SVCB concerts get a head start on Valentine's Day

2/6/2019

The Schoharie Valley Concert Band (SVCB) has scheduled two Valentine Pops Concert performances.
The first will be on Friday, February 8 at 7:30pm in the Schoharie High School Auditorium with the repeat concert set for Sunday, February 10 at 3pm in the Cobleskill-Richmondville High School Auditorium.
Both performances are open to the public with no admission charged for students.
On Conductor Martin Zavadil’s Valentine Pops Concerts, Rebecca Schmid will be the featured piano soloist on “Celebre Tanantelle” by Gottschalk.
Ms. Schmid was home-schooled in Schoharie County and studied with blind concert pianist Stephanie Pieck as a teenager.
She graduated with a music performance major from Schenectady County Community College (SCCC) at the age of 17, and currently teaches and tutors at SCCC. She continues to study piano and cello and hopes to open a private music school.
On the Sunday performance only, Robin Seletsky will be the featured clarinet soloist on “Klezmer Concerto.”
Klezmer music originated in Eastern European villages and ghettos, where itinerant Jewish troubadours, known as ‘klezmorim,’ performed their distinctive Yiddish style music at weddings, other celebrations, and with gypsy groups.
Ms. Seletsky, who graduated from the New England Conservatory, recently retired after being the principal clarinetist for the past 30 years with the Glimmerglass Opera and Binghamton Philharmonic.
She continues to teach clarinet at Hartwick College, SUNY Oneonta, and SUNY Broome and has her own ensemble called Big Galute which performs klezmer music.
Broadway will be on display in Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” arranged by James Barnes and in “Suite from Hamilton” by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
On the Friday performance only, the SVCB will perform “Dixieland Jam!,” a medley of “Basin Street Blues,” Maple Leaf Rag,” and “When the Saints Come Marching In” arranged by Bob Lowden.
“An Ellington Festival” is Sammy Nestico’s wonderful arrangement of “Satin Doll,” Chelsea Bridge,” and “Take the “A” Train.”
“Kinetic Dances” is a high energy, syncopated piece composed by Randall Standridge.
An Irving Berlin favorite, “There’s No Business, Like Show Business,” will round out the program.
The Schoharie Valley Concert Band is open to all area residents including high school and college students.
Rehearsals for the band’s Spring Concert series resume on February 28 from 7-9:30pm.
Rehearsals normally are held on Thursdays at Cobleskill-Richmondville HS.
For information on how to join the band, contact Conductor Martin Zavadil at zavamart@aol.com or Ed Truax at (518)925-0745.