Celebrating 32 Years of Music Making on the Range

Dear Mesabi Community Orchestra Members,

Greetings! I hope you’re enjoying summer in the Northland (it’s raining and chilly in Duluth today), and looking forward to the start of our 2009-2010 season. The Board and I have an exciting year planned full of great repertoire, concerts, and collaborations.

Before I dive into the details for the coming year I want to thank you for a tremendously successful 2008-2009 season. We most certainly increased our level of artistic excellence and musical skill as an orchestra! The fact that we presented 3 professional-level concerts with major symphonic repertoire to rave reviews is testament to your dedication, patience, persistence and growth as an orchestra. Thank you!

Now, on to the upcoming season: Our first rehearsal will be on Monday, September 14, 2009 at Mesabi College from 7-9 p.m. (as usual). I’ll distribute a detailed rehearsal schedule then. Our winter concerts have already been set by the Board of Directors and the venue coordinators as follows:

Saturday, December 12, 2009 at the Babbitt High School auditorium, 2:30 p.m. (Check out the Boundary Waters Concert Association’s website, under whose auspices we’ll be performing: www.bwcababbitt.com.)

Sunday, December 13, 2009 at United in Christ Church in Eveleth, 2:30 p.m.

Also, we’re working on scheduling a concert for Monday, December 7th in the evening, possibly in Hibbing or Chisholm. Please mark this date in your calendar as probable, with details to be announced.

As for repertoire, I’m excited to begin working with you on what I know will be a unique and very engaging program for our audience: Dvorak’s most popular symphony, No. 9 “From the New World.” We “warmed up” our audience last fall with Dvorak’s 8th, now on to the 9th! The strings will perform Frank Bridge’s Suite for String Orchestra – a lush and beautifully-crafted work in the late Romantic style. Also in the works is a collaborative piece with a soloist and/or another ensemble that will include full orchestra – more on that once the details have been set.

Here is a link to download and listen to the Dvorak:

Scroll down to find “Dvorak Symphony No. 9” and links to each movement from Columbia University’s orchestra. Use your mouse to right-click on each of the movements. Select “Save Target As…” and save each of the 4 files to your computer.

Here is the instrumentation for the Dvorak:

Here are two links for the Bridge, first and last movement, on YouTube:

• Prelude
• Finale

Here are links to some information about the Dvorak and Bridge for your edification:

• Dvorak (you can find links to other reference material and scores at the bottom of the page!)
• Bridge:
  • a biography of Bridge,
  • program notes on the Suite for Strings (scroll to the bottom)

If you’d prefer, or if you don’t have access to the Internet, I’d be happy to mail you a CD of the Symphony and the Bridge, and a printout of the information. Just email, call, or write me with your address. Alternatively, you ought to be able to find access to a recording and information about the Dvorak, at least, via your local library.

As I stated last year, it is imperative that you listen to the pieces, not only for scholarly and practice purposes, but to begin enjoying their genius and emotional impact! Don’t worry about your individual part while listening the first few times – listen for the scope and breadth of the piece; how it flows within and between movements; the textures of the instruments and sections (strings, winds, brass, percussion). Then, after you are fully immersed in the “sound-scape” the composer creates, see if you can pick out and hone in on your part throughout the movements. Use a score if you like; it can be most useful in realizing how your part relates to other instruments and within the texture of the music!

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions; the Board and I want to give you every opportunity to freely voice your opinions and ideas. We want you to be as invested in and excited about the MCO and its future as we are!

One final note: please give a bit of thought to anyone you know, or connections you could make, to bring more members into our Orchestra. All ages are welcome. If you think of anyone who might be interested in playing with us please get in touch with them and encourage them to attend rehearsal on September 14th, or whenever they are able. We especially need all strings, more specifically cellists and violinists. If you’d prefer, I’d be happy to contact potential recruits myself. We’ve got something good going here – let’s share it and make it grow!

Sincerely and musically yours,

Josh Aerie, Artistic Director and Conductor
Mesabi Community Orchestra
618 North 19th Avenue East
Duluth, Minnesota 55812
(218) 724-1192 (home)
(703) 582-2805 (cell)
joshaerie@hotmail.com