The opening program for the February session will be provided by The Ladies of the Night, under the direction of Vicki Boeckman. The “Ladies” started as a drop-in group several years ago, and it has now grown into a permanent ensemble of 14 women under the direction of Vicki Boeckman. They will play several works for us including the 6-part Tamo mia vita by Hans Nielsen, a Danish composer who studied with Giovanni Gabrieli. They will then do two American works in Swing style: Someone to Watch Over Me and Bye Bye Blackbird and will close with Agua e Vinho, one of my own settings of a Brazilian melody given to me by the great Brazilian American recorder soloist Clea Galhano. The Ladies will also perform a 50-minute program at The Skyline on February 1st.
The playing session will also be led by Vicki in works ranging from the baroque period to modern music. There will be a large arrangement of Lully’s Chaconne from Rolande, and some motets of Hans Leo Hassler in recognition of the 400th anniversary of the composer’s death. Vicki also plans a little New Year's surprise.
A personal note: Two of my own works will receive premieres during the coming months:
My Suite for String Orchestra will be performed by the Northwest Symphony Orchestra on Friday, 10 February at 7:30 p.m. at the Burien Arts Center, just a short distance from SeaTac Airport. For information and directions: www.northwestsymphonyorchestra.org.
My English Suite (a reworking of my English Folksong Suite performed by Recorder Orchestra of Puget Sound) will be performed by Brass Band Northwest, a brass and percussion ensemble in the style of the British Brass Band. The performance will be on Sunday, 22 April at 2:30 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Bellevue. Information and directions for that concert will be posted in coming months at http://brassbandnw.org
I am also writing Festival Music for Recorders that will appear at the American Recorder Society Festival at Reed College in Portland, July 5-8. My work will be done at the presentation of the Presidential Special Honors Award at 5:00 p.m. on July 7th. More information to follow.
SRS Board Reminders: Dates of the next two meetings are 30 January and 26 March, both Mondays.
Members Night: Get your act together! Members Night is on May 4th this year. Any member is welcome to perform for up to five minutes (including talk).
