New England Music Festival Association, Inc. | |
September 2025 - Fall Issue | Volume XC, No. 1 | | |
John Deeb
New England Music Festival Association President
president@nemfa.org
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President's Letter to the Membership
New England Music Festival Association
September 20, 2025
A Note from Your President
John Deeb
President’s Message Fall 2025
Welcome back to a new school year!
I hope your summer brought you rest, renewal, and plenty of joy. As we step into the 2025–26 academic year, I’m excited for the journey ahead and the chance to make beautiful music together.
On a personal note, this year begins my first as a retired music educator. I’ll admit it felt a little strange once the school year started, but I’m confident I’ll adjust quickly to this new lifestyle—and I’m looking forward to the opportunities it brings.
Mark your calendars! The 2026 Concert Festival will be held March 19–21 at Gilford High School in Gilford, NH. The venue is fantastic, and I know it will set the stage for an outstanding event. Special thanks to Lyvie Beyrent and her team for their incredible work in preparing for this festival—we’re lucky to have them!
A big thank-you also goes to our NEMFA membership. Your dedication and loyalty keep our organization thriving. With the hard work of our Executive Board, we’re ready to deliver a performance and adjudication experience your students will remember for years to come.
As always, meeting paperwork and registration deadlines is essential for keeping everything running smoothly. Your cooperation makes a huge difference in the festival’s success.
It’s an honor to serve as your President, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue supporting this wonderful organization.
Wishing you all a fabulous fall and a wonderful 2025-26 school year!
Musically Yours,
John
John Deeb - President
New England Music Festival Association
president@nemfa.org
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2027 NEMFA
100th Anniversary Fund
🎵 Support the Next Century of Music Excellence!
🎵 Since 1927, the New England Music Festival Association (NEMFA) has been a vital part of the musical journey for high school students across the region. Our community of music educators, youth ensemble leaders, private instructors, and supportive parents is dedicated to providing students with transformative musical experiences through solo, ensemble, and concert festivals.
🔗 Donate today!!
🎵 We are raising money to make the 100th Anniversary of NEMFA extra special in 2027. Whether you’re a NEMFA alum, a parent, or simply a lover of the arts, your donation can make a difference. Together, we can inspire the next generation of musicians and keep music thriving in New England.
To donate, simple scan the QR code above or click here. Let’s celebrate 100 years by securing 100 more! Thank you for your support!
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NOTICE OF APPROVAL – NEMFA CONSTITUTION & BYLAWS
Dear Members of the New England Music Festival Association (NEMFA),
In accordance with our governing procedures, this message serves as official notice (warrant) that the NEMFA has approved the newest revisions and updates of the NEMFA Constitution and Bylaws as a result of the recent vote held before the NEMFA Executive Board Meeting on September 6, 2025. Thanks very much to all who voted!
Thank you for your continued engagement and support of NEMFA.
To review the updated NEMFA Constitution, please click here.
To review the updated NEMFA By-Laws, please click here.
Keep Smiling,
Dr. Eddie Wilkin (reach Eddie by email here)
| | 2025-26 NEMFA Concert Festival News | | NEMFA Concert Festival Dress Code | |
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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Professional Development at 2026 NEMFA Concert Festival
As we prepare for this year’s NEMFA season, we are seeking professional development session ideas that will inspire, support, and engage our music educators. Please share your ideas with Eddie — your voice helps shape meaningful learning for all.
If you are interested in receiving any credits or PDP's from attending any Professional Development sessions during the 2026 NEMFA Concert Festival, stay tuned for more information. Keep watching on the NEMFA website and in future issues of the Bulletin for Professional Development opportunities being organized and presented by Dr. Eddie Wilkin in cooperation with Castleton University / Vermont State University.
Please reach out to Eddie if you have any questions!!
