Season Info 2020-21
WINTER/SPRING 2021 NJIO PLAN
Warren Cohen and the Artistic Staff have been devising plans for 2021 that will provide educational and entertaining evenings that will offer opportunities for members to both play music and to improve their musical knowledge. Our Winter Session will begin on January 11 – virtually of course since COVID restrictions do not allow us to get together indoors. We are making plans to rehearse outside, under a tent in smaller groups, once weather permits in the Spring (unless we can move indoors) but for now we will be virtual.
In order to keep the virtual schedule interesting we will focus on 3 elements this winter for Intermezzo and Symphony:
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We will be working several nights on music that we hope to play together when we can get together in the Spring. Many of these sessions will be led by coaches as sectionals.
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We will also have a couple of sessions led by coaches dedicated to specific skill training such as a segment for cellos on playing in tenor clef, a section for violins in playing off the string, a section for winds on breath control.
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Finally, Warren is making plans for nights with special guests from outside the NJIO family who will be able to provide a Master Class-type evening. We are also hoping to feature some of our staff in special educational presentations throughout the rest of the year.
Prelude rehearsals will focus on fundamentals with its music selections. There will likely be one or two evenings of sectionals for Prelude as well. Prelude will be invited to attend all of the guest presentations as well.
Rehearsal times will be the same as in the Fall:
Prelude: 4:30 – 5:30
Intermezzo: 6:00 – 7:00
Symphony: 7:30 – 8:45
Below is a preliminary calendar for the Winter session, based on the information we have now.
1/11/21: Music Rehearsal/Open House for new members
1/18/21: Skills Rehearsal
1/25/21: Music Rehearsal
2/1/21: NO REHEARSAL
2/8/21: Master Class
2/15/21: Music Rehearsal
2/22/21: Skills Rehearsal
3/1/21: NO REHEARSAL
3/8/21: Music Rehearsal
3/15/21: Master Class
3/22/21: Music Rehearsal
3/29/21: NO REHEARSAL
If we are able to get together in some capacity in April, we will try to schedule a concert with the music that was worked on in the winter. This will likely be recorded and/or live-streamed.
We hope to be able to rehearse live (most likely outdoors) beginning in April, with 8 rehearsals and if possible a concert of some sort. Our current thinking is that these will be smaller group rehearsals (25-30 musicians) rather than full orchestra pieces.
Our scheduled Carnegie Hall date for June 18 has not been cancelled, although we are not confident that it will hold up. If we are doing a Carnegie Hall performance we would schedule additional rehearsals leading up to that.
Outreach Ensemble continues to rehearse on Wednesday evenings once a month. Even though they are not playing live music, they are working on a virtual concert video that can be used in the senior centers and residences where they typically play and will be continuing with regular rehearsals in February. If anyone is interested in joining please let me know and I will get you more info.