General Musician Information and Rehearsal Schedule |
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This page is for the benefit of the musicians in the orchestra ONLY. GENERAL MUSICIAN INFORMATION WHERE? We now have THREE churches at which we will rehearse and perform. Full orchestra concerts and rehearsals will continue at our “old church,” which one can also continue thinking of as our “main” location if one wishes: the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, 152 W. 71st Street (between Broadway and Columbus), Manhattan; rehearsals will now also occasionally be happening (one or two per concert, roughly), and concerts will regularly happen, at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 4th Avenue and 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn. In addition, some chamber orchestra concerts and rehearsals will also be held at Holy Name Church (we performed two chamber orchestra concerts there last season and one so far this season), 245 Prospect Park West, Park Slope (or Windsor Terrace, if you prefer), Brooklyn. The location of every rehearsal and concert is, of course, noted below. HOW DO I GET THERE? (a) Blessed Sacrament, 152 W. 71st Street (between Broadway and Columbus), Manhattan, is easily accessible from the 1,2,3 subway station at 72nd and Broadway, and, with a slightly longer walk, from the B,C subway station at 72nd and Central Park West. Click here for a Mapquest map, and here for the MTA subway map. (b) St. Thomas Aquinas, 4th Avenue and 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn, is right across the street from the 4th Avenue station on the F train; the only additional thing you need to know—but it’s very important—is that you want to descend a stairway that is explicitly labeled “Exit.” On the lower level (below street level) in that same subway station are the M and R trains, which you can catch at the Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street station, a major transfer point in Brooklyn also serving the N,Q,W,2,3,4, and 5 trains. (This 4th Avenue station is called 9th Street when you’re on the M and R trains.) Click here for a Mapquest map, and here for the MTA subway map. (c) Holy Name, 245 Prospect Park West, Park Slope or Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, is convenient to the 15th Street/Prospect Park stop on the F line, two stops past the 4th Avenue station. (Click here for a Mapquest map, and here for the MTA subway map.) You’ll surface from the subway station at or near the traffic circle at 15th Street and Prospect Park West. The church is at the corner of Prospect Park West and Prospect Avenue. WHEN? We will now be performing each concert at least twice. Our intention is to play full-orchestra concerts on the Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon of the same weekend; scheduling difficulties will sometimes prevent that, however, necessitating our scheduling the concerts on two different weekends. Chamber orchestra concerts will follow the same general pattern when possible. Rehearsals are still mostly on Monday nights from 7:30 to 10:00, but there will be exceptions. Dress rehearsals will usually not be on Saturday mornings any more, since we now usually have a concert on Saturday. In any event, the date, time, and place of every rehearsal (and concert) are always indicated below. BRING A MUSIC STAND? You don’t need to bring a stand to Blessed Sacrament. We are asking you, however, to please bring a stand to the rehearsals and concerts at St. Thomas Aquinas. BRING ANYTHING ELSE? All strings, you need a mute. ALWAYS have a mute with you. It’s part of the equipment that goes with your instrument, like your bow and your rosin. CelloBasses, the floor at Blessed Sacrament is slick tile; bring a Rockstop or “strap” or whatever kind of endpin rest you use. You are NOT allowed to dig your endpin into the floor. Please be considerate of the church. We are their guests. Please act like it; just for example, don’t dig your endpin into their floor. In the other two churches, we play on carpet, so we don’t need our Rockstops there. PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE OF THE CHURCHES that we rehearse and play in. We are their guests. WHAT DO I WEAR? Concert dress is tuxedo (or dark suit with black bow tie) for the men, and all-black for the ladies. For concerts in the park, etc., the dress is normally “business casual”—but whatever it is, it will be announced. WHAT PIECES WILL I PLAY IN? Here is a link to a mostly complete list of instrumentations for the 2007-2008 season, just in case you were curious