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This season will include music by Giuseppe Verdi, Charles Ives, Dmitri Shostakovitch, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Samuel Barber, and Gustav Mahler with current composers including Carlos Simon and Cindy McTee.

Dear Friends and Family of the WSO, Our beloved, wonderful and long-time former principal clarinetist, Dianne Mahany, died on June 12, 2024. Dianne was with the WSO from 2001-2016, and on the Board of Directors from 2003-2018.    Dianne also managed our Michael H. Welles Young Soloist Competition from 2002-2019 and helped me enormously when I took that over.    Dianne's love of chamber music provided inspiration for many of the WSO musicians. She attended the Chamber Music Conference of the East for several decades, serving on their Board of Directors and as Treasurer.   Dianne will be sorely missed, especially her joie de vivre and infectious laugh.   The funeral mass for Dianne will be held at Our Lady of Fatima Church, 160 Concord Rd, Sudbury, MA on Wednesday, June 26 at noon.  Burial will follow the service, followed by a reception at the church.  The mass will also be livestreamed – you can find a link here:   Mass Online — The Ascension Parish   To read more about Dianne’s wonderful life, please see:  https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/sudbury-ma/dianne-mahany-11857253   In lieu of flowers, please donate to the charity of your choice in Dianne’s name.   Best wishes, Carol

Enjoy! Tickets can be purchased online. We are offering a pay-what-you-can system. You can select the price you would like to pay for your tickets. We recommend $30 per ticket. Wearing a mask is recommended but not required. No dress code. The orchestra members traditionally wear formal black outfits, but you can wear whatever you like! Please silence your phone during the concert. Applauding between movements is OK! All of our concerts are open to people of all ages! Repeat #1 - enjoy the music!

Please join internationally acclaimed double bassists Susan Hagen (you recently heard her perform with the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra) and David Heyes (UK) Thursday, 25 April at 7:30pm for an hour-long concert entitled "Koussevitzky Connections" - this concert is part of a 10-day long tour to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Serge Koussevitzky, the famous composer, double bassist, and conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924-1949. They will perform new commissions and old classics on Koussevitzky's bass in what is sure to be an entertaining and fun concert.   Proceeds will benefit the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra. There will be a reception to follow to meet the musicians.     The concert takes place at the Wellesley Village Church, 2 Central Street, Wellesley. Tickets are $35 per person; a ticket to access the livestreamed concert is $10. The link to purchase tickets is:  https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?ticketing=wso   Tickets will also be available at the door. Parking is available on the street and in 2 public parking lots within easy walking distance.

Our May 5 season finale celebrates the WSO’s 75th anniversary, showcasing music inspired by woodprints and paintings. This concert features xylophone soloist Casey Voss and two blockbuster works. Alan Hovhaness'  Fantasy on Japanese Woodprints  was written for xylophone and orchestra. The Fantasy is varied and colorful, drawing upon techniques borrowed from Japanese music while incorporating the composer's Armenian influences. Modest Mussorgsky's  Pictures At An Exhibition  depicts an exhibition of works by architect and painter Viktor Hartmann with each movement of the suite based on an individual work. Written for piano, this work has become a staple of piano and orchestra repertoire and frequently adapted by musicians of many genres -- from Emerson, Lake & Palmer to the synthesized version by Tomita, and many others. We'll perform the orchestration by Maurice Ravel.  Inspired by the altarpiece of the Church of St. Anthony at Isenheim, Paul Hindemith created the opera  Mathis Der Maler  (Matthias the Painter) in the early 1930s. The opera portrays Matthias's struggle for artistic freedom of expression in the repressive climate of his day, mirroring Hindemith's own struggle as the Nazis attained power and repressed dissent. Hindemith wasn't able to perform the opera but did create this symphony, which became his most famous work, and one of the most impressive orchestral showpieces ever. To enhance your enjoyment of this marvelous composition that was inspired by Matthais Grünewald's incredible 12-panel Isenheim Altarpiece, we have invited Frederick Ilchman, Chair of European Art at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts to help us understand the connections between Grünewald's exquisitely detailed paintings and Hindemith's evocative music.   We invite you and your family to experience this music with us. Our ticketing system operates on a “pay what you can” basis, and parking is both plentiful and free. Please join us at our reception after the concert. We're looking forward to seeing you on  Sunday, May 5 at 3:00 pm. To make sure everybody in our community can access this concert, we are offering a  pay-what-you-can-system . You select the price you would like to pay for your tickets. We recommend $30 per ticket. The MassBay auditorium is at  50 Oakland Street, Wellesley Hills , just off Rt 9, two miles west of Rt 95 -- directions can be found  here . Our staff and volunteers can help you purchase tickets, check in, and show you to your seat when you arrive at MassBay. The Wellesley Symphony and MassBay Community College have lifted COVID-19 vaccination and masking requirements as of June 2023.  Please find MassBay's latest guidance here. We are excited to have you join us as we explore the wonderful world of classical music together!

