464
610-705-4404
Yahoo! Maps

When: March 6th 4-9 pm

Why: Because you want to support the arts in your community and because Friendly's is yummy.

5 for Dinner Wind Quintet

2007-02-27T00:40:00.000-05:00

Friends, 5 for Dinner Wind Quintet finally has a home on the web. Please visit our new home at freewebs.com/5fordinner.

More content will be added shortly, but for now you can at least say hello via the guestbook, check out our myspace page at myspace.com/5fordinner and bookmark the page (control+d) so you can easily check back with us.

Pottstown Symphony: Your Help is Needed!

2007-02-12T21:34:00.000-05:00

The below article, which can be found at The Mercury, describes the current state of a very special orchestra I am involved in. If you think you can support in any way, please do so.

====================================================

Expanded symphony programs come with strings attached
Evan Brandt, ebrandt@pottsmerc.com
02/11/2007

POTTSTOWN -- "What is this orchestra and where is Pottstown?" the WHYY radio listener wanted to know.

The listener had called after a performance of the Pottstown Symphony Orchestra had been broadcast and had no idea an orchestra of this quality was so near and so accessible.

It is the kind of reaction symphony leaders have grown used to hearing. They know how good Pottstown’s symphony is, and they know that often, others do not.

The musicians know too.

Paid professionals, they nevertheless drive great distances and often pass up better-paying jobs to play in Pottstown, said musical director Rosalind Erwin.

"They want to play here," she said, noting that many of the soloists who play with the Pottstown Symphony ask to come back.

The prime beneficiaries of this excellence are those who sit in the audience of Pottstown Symphony concerts.

"You don’t have to be a music student to know good music when you hear it," remarked Geoffrey K. Dailey, vice president of commercial leasing with National Penn Bank and the symphony board’s treasurer.

In recent years, there has been more of it.

Erwin has expanded the program, playing more compositions, attracting more talented soloists; exposing more students to classical music; premiering more works and commissioning original pieces from modern composers; all to the point that for the first time this year, the symphony is receiving federal funding through the National Endowment for the Arts.

And plans for the coming season are even more expansive, Erwin said.

But all this expansion and extra music doesn’t come without a cost, and it’s time to pay the piper.

In order to fund this growth, Dailey explained, the symphony went into debt.

Now, as the horizon holds the potential to secure funding to support that growth, that debt has become a liability.

"Many of the grants and funding sources we’ve approached will not fund an organization which is carrying debt," explained Kay Dougherty, president of the symphony’s board of directors.

Timing is indeed everything, it seems, and so as not to lose this window of financial opportunity, the symphony is doing something it has never done before -- making a direct financial appeal to the greater Pottstown community.

As usual, the symphony’s fund-raising letters were issued in January, but this year, something more is needed, Dougherty said.

"We need to retire some debt and build up some reserves so we can better cover the fluctuations throughout the year," said Dailey.

The symphony’s annual operating budget is about $400,000, Dailey said.

It costs $1,100 a day to mount a concert, said symphony vice president Christine Vaught.

That is a cost not covered by ticket sales as many may believe.
"When we have a masterworks concert, we fill the hall," said Dougherty.
But still, it’s not enough to cover the cost of the concert.
To do that, tickets would need to be $70 per seat.

Dailey said if the symphony could raise an additional $150,000 in the coming weeks, it would be adequate for the coming season, but $300,000 would position the symphony well for its plans for expanded concerts and programs.

If you’re so inclined, checks can be mailed to the symphony at Pottstown Symphony Orchestra, P.O. Box 675, Pottstown, PA 19464. Credit card donations can also be made by calling 610-327-3614.

"There is a sense of urgency to this, it’s something we’ve never done before," Dougherty said. "We desperately need the help of this community."

"It’s a multi-pronged plea," said Dailey, who pointed out that the symphony has always enjoyed support from area companies who contributed $82,000 toward the bottom line last year; as well as public and private grants and foundations, which contributed $42,000 last year.

"If everyone who attends our concerts sent us just $20, that would about do it," Dailey said.

"If everyone who went to just the holiday concert donated, and I know a lot of them do, that would be a humungous step out of the hole," Erwin added.

The popular -- and free -- holiday concert has, in recent years, expanded to include shows in Boyertown and Royersford as well as Pottstown, just one example of the program expansion the symphony has experienced.

Also free and of benefit to the region are the visits the symphony makes to area schools, nine a year, exposing 10,000 students a year to classical music, often for the first time.

"Pottstown," wrote the Temple University Fox School of Business authors of a 2006 assessment of the cultural needs of Montgomery County, "is still perceived as the arts and cultural center of the region and key to its regional development. The Pottstown Symphony Orchestra is seen by residents as a strong symbol of this potential strength."

The region now must demonstrate that strength and lend a hand to keep that advantage and engine of economic growth, said Dailey.

"People who come to a concert spend an average of $40 a person above the price of the ticket," he said while mentioning the symphony’s partnership with two local restaurants -- Funky Lil’ Kitchen and Café Mosaic.

"We are a regional asset," Dougherty said. "We feel very strongly about the future of this region and we want to bring this organization to the next level, but to do that, we need this region’s support."

