Homepage Update - January 2012

A Very Happy New Year !

Enver Hoxha

Enver Hoxha's New Year message to the Albanian people in 1967: "This year will be harder than last year. On the other hand, it will be easier than next year,"

However, I am full of optimism. Why?



Music In Spain

I am full of optimism because there are fantastic stirrings in the world of wind ensemble and wind band.Technology has led us to the point where we can upload performances on YouTube and share them with the world, and I would invite everyone who browses this website to visit YouTubeand browse on Luis Serrano Alarcon's wonderful work Duende

concert

Duende CIM Armonica de Bunol Mano a Mano 2011

What is especially exciting is that not just this performance was given last year to an audience of 2,000 by a huge wind band playing Alarcon with the finesse of a wind ensemble under the expert guidance of Frank de Vuyst, but that in 2013 WASBE returns to Spain, and we shall all have the opportunity to experience concerts like this under the stars on a warm Mediterranean night.



Venezuela

Music In Venezuela

A basket case is how many financial and political experts are describing Venezuela - some basket case, with 350,000 students enrolled in El Sistema, with symphony orchestras, big bands, folk groups, wind band, choirs and chamber ensembles flourishing throughout the country, with huge young audiences fighting to get in to concerts, with orchestras formed in some of the toughest penitentiaries! I have a feeling that the basket case has got a lot of things right in which those of us in more developed countries have failed.

Cd Of The Year

CDs Of The Year

Another bumper pack of CDs from Mark Morette arrived just before the New Year, twenty discs from the 2011 WASBE Conference, a wonderful survey of Western and Eastern contemporary wind music to enjoy again over the coming months. Some of the repertoire was not to my particular taste, but it is fascinating to revisit works which jet lag persuaded me were not worthy of a place in the Conference, but which in a different listening situation take on a new importance. I have purchased complete sets of all WASBE CDs back to Schladming, and I find these recordings a constant source of surprise and refreshment. Get your library to order up a set or two - BROWSE ON THE CD SLEEVES FOR A LINK

Conferences In 2013

CBDNA 2013 National Conference

CBDNA

University of North Carolina Greensboro

March 20-23, 2013

CBDNA 2013 National Conference - Greensboro, NC

Dear Colleagues,

We are very pleased that the University of North Carolina at Greensboro will host the 2013 CBDNA National Conference. Providing the home for our National Conference is no small undertaking and there must be a convergence of factors for an appropriate host to be chosen. There must be a commitment by the faculty, administration, staff and students to provide the resources and time necessary to facilitate our conference. There must be an outstanding concert venue capable of bringing to full fruition the ideas and musical talents of our performers and composers. There must be facilities with sufficient and appropriate space to allow for the development of creative ideas, the meetings of our members, rehearsals, and the display of scores, recordings and materials. It is beneficial when one can easily and affordably travel to the host site and when accommodations are first-class and reasonably priced. In UNCG we have a partner who provides ALL of these benefits! We're delighted to have John Locke and Kevin Geraldi of UNCG as our conference hosts. I encourage you to put March 20-23, 2013 into your calendars (in ink) and to periodically visit: www.cbdna2013.org for updates.

Eric Rombach-Kendall

President, CBDNA

WASBE

WASBE 16th International Conference

What happened in 1993 in Valencia at the Sixth WASBE Conference? The WASBE site carries no information, but we know that it was a week of sun and sangria, late night concerts under the stars, magnificent performances by great bands, new music from Europe and USA, and it is fantastic news that twenty years later in 2013 we shall all be back in Valencia. See you there !

JULY 7 - 13, 2013

A very Happy 2012 to all browsers - do write in with your suggestions and news, especially for our features From the Horses Mouth and The Composer Speaks.Many thanks for browsing, over 150 unique visits a day, resulting in 1,100 hits. Let us know what you want to see uploaded and have a great new year !