MassBay Community College and the Wellesley Symphony are proud to present a benefit concert to raise funds for both organizations on Wednesday, May 29, 2024 at 6:00 pm, at MassBay Community College, 50 Oakland Street, Wellesley. The Wellesley Symphony is a non-profit organization and has been a community orchestra since its founding in 1948. This past season we celebrated our 75th anniversary, and our 40th season as orchestra-in-residence at MassBay! This concert, "Colors of Culture", features music from around the world and special guests, the Fireside Barbershop Quartet. After a rousing Viennese waltz by Johann Strauss, the orchestra will perform Florence Price's final composition (arranged by William Grant Still for full orchestra), Dances in the Canebrakes. Gabriela Ortiz' composition Kauyumari evokes the Mexican folktale about a magical deer. The music is literally throbbing with emotion! This piece will be followed by the return of our featured vocalists - the Fireside Barbershop Quartet. After intermission, a change of pace as we perform the second movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony - this movement was such a hit at the premiere performance in 1813 that the audience demanded it be repeated. A quick trip to Spain follows our sojourn in Beethoven's Vienna as we dance to Manuel de Falla's "Spanish Dance" from La Vida Breve, one of de Falla's operas. Following 2 more beautiful songs from the Fireside Barbershop Quartet, including the lovely "Somewhere" from Bernstein's West Side Story, we will return to Spain to end our performance, via a French composer, Georges Bizet, with some beautiful excerpts from his most famous opera, Carmen. We hope that this trip around the world of music and beauty will bring you joy. As our music director, Mark Latham, has said at every concert, to be present at a live music performance is a unique and wonderful experience. The excellent musicians of the WSO, 95% of whom are volunteers, love to learn about the music and to perform it for you. We are passionate about our mission: With exuberance and joy, the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra shares our belief that live music brings all people together. This concert embodies that mission. We look forward to seeing you at the concert and at the reception following the performance. Tickets are $100. There will be a reception following the concert. Parking is plentiful and free.

The Wellesley Symphony Orchestra is proud to present our annual Family Concert as we celebrate and feature young musicians and entertain everyone in the family with the timeless musical story, "Peter and the Wolf". Our concert begins with Johann Strauss' masterpiece, the overture to Die Fledermaus . This operetta, known as “The Bat,” revolves around mistaken identity (including a man disguised as a bat) and practical jokes that spiral out of control. For Strauss, renowned as The Waltz King, this brought his melodic brilliance to the opera stage. Dancing in the aisles is encouraged! A group of elementary school string students from the Wellesley Public Schools will join the string section of the WSO and perform 2 short pieces. Their leader is our very own principal cellist, Seth MacLeod. We are thrilled to present , the winner of our 2023 Michael H. Welles Young Soloist Competition, who will play the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3. Beethoven struggled with this piano concerto for years -- not wanting to overstep his previously published first and second concertos, he held back releasing his 3rd, writing "Musical policy necessitates keeping the best concertos to oneself for a while." We're delighted that Adalia Wen will perform this great work for you. Serge Prokofiev was commissioned to write a symphony for children in 1938. Dissatisfied with the story offered to him, he wrote a story of a boy capturing a wolf. The first draft of the music took just a week, with the orchestration following shortly after. The result is the classic narrated piece Peter and the Wolf, where orchestral instruments vividly depict this fun story. We welcome back Brian Hagar-McKee as our narrator and master of ceremonies. We invite you and your family to enjoy this music with us. To make sure everybody in our community can access this concert, we are offering a pay-what-you-can-system. You select the price you would like to pay for your tickets. We recommend $30 per ticket. Tickets are available online ( www.wellesleysymphony.org ), or at the door the day of the concert. MassBay Community College is located at 50 Oakland Street, Wellesley Hills, just off Rt. 9 East. Parking is both plentiful and free. Please join us at our reception after the concert. We are excited to have you join us as we explore the wonderful world of classical music together!

