Despite the inauspicious date, the gods judges smiled on the Glen Ridge 7th & 8th Grade Concert Band on Friday the 13th. The band took first place, competing against young musicians from across the state in the Music in the Parks Festival. Performing works by American composers Robert W. Smith and David Holsinger, the Ridgers received a 91.5 and the only "superior" rating of the day. This is the third time in three years the ensemble has won the Best Overall Band in the competition. Come see them perform Thursday, May 26 at 7:30 pm in the Ridgewood Avenue School auditorium, corner of Ridgewood and Bloomfield Aves. in Glen Ridge.

May 15, 2005 in Music | Permalink | Comments (1)

Due to unavoidable circumstances, the Montclair Community Band has had to scramble to find a guest conductor for this Friday’s Spring Concert. They found not one, but two, among their own ranks. The show will go on! Don Warren, clarinet, and Darrell Frydlewicz, cornet, have both stepped up to the conductor’s podium. Both of these musician have played with the MCB for more than 20 years. Another longtime member, Frances Duffy, will be temporarily hanging up her trombone to play the harp solo in Night on the Bald Mountain in addition to a solo piece. Duffy is a professional harpist and a professional trombonist.

The program includes March: Celebration and Glory by James Swearington, Night on Bald Mountain by Modeste Moussorgsky, The Lion King by Elton John & Tim Rice,
The Genius of Ray Charles arranged by Michael Brown, and Benny Goodman: The King of Swing arranged by Paul Murtha.

The concert, which is free, takes place Friday, May 13 at 7:30 pm in the Montclair High School auditorium. For more information, call Barbara Rudy, MCB Manager, at 973.744.1454.

May 12, 2005 in Music | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tonight, Bloomfield High School's choral ensembles will present their Annual Spring Concert with a total of 139 students performing. The centerpiece of the concert is Mozart's last, unfinished work, his Requiem, which will be performed with complete orchestration as well as four professional vocal soloists. The orchestra for the Requiem is comprised of students, professional players, college students, Bloomfield music faculty and staff, and parents.

So why is this concert a must-see? This past Friday, when the choirs participated in a choral festival in Holmdel, each of the three ensembles received a rating of Superior, the highest rating, for their performances. The concert choir received perfect scores from both judges. One judge (perhaps the Simon Cowell of choir judges?) commented that it was only the fourth perfect score he had given to a choir in 25 years of adjudication.   

“As their director, I would like to say that I am very impressed with what the kids in the high school are able to do with all of the construction, mudslinging (however deserved or undeserved) and negative energy that seems to float around this building and its inhabitants,” says Jack Bender, BHS choir director.

In the past year, chorus members Becky Tarantino, Douglas Bender, and Keaun Guy performed in All-State Chorus. Also, Becky Tarantino, Douglas Bender, Gabe Martinez, Jeff Simsiman, and Elaina Frissell were selected to sing in the All-North Jersey All-State Chorus.

The choral ensembles include a Treble Choir, a Madrigal Chorus, and a Concert Choir. In addition to Mozart’s Requim, tonight’s concert will feature music ranging in genre from classical to folk to gospel: Cantique de Jean Racine by Faure, Loch Lomond and The Turtle Dove by Vaughan Williams, Elijah Rock by the great Spiritual arranger Moses Hogan, as well as many other pieces in several languages, including Zulu, Brazilian and French.

The concert is in the Bloomfield High School Auditorium at 8pm. Admission is free.

May 11, 2005 in Music | Permalink | Comments (5)

Next weekend Harry Partch’s Oedipus will be presented at MSU. Partch was a 20th century composer who created his own theory of music based on a 43 note scale and built his own instruments (think gourd trees and cone gongs). Oedipus will be performed on the original Partch Instrumentarium which has been housed at the Partch Institute on the campus of Montclair State University since 1999. More here.

March 26, 2005 in Music | Permalink | Comments (1)