New England Music Festival Association, Inc. | |
September 2023 | Volume LXXXVIII, No. 1 | |
John Deeb
New England Music Festival Association President
president@nemfa.org
deebj@region10ct.org
(860) 673-0423, ext. 15419
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President's Letter to the Membership
New England Music Festival Association
September 23, 2023
A Note from Your President
John Deeb
President’s Message Fall 2023
Welcome to another school year! I hope the summer has afforded you all the opportunity to rest, relax and recharge for the 2023-24 academic year. I am excited, as I always am, to start the new year and get back to the business of teaching and making great music. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that this year’s festival (2024) will be held at the Boxboro Regency in Boxborough, Massachusetts with the concert being held at Mechanics Hall in Worcester. I had the opportunity to tour that facility recently and think that everyone will be thrilled with all it has to offer. Special thanks goes to Tom Reynolds for all his hard work in the planning of this event. He has spent countless hours this summer working to put together a festival that promises to be one of our best yet.
You will notice some edits and additions to our solo and ensemble repertoire which has been done with the intent of adding some pieces of music that are a bit more approachable for the students who choose to participate. To that end, we have Lauren Churchill and Amy Ranta of the Woodstock Academy (our hosts for the 2023 festival) to thank. They have spent countless hours during the spring and summer to make it all happen and I can’t thank them enough.
In addition, and for the first time, there will be a New England Music Festival Jazz Ensemble as part of both the solo and ensemble and concert festivals this year. Our deepest appreciation goes to Matt Davide and Steffen Parker for making this a reality.
Most of all I would like to thank our entire membership for your unwavering belief and support of NEMFA and its cause. As an executive board we work diligently all year long to bring you an adjudication and performance experience that you and your students will remember for a lifetime. On that note, I would like to ask a couple of things of you. To begin with, I’m asking that you all do the best you can to adhere to all deadlines for the submission of paperwork and digital registration materials. When deadlines are missed it slows down the whole process and makes progress grind to a halt. Just by being as punctual as possible with any and all needed information you contribute to the overall success of the entire festival. Secondly, we all know and love NEMFA for what it does for our students. Like every other organization and many of our school music programs, the Covid-19 Pandemic has really negatively impacted what we do. If you all love this organization as I do, and believe you do, why not find another director/school to get involved. If every current member could bring one other school either back to the organization or as a new member we would be in fabulous shape.
As always it remains my honor and privilege to serve as your President and I promise to continue my work for the betterment of the organization as a whole.
Have a great 2023-24 school year!
John
John Deeb - President
New England Music Festival Association
president@nemfa.org
deebj@region10ct.org
(860) 673-0423, ext. 15419
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2023 NEMFA Solo and Ensemble Festival | |
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IMPORTANT NEMFA SOLO/ENSEMBLE FESTIVAL DATES FOR 2023-24
October 15, 2023 - Applications Portal Opens Online
October 27, 2023 - Application Deadline - All Fees and Registrations Due
November 13, 2022 - Solo/Ensemble Performance Schedule is online
December 2, 2023 - S & E Northern Site - Hartford High School, Hartford, VT
December 9, 2023 - S & E Southern Site - Griswold High School, Griswold, CT
OVERVIEW
After two highly successful years 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, 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 our adjudicators. The northern site, on December 2nd, will be at Hartford High School in Hartford, Vermont and the southern site, on December 9th, will be at Griswold High School in Griswold, CT. December 16th is a Snow Date for this event built into the schedule if it becomes necessary.
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 21st, 22nd & 23rd, 2024 at the Boxboro Regency in Boxborough, MA, with a concert at Mechanics Hall, Worcester, MA on March 23, 2024.
MITIGATION
The only mitigation carried over from last year is that masking is optional for all aspects of the New England Solo & Ensemble Festival.
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The application window will be open soon. Once directors have submitted their applications, they will receive a schedule for their performances on the particular Saturday that they choose to attend. Following the performances, the student adjudication feedback and selections will be available online as well as used in the acceptance process for those attending the Concert Festival.
Using those evaluations, the New England Music Festival will honor the most talented of those that performed in the Solo & Ensemble Festival in two other ways:
- A group of students, selected by their adjudicators for the power and persuasion of their performance, will be asked to perform their adjudication piece at the beginning of the Concert Festival Chorus performance in March.