We are excited to share that our Outreach Program is back after its pandemic hiatus. Our schedule is as follows: Public events: Feb. 4, Wellesley Free Library March 2, Weston Public Library April 13, Framingham Public Library Other events April 1, Wellesley Friendly Aid We look forward to seeing you!

Six Outstanding Contestants from our 2023 Michael H. Welles Young Soloist Competition  The Wellesley Symphony Orchestra Presents A Special Concert on Wednesday, January 17, 2024, 8:00 pm at MassBay Community College Our annual competition for young soloists is always a highlight of the year for the judges, and 2023 was no exception. We auditioned 28 incredibly talented young musicians and had a difficult time picking a winner. We did decide on a winner, Adalia Wen, a 16-year-old pianist who will enchant you with her performance of the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, op. 37 on March 24, 2024, as the featured soloist at our family concert.  There were several other outstanding players in the running, but we couldn't have that many winners! Knowing how hard all of the students worked on their pieces, we decided to give 6 outstanding contestants the opportunity to play their concerto movement with the orchestra at one short concert. The orchestra will take about an hour to play through our parts, and then we will welcome these 6 students on the stage to stand in front of us and perform for you! The WSO has partnered with Music for Food, a musician-led initiative to fight hunger in our local communities. We have selected the Wellesley Food Pantry as the recipient of all donations at the concert on January 17 (monetary only). Admission to the concert is free. MassBay Community College is located at 50 Oakland Street, Wellesley (off Rt. 9 East). There is plenty of free parking! We hope you will join us for this special event!

