Westchester Symphonic Winds Winter Concert on Feb 9

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

January 3, 2025

MEDIA CONTACT: 

Curt Ebersole – Conductor/Music Director, Westchester Symphonic Winds

Phone: (914) 281-1976 · E-Mail: [email protected]

Website: www.westchestersymphonicwinds.org

 

Westchester Symphonic Winds Continues 37th Season with “Adventures”

TARRYTOWN, NY – Westchester Symphonic Winds (WSW) continues its progressive season of music for wind band with “Adventures,” the second performance of its 37th season on Sunday, February 9, 2025 at 2:00 pm at the Tarrytown Music Hall. The concert will take the audience on the adventures of a lifetime, beginning with Romantic opera and ending with music of the American bayou.

Guest artists for the Adventures concert include adventurers from West Point, Long Island, and Brooklyn. Taking the stage as the featured soloist is Carami Hilaire, who hails from Brooklyn and is just as comfortable singing operatic leads and sultry jazz. Our guest conductor is Lt. Col. Daniel Toven, commander of the West Point Band; he brings a wealth of experience to this exciting program. Apprentice conductor Barton Green, a member of the WSW clarinet section and the band’s principal arranger, now takes his turn on the podium. 

Noting the significance of the concert program theme, Maestro Ebersole shared, “For musicians, every performance is an adventure. This program emphasizes the diversity and flexibility a wind ensemble can exhibit with every type of repertoire. From blues jazz (Blue Shades, by Frank Ticheli) to a soulful spiritual (Deep River, by Benjamin Horne), to musical theater (Damn Yankees and Candide), this concert is for everyone!”

Program includes:

GLINKA – Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla

HORNE – Deep River

TAYLOR – And the Joy We Share, Lt. Col. Daniel Toven, guest conductor

ALDRIDGE – On Parade

TICHELI – Blue Shades

CHANCE – Variations on a Korean Folk Song, Barton Green, apprentice conductor

ADLER/BIZET, arr. Green – Whatever Lola Wants/Habanera, Carami Hilaire, soprano

BERNSTEIN, arr. Green – Glitter and Be Gay, Carami Hilaire, soprano

KARRICK – Bayou Breakdown

To Purchase Tickets: Tickets for this performance are priced at $30 for adults, $20 for students and seniors, and free of charge for children under 10. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Tarrytown Music Hall box office, by calling 877-840-0457, or online at https://tickets.tarrytownmusichall.org/eventperformances.asp?evt=2984

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About the Guest Artists:

Carami Hilaire, a soulful soprano from Brooklyn, New York, is a graduate of the Professional Studies program at Mannes and a recipient of awards from the Wagner Society of New York and the Premiere Opera competition. She has performed internationally with the Internationale Opernwerkstatt in Switzerland and performed the role of Tosca with both Regina Opera and New Jersey Verismo Opera to rave reviews as well as the roles of Aida in Aida and Musetta in La Boheme. Her recent notable performances include singing Alice in Alice in the Pandemic (White Snake Opera Projects, 2020), the soprano solo in Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem (Pioneer Valley Symphony, 2022), Circe in Survivors Odyssey (Opera America, 2022), and Tiamat in Cosmic Cowboy (White Snake Projects, 2022), earning critical acclaim for her dramatic and powerful delivery. In 2023, she portrayed Mara the Demon Queen (White Snake Projects) and reprised her role as Aida (Utah Festival Opera). Critics have praised her vocal richness and emotional expressiveness. Keola Kinghorn, Front Row Reviewers, shared, “Her low notes are rich and her high notes soar…Hilaire is especially effective at expressing heartache.” She is set to perform My Wings Burned Off at the Opera America conference in June 2025 in collaboration with Synchrony.

Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Toven serves as the Commander of the West Point Band. Prior to this assignment, Lt. Col. Toven served as the Deputy Commander and Associate Bandmaster of The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” and Director of The U.S. Army Chorus, and Deputy Commandant at the U.S. Army School of Music in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Other previous assignments include Deputy Commandant at the U.S. Army School of Music in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Commander of The Army Ground Forces Band (Fort Bragg, North Carolina), Army Forces Command Staff Bands Officer, Director of the U.S. Army Europe Soldiers’ Chorus (Heidelberg, Germany), and Director of the U.S. Army Soldiers’ Chorus (Fort Meade, Maryland).

