Westchester Symphonic Winds closes its 29th Season with “Fantastic Passages” Concert at Historic Tarrytown Music Hall

The Westchester Symphonic Winds, the area’s pre-eminent adult wind and percussion ensemble, will present the final subscription concert of its 29th Season on Saturday, May 20, 2017 at 8:00 p.m. at Tarrytown Music Hall (13 Main Street, Tarrytown, NY). Led by award-winning conductor Curt Ebersole, the concert will feature evocative works, challenging solos, a rousing march, and renowned guest artists.

The program will feature guest soloist Christopher Creviston, performing the Concerto for Soprano Saxophone by William Bolcom; I Loved Well Those Cities by Patrick Burns, based on the poem by Walt Whitman, conducted by the composer, and narrated by Robert Sherman; Machu Picchu by Satoshi Yagisawa, a tone poem that depicts the beauty, splendor, and tragic history of this beautiful 15th century Incan citadel; and Friedmann Fanfare by Scott Boerma, written in honor of Pete Friedmann, on the occasion of his 35th anniversary as announcer of the Wheaton (Illinois) Municipal Band.

The program will also include Sòlas Ané by Samuel R. Hazo, which honors the tradition of Irish jigs and lyricism with original melodies; Rippling Watercolors by Brian Balmages, an evocative and lyrical work; and Manhattan Beach March by John Philip Sousa – one of the greatest marches in the American band repertoire. And Lois Hicks-Wozniak, soprano saxophone, will join Mr. Creviston for a finale duo tour de force.

Founded in 1988, the Westchester Symphonic Winds promotes music in Westchester County, instills pride in our nation and heritage, and nurtures the love of music by offering an exceptional concert experience for people of all ages. Recently featured in pieces by The New York Times and News Channel 12, The Westchester Symphonic Winds is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 and an Ensemble-in-Residence at the Tarrytown Music Hall.

Tickets for the May 20 concert are priced at $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and students. Children under 10 are free. More information can be found at westchestersymphonicwinds.org or www.tarrytownmusichall.org.

Looking ahead to the summer: The Westchester Symphonic Winds will perform once again at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, New York, for the “Pops, Patriots and Fireworks” celebration on Saturday, July 1 at 8:00 p.m.

The Westchester Symphonic Winds is a 60-piece adult community-based wind and percussion ensemble, originally known as the Hudson Valley Wind Symphony. This year we celebrate our 29th season as the area’s premiere community band. We exist to promote music in our area, instill pride in our nation and heritage, provide opportunities for personal expression and growth within our membership, and nurture the love of music by offering an exceptional musical experience for people of all ages. Over the years, we have given concerts on behalf of many service and benefit organizations. Our educational outreach program has included our Side-by-Side Concert with the Mahopac Central School District and our 2015-2016 Exchange Program with the Northshore Concert Band of Wilmette, Illinois. The Westchester Symphonic Winds made its Lincoln Center debut at Avery Fisher Hall in 2010, performed at the Association of Concert Bands National Convention in 2012 and NYS Band Directors Association Symposium in 2017, and has performed at the Caramoor Festival annually since 2014. The organization is an Ensemble-in-Residence at the historic Tarrytown Music Hall in Tarrytown, New York, and rehearses there on Monday evenings from September through May.

Curt Ebersole has served as Conductor/Music Director of the Westchester Symphonic Winds since 2008. He retired as Director of Instrumental Music at Northern Valley Regional High School (Old Tappan, New Jersey) in 2013, where he served for 31 years, and now teaches at The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, New York. He has gained recognition for the dynamic leadership of his ensembles, including the Northern Valley-Old Tappan Prism Concerts (a local rite of spring), and its award-winning musical theater program. His efforts promote continuing education for conductors through the Wind Conducting Symposium he founded in 1987. His achievements include solo and ensemble performances as a clarinetist and basset hornist, guest conducting engagements throughout the United States, South Korea, and Australia, and as clinician at the 2009 Midwest International Band & Orchestra Clinic. Other distinctions include Northern Valley and Bergen County Teacher of the Year, New Jersey Master Music Teacher Award, New Jersey Governor Arts in Education Award, and the 2011 Yale National Distinguished Music Educator Award. Follow is blog at jce.ebernet.biz.