Last year sometime, Mark asked if I'd be willing to play something in front of the orchestra. I thought about this for a while and concluded that I wanted to focus on Louis Armstrong. When I was a dumb kid taking lessons and in jazz band, Louis Armstrong just wasn't thought of at all in my circles. We were obsessed with the higher and louder bands - Maynard Ferguson, Buddy Rich, Chicago, Blood, Sweat, & Tears, and, of course, Chase. At best, we thought of Armstrong as a has-been and just not relevant. In fact, Louis Armstrong was one of the most important musicians of the 20th century, possibly THE most important and influential. Everything changed when Armstrong came on the scene. Certainly no one played trumpet with his power, range, and technical ability combined with his joy and imagination. When touring in Columbus, Ohio in 1931, local classical trumpet players were shocked to see that Armstrong used a regular trumpet and mouthpiece. They were convinced there was some trickery involved for Armstrong to played the way he played it – well beyond the range thought possible at the time. His singing style was completely original and copied everywhere -- one can hear that influence today. What first intrigued me about Armstrong was a documentary on the US State Department tours in the 50s and 60s. This was the idea that the US would promote democracy abroad by sending jazz musicians overseas to improve the public image, to counter criticism from the Soviet Union at the height of the cold war. The idea that jazz, invented in America, with its reliance on improvisation, was a perfect way to promote freedom and democracy. (The irony was not lost on the African-American musicians whose freedoms were severely curtailed at home, to put it politely.) Louis Armstrong, the most famous musician in the world, was signed up for a tour of the Soviet Union in 1957 when he was asked about the Little Rock Nine being stopped from attending high school. Armstrong then made worldwide news with his very colorful criticism of President Eisenhower and the governor of Arkansas, and cancelled his tour. A decade later, "What A Wonderful World" was written for Armstrong by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss. Weiss said he wrote the song specifically for Louis Armstrong as he was inspired by Armstrong's ability to bring together people of different races. First recorded in 1967, it became a lasting hit, and enjoyed a resurgence with its use in the Robin Williams 1987 movie "Good Morning Vietnam". With everything going on in the world, how could anyone sing such a song without it being banal, a satire? But Armstrong does -- and is quite aware of the potential irony. At the beginning of the 1970 recording, Armstrong introduces the song, saying:  Some of you young folks been saying to me "Hey Pops, what you mean 'What a wonderful world'? How about all them wars all over the place? You call them wonderful? And how about hunger and pollution? That ain't so wonderful either." Well how about listening to old Pops for a minute. Seems to me, it ain’t the world that's so bad but what we're doin' to it. And all I'm saying is see what a wonderful world it would be if only we'd give it a chance. Love baby, love. That's the secret, yeah. If lots more of us loved each other we'd solve lots more problems. And then this world would be gasser. That's what ol' Pops keeps saying. Fast forward to last summer when WSO Music Director Mark Latham and I agreed to put this on the Holiday Concert program . . . we had no arrangement to play. As the fall arrived, I found very few orchestra arrangements of this, and none that were suitable. Then I found a lovely arrangement performed by the WDR Orchestra on YouTube (WDR is a German public radio station.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87AybO2csjQ I contacted the arranger, Matthäus Crepaz, and we purchased the arrangement. I stole the melody from the bassoons, mostly, and we added a repeated section to which I added my own solo. As we rehearsed it, a few more tweaks were applied and, voila! a finished performance piece. I'm pleased to say it all worked out and the performance was received very well and I had a lot of fun doing it. The support from the orchestra and the comments from many who attended where also quite wonderful. No one could do it like Louis Armstrong – hopefully this performance will get him a few more listeners. Chris Ten Eyck Principal Trumpet, Wellesley Symphony Orchestra

I've been a member of the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra since 2007 and it has been a wonderful experience. A wonderful part of it has been the orchestra's warm and productive partnership with MassBay Community College. MassBay (which serves about 6,000 students) has been the home of the Wellesley Symphony since 1984. As part of our responsibilities as the Orchestra-in-Residence, we are part of MassBay's commencement ceremonies. We play a short concert prior to the start of the ceremonies, the well-known processional, Elgar's Pomp & Circumstance, March #1, and recessional music at the close of the ceremony. The first commencement I played in, in 2008, was quite an eye opener. The enthusiasm of the MassBay grads, families, and friends is simply incredible. When one gets a sense of how hard these students work - many of the graduates have one job and most have two -- the journeys of many just to get to MassBay, much less to graduate, are quite inspirational. One extra treat is to accompany singers of the national anthem for commencement (standing in front of a good orchestra is one of the coolest experiences!) This past May we were pleased to play behind Tahlia Butler, who did a terrific job. It was wonderful to watch Tahlia working with Mark Latham, our music director, at rehearsal and the performance went off without a hitch. For commencement the orchestra is seated with just enough space that's shaped something like a shallow, wide crescent. Instead of being in the middle (behind the woodwinds, in front of the percussion for a typical concert,) we (trumpets) found ourselves against the tent in the far left just behind the lower strings. I suspect that the woodwinds were relieved to be out of the typical trumpet-induced mayhem, and we did have a rare thrill hanging out with the violas. Another big difference between commencements and anything else is the musical downtime. Once we're done with our 'pre' concert and procession music, we've got a lot of time to ourselves until we resume for the recessional. Some of the players read or talk -- for example, this year I learned a few things about double reeds while eavesdropping on a conversation between our principal oboist and principal bassoonist. For me it's mostly wandering outside the tent and chatting up MassBay staff and security and other WSO players. It's nice to get a chance to just talk with other players, some of whom (like those mysterious string players) I've never really met. Throughout all this we follow the progress of names in the program. Then, all-of-a-sudden, we need to find our way back into the tent for the recessional. This year we closed with the entire Pomp & Circumstance Marches #1 and #4; Elgar wrote five of them -- the performance of the first one in 1901 was a 'frantic success.' We hear that 'land of hope and glory' theme a lot, of course, but the piece overall is quite something. In any case, I say a quick trumpeter's prayer to not crack my first notes, and we're off to celebrate another great class of MassBay graduates. Chris Ten Eyck Principal Trumpet