©The Mercury 2007

Pottstown Symphony Orchestra: Masterworks II

2007-02-08T22:15:00.000-05:00

We will perform our second Masterworks concert on Saturday 2/17/07 at 8pm in Pottstown, PA. This concert will feature concertmaster Christopher Collins Lee performing Mozart's Violin Concerto #3 in G KV 216 on Leopold (Wolfgang's father) Mozart's violin.

The concert will also feature music for winds (Gounod: Petite Symphonie) and for chamber orchestra (Schubert: Symphony #5 in Bb D485).

Unlike other Pottstown concerts, this evening will be held at the Emmanuel Lutheran Church at Hanover St and Walnut St in Pottstown, PA.

I hope you can make it because every member of the audience is important to us!

http://pottstownsymphony.org

Eastern Wind Symphony in Concert: Feb Concert

2007-02-08T22:10:00.000-05:00

The Eastern Wind Symphony will perform at The College of New Jersey's Music Building (Mayo Concert Hall) in Ewing, NJ on Sunday 2/11 at 4pm. Tickets can be purchased at the door and CDs may also be available. I will be playing alto and c flute. Bring ear plugs if you hate really loud music!

The program includes, but not limited to:
Barnes: Third Symphony
Seitz: March Grandioso
Schuman: Chester Overture for Band
Rogers: Carousel
Gershwin: The Symphonic Gershwin
Vivaldi: Concerto in Bb for Two Trumpets and Band

http://easternwindsymphony.org
http://www.tcnj.edu/
http://www.tcnj.edu/~ccr/maps/
http://www.tcnj.edu/%7Eccr/about/directions.html

Masterworks Choir and Orchestra

2006-11-19T20:30:00.000-05:00

Ok, here is the information about the NJ gig. The concert is free, but a goodwill offering will be taken. Works will be Mendelssohn: Three Songs for Alto, Choir and Organ, Op. 96 and Bach: Magnificat in D, BWV 243. The Masterworks Choir and Orchestra will be directed by John Bate, music director of St. Peter's Methodist Church.

Bach: Magnificat in D

2006-11-14T22:20:00.000-05:00

Friends, if you are down the NJ shore (specifically Ocean City, NJ) and like cantatas, then you must come to see JS Bach's Magnificat BWV 243. I really don't know too much additional information. I've tried to search for more, but I can't seem to find anything.

The performance will take place at St. Peter's Methodist Church (8th and Central Ave) in Ocean City, NJ. 7:00 performance on Sunday 11/19. I'm not sure if tickets are required or if a donation will be taken. Sorry I can't fill you in more.

I do know that there is a beautiful flute duet worth listening to!

Music Man Recap

2006-07-22T18:44:00.000-04:00

Please visit this link to read an article about the production. Click here to learn more. Theater season information is also located here.

Free Concert in the Park

2006-07-19T14:21:00.000-04:00

It's time for summer music concerts in parks across the country, so get out there and bring your chairs, towels, bug spray and water. Today (Wed 7/19)if you are in the New Castle Delaware area, please come and watch the Wind Symphony of Southern NJ concert at Battery Park. The concert starts at 7. No, it is not Separation Day...the ensemble performed during the festivities in early July, but it is part of the regular Wed concert series that is free for all to attend.

I am returning for the 9th summer to sub on picc with the group, though I am only needed for this one concert. They are playing various other venues like Lansdale, PA and Morristown, NJ, so I highly suggest you track them down! Email if you'd like more specifics.

Dr. Robert Streckfuss will again be leading the ensemble, something that he has been doing since 1977. If you can't see or meet him this summer, try to attend a University of Delaware Wind Ensemble concert during the year. It's well worth it.

Visit New Castle City for more information concerning the DE concert.

Oh, so far I am not subbing with the Tri-County Symphonic Band, the ensemble in residence at Camden County College, but I highly recommend catching one or more of their concerts. They are (in my opinion) the hardest working band during the summer months because they perform about 8 concerts, which is A LOT. You can visit their site for concert dates here.

Music Man in Concert

2006-07-16T02:18:00.000-04:00

So some of you know that I was going to be performing in the musical version of Aida for the Mainstage Center for the Arts at Camden County College, but due to some scheduling issues with another show, I am sad not to be involved with Mainstage's production. If you are in the area and are interested in seeing some very talented people perform, I highly recommend attending one of the shows. I played in Annie Get Your Gun a few years back and I had a great time!

The project that ended up conflicting is the Music Man in Concert at the Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center in Marlton, NJ. The dates are the same, but the concert runs on Sun both weeks as well. This is not a staged musical, but rather a musical in concert form with a great cast in costume, full chorus and orchestra which is onstage for the performances. Much like what Les Mis did for their TV special. Anyway, tickets are $45. The performances are 7/21 and 7/22 @8 and 7/23 @2...or 4. The website says 4, but people told me it was at 2. Then we move to another arts center the following weekend to do it again. Those performances will be at the Stafford County Arts Center's OceanFirst Theater.

I'll keep you posted and that information will be posted on my website.

I hope you can come out and see it.