New England Music Festival Association, Inc. |
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June 2021 | Volume LXXXV, No. 3 |
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Marjorie Rooen
New England Music Festival Association President
marjrooen@yahoo.com
(802) 442-6024
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President's Letter to the Membership
New England Music Festival Association
June 10, 2021
Dear Membership,
I hope you all are safe and well! This has been an extraordinary two years in the world. I am glad to see many things getting back to normal. We are going back to a live Solo and Ensemble Festival and a live Concert Festival. Our host this year is John Deeb at Lewis S. Mills High School in Burlington, CT. Since things are still not quite back to normal yet the Executive Board decided “for this year only” to house the students in the Concert Festival at a hotel and have all the events at the host school. It is our hope that we will be back to home stays the following year.
I want to thank Scott Benson and Danielle Conerty for their time and service as our Orchestra and Band Managers. They both have done an exceptional job as managers and supporters of this organization. I would also like to welcome into these positions Paul Pierce our new Orchestra Manager and Anthony Pandolfe our new Band Manager. They both came to us with high praise from our membership.
Thanks also to James Pecsok for his role as our Social Media Chairperson. We are looking for a new Social Media Chairperson... please contact me if you are interested.
We will be looking for hosts for 2023 and 2024 if you have been considering being a host school. I know it is a great experience for the school and community. We are always looking for more members for NEMFA so we can give students in New England an excellent musical experience with great conductors and talented students. Thank you for your membership and support in keeping NEMFA “New England Awesome!”
Sincerely,
Marjorie Rooen – President
New England Music Festival Association
(802) 442-6024
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Steffen Parker
NEMFA Solo/Ensemble Coordinator
steffenparker@gmail.com
Robert Gattie
NEMFA Solo/Ensemble Coordinator
robert.gattie@gmail.com
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The 2021 NEMFA Solo & Ensemble Festival |
After a highly successful year using technology to provide our Solo & Ensemble Festival, we are excited about a return to in-person performance for this year’s event. Scheduled for the first two Saturdays in December, (December 4 & 11, 2021) we invite your students to prepare and perform a piece from one of our wonderful repertoire listings (or a piece of their choice), and have it heard and evaluated by one of our adjudicators. One site will be in the north part of New England - Hartford High School in White River Jct., VT and the second will be in the south - Griswold High School in Griswold, CT.
Your student will receive verbal feedback at the conclusion of their performance and written feedback using our evaluation rubric. Should their piece be listed on the appropriate repertoire, they will also receive a rating of their performance, a rating that we will then use to select the New England Festival Band, Chorus and Orchestra. Those selections will be made available soon after the second Solo & Ensemble Festival. The Concert Festival will be held March 17th, 18th & 19th at Lewis S. Mills High School in Burlington, CT.
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John Deeb
Host, 2022 NEMFA Concert
Festival
NEMFA President-Elect
deebj@region10ct.org
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2022 NEMFA Concert Festival Update
Happy Summer All,
I hope the end of your school year was or is smooth and uneventful. In other words, completely different than the last fifteen months. As president elect of NEMFA I am pleased to inform you that we are planning to return to a live and full festival in March of 2022. In addition to my position on the NEMFA Board, I am also pleased to be hosting the festival at my school (Lewis S. Mills High School) in Burlington, CT. As anyone who has hosted the festival before knows, the toughest part of host responsibilities is the housing. Under normal circumstances it is a daunting task at best. In what we hope is the waning days and weeks of Covid-19 it has become impossible to secure housing. People who would normally be willing to take in students are not now willing to commit. It has become clear to me that anyone who would be willing to take in students will not commit until after school begins and has had no problems for a period of time. In some cases people have told me that they would not commit at all until after the 2021-22 school year. With the knowledge that I have based on my past experience in hosting three previous NEMFA festivals, I know that there is no way that I would be able to secure the space I would need to effectively house the students who are selected for the concert festival. In discussion with the rest of the members of the board in our meeting on June 5, it was decided that for one year and one year only it would be necessary to secure hotel space for all of the participating students. This option was always open to any school/sponsor who was interested.