As a trombonist, he has recorded with the Keystone Winds, and performed with the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra and the St. Vincent Camerata Brass. As a vocalist, he has sung with numerous professional ensembles in the Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., areas, including the Washington National Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, and can be heard on the Cantaloupe Music recording of Steve Reich’s “The Desert Music.” A native of Union City, Pennsylvania, he holds a Bachelor of Science in Music Education and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Trombone Performance from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Music in Conducting from the Eastman School of Music, and a Master of Military Art and Science from the Command and General Staff College. His military awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

Barton Green is a classically trained vocalist and arranger with a BM in Voice Performance from the University of Washington and an MM in Voice from the Yale School of Music. He has performed with leading opera companies in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, and Asia including New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, Vancouver Opera, Banff Centre, Staatsoper Giessen, Opera de Bogota, International Macau Music Festival, and Tokyo Radio. His favorite vocal roles include Tamino in The Magic Flute, Rodolfo in La Boheme, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Ruggero in La Rondine, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Nemorino in The Elixir of Love, Cassio in Otello, Fenton in Falstaff, Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Henrik in A Little Night Music, Enoch Snow in Carousel, and the title roles in The Tales of Hoffmann, Albert Herring, and Romeo et Juliette.  He has soloed with the National Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, New Mexico Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, Delaware Symphony, and Bochum Symphony. Born in New Orleans and raised across the U.S., Barton discovered a passion for orchestration and musical theatre, creating arrangements for works by Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim, and Lerner and Loewe. His arrangements have been performed by the Northwinds Symphonic Band (Long Island), the Nassau Pops Symphony Orchestra, the West Point Band, and the Westchester Symphonic Winds, where he has played clarinet for over a decade. He is grateful for the mentorship of Helen Bauer (Northwinds) and Curt Ebersole and WSW for their continued generosity, support, talent, and enthusiasm.

About the Conductor:

Curt Ebersole has served as the Conductor/Music Director (John P. Paynter Memorial Chair) of the Westchester Symphonic Winds since 2008, fostering its exponential growth over the past seventeen years, culminating in The American Prize for 2018-2019. He retired from Northern Valley Regional High School (Old Tappan, New Jersey) in 2013 after serving as Director of Instrumental Music for 31 years, and now teaches at The Masters School, in Dobbs Ferry, New York. He earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree and a Master of Music in Conducting degree from Northwestern University, where he studied conducting with John P. Paynter and clarinet with Larry Combs, and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Clarinet Performance from SUNY-Purchase, studying with Ben Armato. He has served as guest conductor/clinician for dozens of county, regional, and all-state student ensembles, as well as adult community ensembles across the nation, including performances at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and Symphony Space, and in Las Vegas, Tacoma, South Korea and Australia. His achievements include multiple teaching awards, ensemble performances as a clarinetist and basset hornist, and speaking/clinic engagements with the Midwest Clinic, TEDxOneonta, and numerous state music education conventions and conducting symposia. 

About the Westchester Symphonic Winds:

The Westchester Symphonic Winds (WSW) is a 60-piece adult community-based wind and percussion ensemble, originally known as the Hudson Valley Wind Symphony. This year we celebrate our 37th season as the area’s premiere community band. We exist to promote music in our area, instill pride in our nation and heritage, provide opportunities for personal expression and growth within our membership, and nurture the love of music by offering an exceptional musical experience for people of all ages. WSW performed at the Association of Concert Bands National Conventions in 2012 and 2019, the New York State Band Directors Association in 2017, and the Caramoor Festival annually since 2014. WSW made its Lincoln Center debut in 2010, and its Carnegie Hall debut in 2023. WSW was the winner of The American Prize for 2018-2019. The organization is an Ensemble-in-Residence at the historic Tarrytown Music Hall in Tarrytown, New York, and rehearses there on Monday evenings, September through June.

Membership in the Westchester Symphonic Winds is available to all qualified musicians. Membership information can be obtained by contacting us via email at [email protected] or by U.S. mail (Westchester Symphonic Winds, Box 485, 333 Mamaroneck Avenue, White Plains, NY 10605). You can also visit us online at: www.westchestersymphonicwinds.org and through any of our social media platforms.

Westchester Symphonic Winds, Inc. is a Section 501(c)(3) Not-for-Profit organization. Corporate and personal contributions, financial assistance, and volunteers are essential and always welcomed! 

For additional concert and ticket information, advertising, donations, and updates, visit us at: www.westchestersymphonicwinds.org.