Milwaukee Festival Brass Concert

Don't forget the Milwaukee Festival Brass concert coming up on Sunday November 2 at 3 PM.  The MFB will be celebrating their 30th year of music making with a concert entitled Not much...You? 

Here's some details of the program from Music Director Mark Taylor:

The first half of the program is devoted to music with specific connections to Wisconsin.  Turning 30 is a great time to look back and reflect on the people and places that have influenced our history.  We are deeply grateful to the people of the Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin community who have shared so much to shape who we are today.”

Longtime fans of a popular radio quiz program based in Madison will recognize the show’s signature opening question (Q: “Whad’Ya Know?”  A: “Not Much…You?”), as well as its host’s singular celebration of all things Wisconsin.  The concert opens with a fanfare penned by the band’s founder, the late Wayne Becker.  We celebrate the achievements of the Milwaukee area’s many outstanding music teachers as veteran Kenosha band director and MFB principal baritone Paul Taylor performs John Golland’s "Rhapsody for Baritone No. 2".  Philip Sparke’s "A Quiet Moment", composed in memory of the late James Krofta, will be presented.  Finally, Percy Grainger’s iconic "Lincolnshire Posy", which premiered in Milwaukee in 1937, receives yet another Wisconsin premiere for a brand new brass band version arranged by John MacKay. 

The concert’s second half takes a more literal approach to the theme of “Not Much,” as the band explores a variety of works related to minimalism, a style in which composers use the smallest possible musical inspiration to create an entire piece.   In this portion of the program the band will perform works by Richard Saucedo, James Ord Hume, William Himes, Dave Brubeck, and Johan de Meij. 

The Milwaukee Festival Brass will present “Not Much…You?” on Sunday, November 2, 2014 at 3:00 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 810 North East Ave., Waukesha, WI.  Tickets are $12, or $9 for seniors and students.  Group rates are available.  For more information, please visit the MFB website at www.mfbrass.org.

Two concerts coming up

There are two concerts coming up in the next couple of weeks.  The first is on Sunday October 26th at 3 PM in the Schwan Concert Hall of Wisconsin Lutheran College.  The Milwaukee Metropolitan Community Concert Band performs Autumn Colors of Red, White and Blue, a concert of Patriotic music.  While I do not have a list of music to be performed, the concerts are always fun.  You can find more information on the MMCCB web site.

The second concert is just two days later.  Join the Wauwatosa Community Band for some Halloween fun on Tuesday October 28th at 7 PM in Wauwatosa's Longfellow Middle School (76th and North).  This is a great concert for the trick-or-treaters in your house, as anyone wearing a Halloween costume is admitted free to the concert.  And there are treats after the concert as well.

Get into the spooky spirit of Halloween with the classic Night on Bald Mountain.  Also on the program is music of Disney movies, including Brave and Frozen.  Your little goblins will have a great time. 

If you choose not to dress the part, you can get tickets at the door.  If you need more information about the concert, check out the Tosa Band web site.

One final comment:  both of these groups perform wonderful concerts for the younger ones in the audience.  Concerts like this can help develop an appreciation of symphonic music.  I highly recommend both groups.

Menomonee Falls Symphony upcoming concert

The Menomonee Falls Symphony Orchestra will present "The Anatomy of an Orchestra" on Saturday evening October 25 at 7:30 PM in the Hamilton Fine Arts Center, at Sussex Hamilton High School. 

The MFSO Music Director, Michael Kamenski, has chosen light classical works to showcase the different areas of the orchestra.  This concert will be wonderful to expose students to the different types of sounds that instruments make, and how the classical composers assemble the sounds into music.  While I do not have the program details, I do know that one of my favorite pieces is on the program:  The Procession of the Nobles by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, from his opera-ballet Mlada.

Tickets are available at the Hamilton Fine Arts Center box office.  You can also buy tickets and get more information about the concert at the MFSO web site.

