Rehearsal in the new place

I like the drive past cornfields, barns, and silos to the new rehearsal location, which is quite out in the country. I snapped a quick photo of the entryway to the rehearsal area. For the summer, we are using the choral room, seen in the next photo set up with stands and chairs for orchestra rehearsal. In the fall we will be using the band room, which is much larger, and just as nice. It's great to have carpeting! (No endpins slipping away - hurray!)

Here is the music we will be playing for Falls Fest:

El Capitan by Sousa
Tarentella by Leoncavallo
Viva Verdi by Giuseppe Verdi, arranged by Goldsmith
Trisch-Trasch Polka by Johann Strauss
Washington Post March by Sousa
Kaiser-Walzer by Johann Strauss
Selections from "Carmen" by Georges Bizet

Practicing, actually

I've been working on the piece that I played in the 140 cello orchestra at Summerfest in 2005 (has it been that long!) The Concerto in d minor for Two Cellos - transcribed from Bach's concerto for 2 violins by Jane Firmunn Hollander.

Still treasure the memory, and the shirt!

And still having trouble with the tenor clef and thumb position, LOL.

Revised rehearsal schedule

Ok, moving on - there is the Falls Fest concert to look forward to!

New location for rehearsals - at the Hamilton Fine Arts Center, in the choral room. This should be fun ☺

• July 13 at 7:00pm
• July 17 at 7:00pm

Concert at Falls Fest Sunday, July 26, at 4:00pm.

"Symphony on the Waters" concert CANCELLED

VERY, very disappointing!
It appears that not all needed sponsors were lined up ahead and/or some that WERE lined up (either by word of mouth or other) backed out.

I was promoting this event to my friends and on this blog and even at the dentist - and now this huge let down. All the musicians had been told that this was a firm "go".

Orchestra moving to new fine arts center

It's official - we're moving to the
Hamilton Fine Arts Center!

The distance is not that far from where we had been rehearsing and playing, but offers so much more in terms of space, acoustics, publicity, professional stage managing, and a brand new audience.

Now this will be fun! More enthusiasm - bigger audience - loud applause - hurray!!!
And, the name of the orchestra will remain
Menomonee Falls Symphony Orchestra.

A feast - and flowers too!

Fantastic food and fabulous friends at the orchestra banquet, held June 20 on the rooftop patio of the Silver Spring Country Club. Of course, the upcoming "Symphony on the Waters" event was a topic of much discussion and excitement! First rehearsal for this on July 6.

The party game was unscrambling the names of composers. Well, I did poorly at it - but the winner at our table didn't want his prize, and very kindly offered it to me (the flower bouquet, above). So now I have received some flowers for playing the cello - whoo-hoo!

"Symphony on the Waters" event - preliminary details

Big exciting historical summer music event!

The Menomonee Falls Symphony Orchestra will present "Symphony on the Waters" July 18, 2009, on the Milwaukee River. The barge carrying the orchestra will stop at different locations to be announced, and perform mini concerts as it travels on its way to the lagoon at Festa Italiana. At 9:30 p.m. the orchestra will perform a 45 minute classical concert. We will finish the evening with another concert broadcast throughout the park for the fireworks at 10:15 p.m.

Included in the concert selections is The Water Music by George Frederick Handel. This collection of orchestral movements premiered on July 17, 1717, when King George I of Great Britain requested a concert on the River Thames. The concert was performed by 50 musicians playing on a barge close to the royal barge, from which the King listened with some close friends.

Sponsorship is needed for this event. For advertising opportunities, contact Mr. Dana R. Kohler, the producer-director of Sound Trax Video, by email at drtrax@aol.com

Ok, that's what I've been told so far - will let you know more when I find out more. Am I looking forward to participating in this? You betcha!

The Cat Concerto

Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 re-scored by Scott Bradley.

It's been said that Bradley studied with Arnold Schoenberg - the 12-tone technique guy whose music is a bit difficult to listen to and even more difficult to play - last year our Menomonee Falls Symphony Orchestra attempted the "Five Pieces for Orchestra", op. 16.

Anyway, I think this classic cartoon is a hoot! Enjoy.

Spring concert '09 - could we get some flowers, please?

This is a photo I took during warm-up, well before it was time to begin the concert. So I wasn't fooling around with the camera when I was supposed to be playing music, honest!

The audience was either very polite about not clapping between "movements", or else we stunned them into silence by our glowing performance of Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring". The maestro had to turn around and have us all stand up so that the people would know the piece was finished! Then the applause came!

The flute soloist for the "Fantaisie Pastorale Hongroise" by Doppler was absolutely brilliant! She was even gracious enough to play an encore.

So, (mini rant here) where was the traditional huge bouquet of gorgeous flowers to show appreciation for her efforts? Why was there no ceremonial presentation of the monetary prize? Is the budget in such bad shape they couldn't afford the flowers and the prize money for her winning the annual young artist's competition? Or, was the person in charge of those details home sick? And, did it really help matters for the President of the Menomonee Falls Festival Corp. to come out and rail at the audience for being small? Humph! We are a fantastic group of musicians and our great music should be enough to excite people to spread the word about us. (Rant finished).

Well, after we all get famous as the "Symphony on the water" at this summer's "Festa Italiana" (more details later) people will be breaking down the doors to get in to hear us!

Er, actually - we nearly had to break down the doors ourselves just to get into the auditorium for this concert, since the maintenance guy had forgotten to unlock the doors.