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Paul Pierce
NEMFA Orchestra Manager
ppierce@windsorct.org
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March 2022 Orchestra Conductor |
Dear NEMFA Members,
The New England Music Festival Association is proud to present Allen Tinkham, Conductor of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, (and Rhode Island native) as the conductor of the 2022 NEMFA Festival Orchestra! The program includes the following: The Machine Awakes by Steven Bryant, movement 1 of Symphony No. 1 in e minor by Florence Price, and Light Cavalry Overture by Franz von Suppé. To read his bio, click here.
Paul Pierce is the Orchestra Manager.
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Anthony Pandolfe
NEMFA Band Manager
APandolfe@EOSmith.org
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March 2022 Band Conductor |
Hello NEMFA community!
I hope that you are having a wonderful end to this unprecedented school year. As the summer begins, I hope you will find time to rest and recharge.
We are looking forward to the 2021-2022 season. The band will be conducted by Dr. Matthew Westgate, the Director of Wind Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dr. Westgate was originally scheduled to conduct the 2021 Concert Festival and graciously agreed to move his appointment to the 2022 season. He will keep the same program originally planned which is as follows: Magnolia Star by Steve Danyew, Angels in the Architecture by Frank Ticheli, and Radetzky March by Johann Strauss/Alfred Reed. To read his bio, click here.
Please encourage any student musicians that you know to perform in the December New England Solo and Ensemble Festival in order to be eligible for the New England Concert Festival Band. This is not an opportunity to miss with an amazing conductor and wonderful Repertoire!
I am looking forward to serving in the first year as the NEMFA Band Manager and to seeing you at the Solo and Ensemble Festival in December!
Sincerely,
Anthony Pandolfe
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Dr. Eddie Wilkin
NEMFA Chorus Manager
ewilkin@svuvt.org
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March 2022 Chorus Conductor |
Dear NEMFA Members,
The New England Music Festival Association is proud to present Dr. Cory Ganschow, Director of Choral Activities at Bradley University, in Peoria, IL, as the conductor of the 2022 NEMFA Festival Chorus! The program will include the following: Alleluia by Elaine Hagenberg, Awake the Trumpets Lofty Sound by G. F. Handel, Wandrers Nachlied by Blake Wilson, Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel by Ryan Main, What Happens When A Woman by Alendra Olsavsky, and How Can I Cry? by Moira Smiley. To read her bio, click here.
Dr. Eddie Wilkin is the Orchestra Manager.
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Lowell Mason House Report |
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Renovation and Reconstruction Moves Forward
The Lowell Mason House is now preparing to install utilities into the building during this summer of 2021, beginning with electricity, and followed later with heat and water. With the exterior of the house now mostly completed, the focus now is on the restoration and renovation of the interior of the Lowell Mason House. A major financial donation has recently been received that will go a long way to completing the interior of the building. The Lowell Mason House has raised over $500,000.00 up to this date for the purpose of turning it into a study museum and a meeting place for arts education advocates. We are grateful to the 15 music educators associations around the United States that have made contributions towards its restoration, including the New England Music Festival Association. Your continued interest and support in this project is very much appreciated.
Thank you for considering making a tax deductible donation today. Please make checks payable to: The Lowell Mason House, P. O. Box 913 Medfield, MA 02052. If you prefer, you may also donate directly online by going to our website at http://www.lowellmasonhouse.net . Your contribution is tax-deductible as a charitable contribution to the extent provided by U.S. tax
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John Philip Sousa National High School Honor Band Festival - 2022 |
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THE SOUSA NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL HONOR BAND WILL BE HELD FROM JUNE 26-29, 2022 at THE BROMFIELD SCHOOL IN HARVARD, MA WITH THE FINAL CONCERT ON JUNE 29 in MECHANICS HALL, WORCESTER, MA. The Sousa Foundation is planning to present the 14th biannual edition of the John Philip Sousa National High School Honor Band in 2022, showcasing high achieving musicians from across the US. however we are accepting another full round of auditions as well. Check us out at http://www.sousanhsband.com. We are very pleased to announce that Michael J. Colburn former conductor of the "President's Own" United States Marine Band and former New England Music Festival Association Guest Conductor and Student member from Vermont will lead the 2022 John Philip Sousa National High School Honor Band Festival. It will take place with a performance at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA. We are hoping to get as many auditions as possible this year! Our goal is to represent all 50 states!
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