It's almost spring - there are little daffodil shoots and I have even seen some teeny flowers blooming along my favorite path by Morse Pond. It's fitting that our annual Family Concert on Sunday, March 26 celebrates young people in particular - but we perform for everyone in your family and ours because we truly believe that live music brings all people together! If you attend our performance (and I hope that you do!), you will be able to read the wonderful program notes written by bassist James Heazlewood-Dale. James is completing his Ph.D. in musicology at Brandeis and knows a lot about music. He always finds interesting tidbits to share. Briefly, we will begin our program with Benjamin Britten's "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra," which will be enhanced by a slide show to help you learn about the instruments in a typical symphony orchestra. The Britten will be followed by the third movement of Mahler's first symphony (known as "The Titan"). However, this movement is not titan-like at all - it's a wonderful take on a well-known tune - "Frère Jacques" (Brother John), that we all learned at an early age! Following the beautiful and somewhat somber Mahler, you will get to meet the winner of our Michael H. Welles Young Soloist Competition. This is an annual competition that we have held for several decades (minus a couple of pandemic years). Several years ago, friends of Michael Welles, one of our fabulous French horn players, gave a donation to the orchestra in Michael's honor to fund this competition. We generally have about 30 competitors and they are all terrific. This year's winner, Brian Lee, played the first movement of Shostakovich's first cello concerto so brilliantly that we (the judges) were blown away! We are grateful to the wonderful music teachers who work with these students, and to the amazing accompanists without whom the students couldn't audition. We are also grateful to the Dana Hall School of Music for graciously allowing us to hold our competition there. Our final two pieces are also fantastic - in fact, Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" (arranged by Rimsky-Korsakov) is included in Disney's famous "Fantasia" movie. And to end with a rousing fanfare, we will perform Joan Tower's sixth "Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman". Joan Tower is a contemporary female composer who was inspired by Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man". As a woman, I am especially pleased to play this piece! On a sadder note, the orchestra members are mourning the loss of one of our beloved colleagues. Becky Moury, who played clarinet in the orchestra for many years, died recently from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease). In Becky's memory, the orchestra has pledged to donate 10% of all donations received from today through the date of our next concert, May 7, to Compassionate Care ALS, one of Becky's favorite ALS organizations. DONATE HERE Here is a beautiful tribute, written by Bobby Kipp, our principal oboe, and a dear friend of Becky's: We are so sad to report that our beloved Becky Mourey, former WSO clarinetist, passed away on February 14, 2023. Diagnosed with ALS in 2020, Becky motivated us every day to fight unselfishly for change in the ALS research, therapeutic, and legislative space. Many of us in the WSO have known Becky for over 20 years. We first got to know her through our shared love for and involvement in music. Becky was a fantastic clarinetist and music teacher. One of the experiences she most enjoyed during her WSO years was playing the bass clarinet in “Tubby the Tuba” at the Orchestra’s 2017 Family Concert. You can see this on YouTube (https://youtu.be/XJqPkFQjRmI). Our shared love of music blossomed into much deeper friendships, and when Becky was diagnosed with ALS, many of us rallied around her to support her in her journey and in her fierce advocacy for desperately needed changes in the awful world of ALS. We watched Becky unselfishly join ALS organizations and working groups, show up at legislators’ events (see https://youtu.be/8po1sqItJ9s), and enlist countless others to participate. All while she traveled her own terrible ALS journey. Always with insight, wisdom, humor, and compassion. All while being a loving and caring mother, wife, sister, aunt, and friend. Several ALS organizations recognized how special Becky was by giving her awards. But that wasn’t her motivation. She just wanted change, and so do we.