- For our senior participants, the highest rated vocal student and the highest rated instrumental student, each who has been selected for the New England Concert Festival all four years will be awarded that year’s Burton O. Cowgill New England Scholarship, an honor that comes not only with due recognition, but a monetary one as well.
While these accolades will bear witness to the gifts, talents and musicianship of our participants, it is the evaluation process that carries the most value to these students. The opportunity to practice, prepare and perform a great piece of music, and to receive the compliments, critiques and corrections needed to improve from our caring adjudicators, is what the New England Music Festival Association is most proud of, most invested in providing each year, every year, despite any obstacles presented.
We hope you and your students will consider participating this year and every year as we work collectively to ensure that music remains a vital part of every student’s high school education and experience.
PLEASE SEND REGISTRATION CHECKS TO:
NEW ENGLAND MUSIC FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION, INC.
c/o WILLIAM SITTARD
PO BOX 755
OAK BLUFFS, MA 02557-0755
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New NEMFA Vocal Ensemble and Winds & Percussion Performance Lists for 2023-24 | |
Thanks so much Amy Ranta and Lauren Churchill of The Woodstock Academy in Woodstock, CT for organizing new lists of the NEMFA Vocal Ensemble and Winds and Percussion Performance Repertoire Lists. These revised lists are already on the website, and the members will have a choice between using the older lists and the new lists during 2023-24. Amy notes that when she is working with her students on a NEMFA Vocal Ensemble selection, she incorporates it into the concert that her group is preparing at the time so that is not an extra piece to prepare, but may be performed both in the NEMFA Solo and Ensemble Festival and in her own school concert.
NEMFA Choral Directors who are interested in commenting on this Vocal Ensemble Revision List should contact Amy Ranta at aranta@woodstockcademy.org . Comments regarding the NEMFA Winds and Percussion Performance Lists should be directed to Lauren Churchill at lchurchill@woodstockacademy.org .
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2023-24 NEMFA Concert Festival News | |
2022-2023 NEMFA Dress Code Revision - Reported by Lyvie Beyrent | |
The NEMFA Executive Board recently voted on a revision to the Dress Code for all NEMFA Concert Ensemble as follows:
Dress code - The dress code for all ensembles in performance will be: Dark suit (black preferred, black tuxedos are also acceptable) with a tie, and a collared white shirt, OR black sleeve top (no bare midriffs, shoulders or low neckline) and a solid black bottom (below the knees black skirt or black dress pants), OR a black long gown/dress that goes below the knees. Dark shoes and dark socks or hose. No sport shoes or sandals allowed. All concert dress will be in conservative good taste.
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Paul Pierce
NEMFA Orchestra Manager
ppierce@windsorct.org
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March 2024 Orchestra Conductor |
Dear NEMFA Members,
The New England Music Festival Association is proud to present Jonathan Taylor Rush, Associate Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, as the conductor of the 2024 NEMFA Festival Orchestra!
To read Mr. Rush's full bio, please click here .
Paul Pierce is the Orchestra Manager.
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Justin Daly
NEMFA Band Manager
Justin.Daly@elpsk12.org
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March 2024 Band Conductor |
Hello NEMFA community!
I hope that you are having a wonderful end to this school year. As the summer begins, I hope you will find time to rest and recharge.
We are looking forward to the 2024 NEMFA Concert Festival. The band will be conducted by Dr. Matthew Westgate, Chair of the Department of Music and Dance and Director of Wind Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He conducts the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Wind Ensemble.
To read Dr. Westgate's full bio, please click here .
I am looking forward to serving as the NEMFA Band Manager and to seeing you at the Concert Festival in March!
Sincerely,
Justin Daly
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Molly Clark
NEMFA Chorus Manager
mclark@huusd.org
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March 2024 Jazz Ensemble Conductor |
Dear NEMFA Members,
The New England Music Festival Association is proud to present Dr. Anthony Trecek-King as the conductor of the 2024 NEMFA Chorus. Dr. Trecek-King is the Resident Chorus Director of the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston, To read Dr. Trecek-King's full bio, click here.
Molly Clark is the Chorus Manager.
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Matt Davide
NEMFA Jazz Ensemble Manager
jazzbandmanager@nemfa.org
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March 2024 Jazz Ensemble Conductor
Dear NEMFA Members,
That's right... you heard it here... NEMFA is adding a JAZZ ENSEMBLE during the 2023-24 school year!