Patrick J. Burns has served as Adjunct Professor of Music at Montclair State University in New Jersey since 1994, where he teaches courses in music theory, orchestration, and composition, and has also been Director of the New Jersey City University Symphony of Winds and Percussion since September 2011. As a clarinetist, Mr. Burns has performed with many professional ensembles in the New York metro area including the Metropolitan Opera Summer Ballet Orchestra, the pit orchestra for the Broadway revival production of Camelot starring Robert Goulet, and with the New Jersey Chamber Music Society in broadcasts for National Public Radio and New Jersey Network Television. After teaching for 15 years in the Caldwell-West Caldwell Public Schools, Mr. Burns is currently employed by Ackk Studios as orchestrator/composer/conductor for the company’s video game and film projects being produced for the Nintendo and Sony Corporations. From 2003-2010 and since 2013, Mr. Burns served as president of the Bloomfield Federation of Music. In March 2010, he founded his own publishing company, Bandworks Publications, which he continues to operate today. His music can be heard at his websites, www.bandworkspublications.com, and www.youtube.com/patrickburnsmusic.

Hailed as "one of the world's top saxophone artists" (Audiophile Audition) with "the personality and fingers of a first rate soloist" (American Record Guide), "subtle, perceptive phrasing, and flawless control of vibrato" (Fanfare Magazine), Yamaha Artist Christopher Creviston has played venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to Paisley Park and the Apollo Theater. As soloist and with the Capitol Quartet, Creviston has been featured with bands and orchestras across the U.S. As a recitalist and clinician, he performs regularly with the Capitol Quartet, and in duos with pianist Hannah Creviston and guitarist Oren Fader. In addition to several established recordings with these ensembles, Creviston’s most recent releases are the premiere recording of the Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Band by William Bolcom with conductor Gary Hill and the Arizona State University Wind Orchestra, and a Creviston Duo CD called Breaking, presenting works commissioned (or co-commissioned) by the duo from composers Stacy Garrop, Mark Lanz Weiser, Katherine Hoover and John Fitz Rogers. Now serving on the faculty at Arizona State University, Dr. Creviston has held positions at the Crane School of Music (SUNY Potsdam), the Greenwich House of Arts (NYC), the University of Windsor (Canada), and the University of Michigan. Dr. Creviston is President-Elect of the North American Saxophone Alliance.

Robert Sherman, award-winning broadcaster and writer, celebrated his 60th anniversary with Radio Station WQXR in 2016, where he is the host/producer of the “Young Artists Showcase." He also hosts the popular folk series “Woody’s Children” for Fordham University’s WFUV. For more than forty years he was a music critic and columnist for The New York Times, and for nearly twenty served on the graduate faculty of The Juilliard School. Co-author of “The Smart Guide to Classical Music” and two best-selling books with Victor Borge, he also joined with his brother, Alexander Sherman, to compile a pictorial history of their celebrated mother, pianist Nadia Reisenberg. He sits on the Advisory boards of many cultural organizations, serving them variously as competition judge, pre-concert lecturer, panel moderator and fund-raising emcee. Mr. Sherman has served as concert narrator for such esteemed ensembles as Canadian Brass, The U.S. Military Academy (West Point) Band, the Greenwich Symphony and, of course, is proud to return to work once again with the Westchester Symphonic Winds.

Lois Hicks-Wozniak, www.loishickswozniak.com, is an active concert saxophonist in the New York Metropolitan and the Hudson Valley region. Among her many awards is the Special Presentation Winners Recital Series, sponsored by Artists International Presentations. From 1996-2004 she served active duty in the U.S. Army as a saxophonist with the United States Military Academy Band at West Point and with the West Point Saxophone Quartet. She can be heard on her recording Playback: Music for Saxophone and Bass Trombone with Matthew Wozniak, bass trombone and Nadine Shank, piano and on the West Point Saxophone Quartet CD, Fault Lines, and her performances have been broadcast on New York public radio. Ms. Hicks-Wozniak was a featured soloist at the Caramoor Music Festival with the Westchester Symphonic Winds, she has presented an east coast recital series with pianist, Nadine Shank, titled “The Well-Traveled Saxophone.” Presenting a preview performance of David Kirkland Garner’s Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Wind Ensemble, she gave encore performances of this tour de force at the 2014 New Jersey Music Educators Association Convention and the 2014 Association of Concert Bands Convention. She has studied at the Interlochen Arts Academy, the University of North Texas and the Florida State University, and her teachers include Dr. Frederick L. Hemke, Patrick Meighan and Debra Richtmeyer. She is currently on the faculty at the New England Music Camp, where she teaches saxophone, and she is an adjunct professor of music at Marist College and the State University of New York at New Paltz. During fall semester 2015 Ms. Hicks-Wozniak was visiting saxophone instructor at Susquehanna University. She maintains a private piano and saxophone studio, and she teaches Spinning and other exercise classes at her local gym.