about what you’ll be playing in and what you won’t. As soon as we firm up all the pieces we’ll be playing later in the season, this list will of course become complete. WHAT PIECES MIGHT THE ORCHESTRA PLAY IN THE FUTURE? Here is a link to a list of instrumentations for things we might play some day—in other words, our “wish list.” (If you would like to see anything added to the wish list, just let us know.) REHEARSAL SCHEDULE FOR THE REST OF THE 2007-2008 SEASON May 3 and 4, 2008 Chamber-Orchestra Concerts #5+6 “Mostly Mozart” Series NOTE: This note posted on April 10: We have had to change two locations and one date. This was totally unavoidable, and we apologize. The location changes are that the first two Wednesday rehearsals trade places. The date change is for the last rehearsal: we were forced to move it from Thursday, May 1, to Wednesday, April 30. As usual, the times listed below are preliminary estimates and may end up being adjusted from rehearsal to rehearsal. Rehearsal #1: Wednesday, April 16, St. Thomas Aquinas, 7:15-10:15 PLEASE NOTE that the LOCATION of this rehearsal has changed from what was posted earlier. PLEASE REMEMBER to bring your music stands. 7:15- 8:00 Flute Concerto (strings, flutes, oboes, horns) 8:00- 8:20 Overture (full orchestra) 8:20- 8:35 break 8:35- 9:30 Symphony (full orchestra) 9:30-10:15 Bassoon Concerto (strings, oboes, horns) Rehearsal #2: Monday, April 21, Blessed Sacrament, 7:15-10:15 7:15- 7:30 Overture (full orchestra) 7:30- 8:30 Symphony (full orchestra) 8:30- 8:45 break 8:45- 9:30 Flute Concerto (strings, flutes, oboes, horns) 9:30-10:15 Bassoon Concerto (strings, oboes, horns) Rehearsal #3: Wednesday, April 23 Blessed Sacrament, 7:15-10:15 PLEASE NOTE that the LOCATION of this rehearsal has changed from what was posted earlier. 7:15- 7:30 Overture (full orchestra) 7:30- 8:30 Symphony (full orchestra) 8:30- 8:45 break 8:45- 9:30 Flute Concerto (strings, flutes, oboes, horns) 9:30-10:15 Bassoon Concerto (strings, oboes, horns) Rehearsal #4: Monday, April 28, Blessed Sacrament, 7:15-10:15 7:15- 7:30 Overture (full orchestra) 7:30- 8:30 Symphony (full orchestra) 8:30- 8:45 break 8:45- 9:30 Flute Concerto (strings, flutes, oboes, horns) 9:30-10:15 Bassoon Concerto (strings, oboes, horns) Rehearsal #5: Wednesday, April 30, Blessed Sacrament, 7:15-10:15 PLEASE NOTE that the DATE of this rehearsal has changed from what was posted earlier. 7:15- 7:30 Overture (full orchestra) 7:30- 8:30 Symphony (full orchestra) 8:30- 8:45 break 8:45- 9:30 Flute Concerto (strings, flutes, oboes, horns) 9:30-10:15 Bassoon Concerto (strings, oboes, horns) Concert #1: Saturday, May 3, St. Thomas Aquinas, 7:30 p.m. (7:00 call) PLEASE REMEMBER to bring your music stands. Concert #2: Sunday, May 4, Blessed Sacrament, 3:00 p.m. (2:30 call) This is the concert order: Mozart: Overture to Don Giovanni Mozart: Flute Concerto #1 in G (Shoji Mizumoto) Mozart: Bassoon Concerto (Antonio Arosemena) Mozart: Symphony #35 (“Haffner”) June 7, 2008 Summer Park Concert Saturday, June 7, 7:00 p.m. RAIN DATE: Sunday, June 8, 7:00 p.m. Clay Tennis Courts Riverside Park, Manhattan (Hudson River at 97th Street) For the third straight year, we will be playing in Riverside Park at the Clay Tennis Courts. The program will be announced later; the concert will be approximately an hour long, from 7:00 until it gets too dark to see our music. Click here for the Clay Tennis Court Association’s Web site, which includes a map with directions on how to get there. (Click here to go straight to the map.) The concert site is just to the north of the tennis courts, which are plainly marked on the map. You MUST also be available for the rain date—Sunday, June 8, at 7:00 p.m.—just in case we get rained out on Saturday. We’ll be repeating the overture and symphony from the May Mozart concerts, plus we’ll add another Mozart piece of very little difficulty. Obviously, if we repeat music we have just played a month earlier, then the more people who play both the Mozart and park concerts, the less rehearsal time we’ll need (hint, hint). The date of the second rehearsal will be finalized very soon. Here’s what we have as of April 26: Rehearsal #1: Monday, June 2, Blessed Sacrament, 7:15-10:15 Rehearsal order to be announced. Rehearsal #2: Wednesday, June 4 OR Friday, June 6, Blessed Sacrament, 7:15-10:15 This page was last modified Saturday, April 26, 2008. The Musica Bella Orchestra of New York, Inc., a New York State Not For Profit Corporation, was incorporated in 2004 and became a 501(c)(3) organization the same year. 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