The New England Music Festival Association is proud to present the very first NEMFA Jazz Ensemble, conducted by John Mastroianni. Mr. Mastroianni is the Assistant Professor in Residence of Jazz Studies and Associated Department Head for Undergraduate Studies at the University of Connecticut and the founder and music director of the Young Artists Summer Jazz Workshop. To read Mr. Mastroianni's full bio, click here.
Matt Davide is the Jazz Ensemble Manager.
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Lowell Mason House Report | |
LOWELL MASON HOUSE AWARDED MASS CULTURAL COUNCIL GRANT
[Medfield, Massachusetts] – This month, the Lowell Mason House was awarded a $35,000 grant from the Mass Cultural Council to support the organization mission and development of the historical home. Grant funding has been provided by the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund, a program of the state of Massachusetts administered through a collaborative arrangement between Mass Development and the Mass Cultural Council.
The Mission of the Lowell Mason House is to create and program an active space for music making, music and arts education advocacy, and historical preservation within the original structure of the Lowell Mason birthplace. The architecturally significant house, located on 59 Green Street, was already decades old when Lowell Mason was born in 1792. Portions of the house have been age dated using dendrochronology to 1651, making the house among the oldest in Massachusetts and North America.
“This grant enables us to move forward with the design and permitting processes that deal with the critical infrastructures of Heating-A/C, HVAC, Dehumidification, ADA compliant building access, plumbing and electrical services.” said Thomas Reynolds, President of the Lowell Mason House. The grant will allow the organization to receive professional architectural and engineering advice to determine appropriate usage of interior room spaces, along with planning the necessary infrastructure to maximize the efficiency of spaces. Plans will include room functionality, establishing utility and infrastructure requirements, designs for heating, air conditioning, ventilation, HVAC, insulation, and other requirements with the goal of creating a green building with a zero or near zero carbon footprint.
“It is indeed a transformational time for the Lowell Mason House, as now we can turn the dreams of using the house into practical reality. We are so grateful for this grant, and we are excited to be that much closer to the completed renovation of this treasured historical structure.”
The Lowell Mason House has raised over $800,000.00 up to this date for the purpose of turning it into a study museum, practice/chamber performance space, 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.
In the area of programming, the Lowell Mason House is sponsoring a competition that focuses on Music Education Advocacy. In the 2023 Lowell Mason House Annual Music Education Advocacy Competition being held this Fall, applicants will be asked to create an original video, podcast, or blog lasting 5 to 10 minutes in length (or less) addressing three key points: 1. - What or who inspired you to be a music educator or musician? 2. - What teaching practices and/or technology applications do you use or envision to encourage the exchange of music, ideas, and innovation? 3. - What could the Lowell Mason House do to foster innovation, inspiration, and inclusion? Potential applicants include students, teachers, composers, performers, songwriters and anyone who loves music. Our organization is at an exciting crossroad and we are looking for new ideas on how the Lowell Mason House can champion music education advocacy and innovation. Thanks to anonymous donors, significant prize money for the top three winners will be awarded up to $5,000.00 for first prize, $3,000.00 for second prize, and $2,000.00 for third prize. For more information, please go to the Lowell Mason House Advocacy Competition link online at https://www.lowellmasonhouse.net/innovation-competition .
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 - 2024 | |
THE JOHN PHILIP SOUSA NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL HONOR BAND WILL BE HELD FROM JULY 14-18, 2024 at THE BOXBORO REGENCY IN BOXBOROUGH, MA WITH THE FINAL CONCERT ON JULY 17 in MECHANICS HALL, WORCESTER, MA. The Sousa Foundation is planning to present the 15th biannual edition of the John Philip Sousa National High School Honor Band in 2024, showcasing high achieving musicians from across the US. Check us out at https://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 2024 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!
The performance venue is significant because the performance site was visited by the original Sousa Band in Worcester, 27 times. A plaque commemorating the historical significance of Worcester and Mechanics Hall to the original Sousa Band was presented to Mechanics Hall in 2019 by the John Philip Sousa Foundation and is prominently displayed there.
We especially wish to thank the New England Music Festival Association for being an ad sponsor along with the other businesses and organizations and the students from schools all over the six New England states who made the event possible with everyone else from the rest of the country.
BAND WEBSITE:
https://www.sousanhsband.com
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The 2022 John Philip Sousa National High School Honor Band - June 28, 2022, Athol Town Hall, Athol, MA.
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