Upcoming Concert

The concert season is beginning.  The Concord Chamber Orchestra 2014-15 season begins on Saturday October 18 at 8 PM at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in Wauwatosa (1615 Wauwatosa Avenue).  The overall theme for this season's concerts is A Musical Buffet.  The summer concerts were Picnics in the Parks.  Now in October, the CCO presents the Fall Feast.  As the CCO concert flier says: 
"Snuggle in to the warm, lush Viennese sounds of Beethoven and Brahms, with the added spice of crisp harp notes. Would you like a little whipped cream with that?" 
 This is wonderful music you can sink your teeth into! 

The most interesting piece on the program in my opinion is the Harp Concerto by former Milwaukeean Dan Lawitts.  Dan now resides in upstate New York, but while in Milwaukee was a member of the CCO, and was their resident composer.  He has since moved on in his career but his music returns for a CCO performance.  The soloist that evening is Lauren Finn, a student of Milwaukee harpist Ann Lobotzke. 

Here is the full program for the concert:

• Coriolan Overture by Ludwig van Beethoven
• Harp Concerto by Dan Lawitts
• Pavane, Op. 50 by Gabriel Fauré
• Serenade No. 1 by Johannes Brahms

As always, more information and tickets are available at the Concord Chamber Orchestra web site.

New web site for the Milwaukee Concert Band

The Milwaukee Concert Band now has a web site.  It details the history of this group, going back to 1940.

If you are looking to play in a community band that rehearses on Thursday evenings, you may want to review their web site.  You can send a message to the band from the Schedules page, for more information.

And it states that the fall concert will be on Sunday November 9th at 2 PM at Brown Deer High School.  I have updated the calendar of concerts to include this.  When the winter and spring concerts are announced, I will add them to the calendar as well.

Celebrate with the Milwaukee Festival Brass

This year marks the 30th Anniversary Season of the Milwaukee Festival Brass, Milwaukee's only British style brass band.  I recently received a letter from MFB.  Rather than paraphrase it (and risk getting something wrong), I thought it best to post the letter here for all.

Dear Friends of Milwaukee Festival Brass,

Welcome to the 30^th Season of the Milwaukee Festival Brass!  What a fantastic milestone for us to celebrate together.  Thirty years of bringing together thirty of Milwaukee’s finest brass and percussion players.  Thirty years of making music to dazzle and delight audiences.  Thirty years preserving and advancing the traditions of the British brass band.  This season, we will take a look back at our journey here, while also eagerly anticipating what our future holds. 

We kick off the season with this bi-directional outlook right away on our Autumn program, which is enigmatically titled “Not Much…You?”  Longtime fans of the iconic Wisconsin-based NPR radio quiz “Whad’Ya Know?” will recognize the show’s signature opening tag line (borrowed as our concert theme), along with its singular celebration of all things Wisconsin.  We begin by highlighting a number of different achievements in music made by Wisconsin musicians, composers, and arrangers.  But after intermission, our focus shifts to a different kind of “not much” as we explore the musical phenomenon known as Minimalism, in which composers challenge themselves to take the smallest fragment of music possible and somehow spin it into an interesting composition.  

Both our traditional Holiday concert and our Winter program will mark the band’s move to our new home performance space, the beautifully renovated Wendy Joy Lindsey Theater in the Father Robert V. Carney Performing Arts Center on the campus of Pius XI High School.  The December concert will feature a number of traditional holiday favorites, including new arrangements for brass band by Wisconsin’s own Andrew Wainwright.   

Our 30^th Season Gala Concert Event will be one you won’t want to miss!  Welcoming back performers, soloists, and conductors from our thirty seasons together, we will celebrate the many accomplishments and fellowship shared by Milwaukee’s only British Brass Band.  We will also look forward, as we present a preview of the band’s upcoming journey to Fort Wayne, Indiana to perform in the annual North American Brass Band Championships. 

“Impressions of Japan” will conclude our 30^th season, featuring works of Japanese composers and arrangers, folk melodies, and conceptual themes.  This special concert will also spotlight performances by the talented young artists of our High School Apprentice Program. 