Keep Smiling,
Dr. Eddie Wilkin (reach Eddie by email here)
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Anthony Brackett
NEMFA Orchestra Manager
ambclarinet@gmail.com
| | | | March 2026 Orchestra Conductor | |
Dear NEMFA Members,
The New England Music Festival Association is proud to announce that Francisco Noya, the music director of the Boston Civic Symphony will serve as the conductor of the 2026 NEMFA Orchestra. He also holds the distinction of being a member of the conducting faculty at the Berklee College of Music. Noya's professional journey began in Venezuela as conductor of the Youth Orchestra of Valencia, one of the original ensembles of El Sistema. He has also been the music director of the Empire State Youth Orchestra, leading the ensemble on European tours and at renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall and Tanglewood.
To read Mr. Noya's full bio, please click here.
The program for the 2026 Orchestra is as follows:
Fanfare for the Common Man - Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
Symphonic Sketches - George Whitefield Chadwick (1854-1931)
I - Jubilee
Firebird Suite - Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
V - Infernal Dance
VI - Berceuse
VII – Finale
Anthony Brackett is the Orchestra Manager.
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Angelica Jackson, Kevin Lam
NEMFA Band Managers
ajackson@swindsor.k12.ct.us
KLam@reg4.k12.ct.us
| | | | March 2026 Band Conductor | |
Hello NEMFA community!
We are looking forward to the 2026 NEMFA Concert Festival. The band will be conducted by Dr. Mike Lebrias. Dr. Lebrias is a conductor, music educator, & content creator residing in Austin, Texas. He currently serves as an Assistant Director of Bands and Director of Creative Media for the University of Texas Bands department, where he co-teaches the Longhorn Band & Longhorn Pep Band, conducts the Austin Youth Wind Ensemble, and oversees content creation efforts for the department of bands.
To read Dr. Lebrias' full bio, please click here.
The program for the 2026 Band is as follows:
Slava! - Leonard Bernstein, trans. Grundman (1918-1990)
Unidad En Ritmo - Michele Fernandez (2023)
Forward/Still - Omar Thomas (1984- )
Variations on America - Charles Ives, trans. Shuman/Rhoads (1874-1954)
We are looking forward to serving as the NEMFA Band Managers and to seeing you at the Concert Festival in March!
Sincerely,
Angelica Jackson and Kevin Lam
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Molly Desrochers
NEMFA Chorus Manager
chorusmanager@nemfa.org
mclark@huusd.org
| | | | March 2026 Chorus Conductor | |
Dear NEMFA Members,
We are happy to report that Dr. Diana V. Sáez will be the conductor of the 2026 NEMFA Chorus. Dr. Sáez is the Director of Choral Activities at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland, directing the University Chorale, Women’s Choir, and Choral Society. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Sáez served as Visiting Choir Director at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois and Visiting Choir Conductor at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. Dr. Sáez also directed the Catholic University Women’s Choir for six years and served as artistic director of the World Bank-IMF Chorus for sixteen years.
For information about Dr. Sáez, please click here .
The program for the 2026 Chorus is as follows:
The Lake of Innisfree-Eleanor Daley (1955-) (SSA)
Weep No More – David Childs (1969- ) (TTBB)
Hallelujah from Mount of Olives – Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). (SATB)
Measure Me Sky - Elaine Hagenberg (1979- ). (SATB)
Canto ‘e Libertad – Miriam Suzzertte Ortiz & Diana V. Sáez (2023) (SATB)
Daniel, Daniel Servant of the Lord - Undine S. Moore (1904-1989) (SATB a cappella)
We look forward to another great year of music making with the 2026 NEMFA Chorus!
Best,
Molly Desrochers
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Wayne Splettstoeszer
NEMFA Jazz Ensemble Manager
jazzbandmanager@nemfa.org
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March 2026 Jazz Ensemble Conductor
Dear NEMFA Members,
The New England Music Festival Association is proud to present the third NEMFA Jazz Ensemble, which will be conducted by Dr. Colleen Clark. Dr. Clark comes to us as a Jazz faculty member of the University of South Carolina School of Music. She is also the Founder and Artistic Director of the University of South Carolina’s Jazz Girls Day®. Dr. Clark is the only woman and drummer to earn a doctoral degree in jazz from the University of North Texas.