I would like to especially draw your attention to the activities of our program for younger, developing musicians: the Milwaukee Festival Youth Brass.  This exciting ensemble yields tremendous rewards for younger brass and percussion students, and is an ideal place for them to grow in technique, musicianship, and brass band camaraderie.  If you know of a young person who could benefit from this outstanding program, we invite you to visit our website to learn more. 

We look forward to seeing you soon with the Milwaukee Festival Brass.  Here’s to the next thirty years! 

Warm Regards,

 

Mark A. Taylor

So there you have it.  I think the best way to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Milwaukee Festival Brass is to attend their concerts!  And I bet Maestro Mark Taylor, and all the volunteer members of the Milwaukee Festival Brass, would agree.

Concert Calendar for the upcoming season

Here is the calendar as I have it. If I missed some dates or I missed a group entirely, please send me the information and I will add it to the calendar and get the information out in a post. Thanks for the help and enjoy some of these concerts!

2014-15 Milwaukee Community Concert Calendar

 

October

• Sat. 18 8:00 Concord Chamber Orchestra at St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
• Tue. 21 7:00 Waukesha Area Symphonic Band at the Oconomowoc Arts Center performing with the Oconomowoc High School Band
• Sat. 25 7:30 Menomonee Falls Symphony at the Hamilton Fine Arts Center
• Sat. 25 7:30 Lakeshore Symphonic Band at the Cedarburg Performing Arts Center
• Sun. 26 3:00 Milwaukee Metropolitan Community Concert Band at Wisconsin Lutheran College

 November

• Sun. 3 3:00 Milwaukee Festival Brass at First Presbyterian Church, Waukesha
• Sat. 8 7:30 Waukesha Area Symphonic Band at Carroll University
• Sun. 9 2:00 Milwaukee Concert Band at Brown Deer High School
• Thur. 13 4:00 Milwaukee Metropolitan Community Concert Band at St. John’s Lutheran School in Lannon, performing a joint concert

 December

• Sat. 6 8:00 Concord Chamber Orchestra at Basilica of St. Josaphat
• Sun. 7 3:00 Menomonee Falls Symphony at Hamilton Fine Arts Center performing Caroling for Christmas
• Fri. 12 7:30 Waukesha Area Symphonic Band at Carroll University performing Holiday Music
• Sat. 13 7:00 Milwaukee Festival Brass at Pius XI High School performing Holiday in Brass IV
• Sat. 13 TBA Milwaukee Metropolitan Community Concert Band at Mitchell Park Domes
• Sun. 14 6:00 Lakeshore Symphonic Band at the Basilica at Holy Hill
• Sat. 20 TBA Horns A Plenty Christmas performance in Appleton, WI (more to follow)

January

• Sun. 25 1:30 Concord Chamber Orchestra at Nicolet High School performing Chamber Music

February

• Fri. 13 6:30 Menomonee Falls Symphony at Silver Spring Country Club, Valentines Dinner Concert
• Sat. 14 6:30 Menomonee Falls Symphony at Silver Spring Country Club, Valentines Dinner Concert
• Sun. 22 3:00 Milwaukee Festival Brass at Pius XI High School, 30th Anniversary Gala Concert

March

• Sun. 8 4:00 Lakeshore Symphonic Band at Cedarburg Performing Arts Center
• Sat. 21 8:00 Concord Chamber Orchestra at St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
• Sun. 22 3:00 Milwaukee Metropolitan Community Concert Band at Wisconsin Lutheran College

April

May

•  Fri. 1 7:30 Waukesha Area Symphonic Band at Carroll University featuring the winner of the Concerto Competition
• Sun. 10 4:00 Lakeshore Symphonic Band at Cedarburg Performing Arts Center featuring the winner of the Young Artist Competition
• Sat. 16 7:30 Menomonee Falls Symphony at Mount Carmel Lutheran Church performing French Revolutions including the Saints-Seans Organ Symphony #3
• Sat. 16 8:00 Concord Chamber Orchestra at St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
• Sun. 17 Milwaukee Festival Brass at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Brookfield
• Mon. 24 4:00 Milwaukee Metropolitan Community Concert Band at Milwaukee County War Memorial performing a Memorial Day Observance