Dr. Clark has shared the stage with jazz luminaries including: Branford Marsalis, Rodney Whitaker, Catherine Russell, Camille Thurman, Rudresh Mahanthappa, and Mimi Jones. Clark has been featured in DOWNBEAT magazine and is also an ASCAP winning composer. Clark was invited by the ASCAP Foundation to lead her band at the Kennedy Center. Clark is the Drumset Editor for Percussive Notes and serves on the PAS Drumset Committee.
To read Dr. Clark's full bio, click here.
The concert program will be announced later.
Wayne Splettstoeszer is the Jazz Ensemble Manager.
| | | NEMFA Vocal Ensemble and Winds & Percussion Performance Lists Revisions in Third Year | | |
Thanks so much to Amy Ranta of The Woodstock Academy in Woodstock, CT and Lauren Churchill of Griswold High School in Jewett City, CT for organizing revisions to the lists of the NEMFA Vocal Ensemble and Winds Performance Repertoire. Another person who deserves appreciation for work on our lists is Talia Millas, a percussion student at the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, NY, who also participated in NEMFA festivals as a high school student. Talia has been working on a Percussion List revision proposal for NEMFA as well. The revised lists for Vocal Ensembles and Winds are already being used now. 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@griswoldpublicschools.org . Work is continuing on the Percussion List and information about the use off any revisions to this list will be announced in the near future. Thank you to all for your efforts!
| | Lowell Mason House Report | | |
LOWELL MASON HOUSE CONTINUES TO MAKE PROGRESS
[Medfield, Massachusetts] – The Lowell Mason House is excited to announce that it is working on a major Capital Campaign called "Fund to the Finish" to raise the needed funds to complete the project in order for it to be opened to the public. The competition of tasks for the Feasibility and Technical Assistance Grant was was received from the Mass Cultural Council for $35,000 brings this phase of the project close to completion, as the group is moving into a permitting and construction phase of the project. Video interior room renderings have been developed for the Lowell Mason House presentations as the group moves into the beginnings of a $600,000 Capital Campaign which will provide the necessary funds to complete the building and turn it into a music education advocacy center. Specs for an elevator for the facility have been completed and an ADA Compliant Wing has been designed... we are now entering the permitting phase of the project to allow us to begin construction. This addition is the key to making the house handicapped-accessible, allowing the house to be enjoyed by all without worrying about physical impediments. 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.
Thanks to Will and Caleb Mason, direct descendants of Lowell Mason, the LMH recently added to its collection the Mason & Hamlin piano built for Lowell Mason’s grandson Henry Lowell Mason. It was built in 1929 as the last one built before the family sold the business, was voiced by noted pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff, and kept within the Mason Family. It is temporarily living at St. Edward the Confessor’s RC Church in Medfield until the LMH opens to the public!
The LMH also recently accepted the donation of a 1902 Mason & Hamlin upright piano that will be fully restored and placed in one of the practice rooms that is doubling as a score study room for directors of choral, orchestral, wind band, and jazz ensembles. A variety of scores and music resource books are also being donated for that room as well.
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 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. The Lowell Mason House has raised over $900,000.00 up to this date for the purpose of turning it into a study, collections, practice/chamber performance space, and a meeting place for arts education advocates. We are grateful to the 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.
| | John Philip Sousa National High School Honor Band Festival - Upcoming Dates: July 12-15, 2026 | | |
THE JOHN PHILIP SOUSA NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL HONOR BAND IS BEING PLANNED TO BE HELD FROM JULY 12-15, 2026 in Massachusetts This would be the 16th biannual edition of the John Philip Sousa National High School Honor Band for 2026, showcasing high achieving musicians from across the US. More information will be released shortly about this event. 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 again lead the 2026 John Philip Sousa National High School Honor Band Festival.
Keep watching our website for breaking news about the version of the Sousa National Honor Band to be held in July 12-15, 2026. at https://www.sousanhsband.com.
BAND WEBSITE:
https://www.sousanhsband.com
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The 2024 John Philip Sousa National High School Honor Band - July 17, 2024, Mechanics Hall, Worcester, MA.
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Meghan Ferris Web Design - meghaneferris@gmail.com | | | | |
