A Message from the Maestro
February 11th Valentine’s Concert – Don’t Miss this One!
Our February 11, 2018 concert celebrates famous couples from the symphonic and operatic world—couples who have been synonymous with the beauty and tragedy of those most human of emotions—love and desire.
It promises to be among the most exciting, romantic and passionate concerts in the over thirty-year history of your LA Winds! I know that there are many demands on our time, and our social calendars are oftentimes overbooked. Family, friends, leisure and work responsibilities often necessitate choices on how we spend our valuable free time. Let me urge you, however, to clear your calendars so you don’t miss our February 11 concert.
We invite you and your loved ones to begin your Valentine’s week with an entertaining, inspiring and unique symphonic wind concert celebrating Romeo and Juliet, Porgy and Bess, Samson and Delilah and Tristan and Isolde. Christina Roszhart of Center Stage Opera – a remarkable young award-winning dramatic soprano — will be our featured soloist in Tristan and Isolde. Courtney Marsh – a gifted, supremely talented rising star mezzo– will sing selections from Porgy and Bess. Along with the virtuoso instrumentalists of the LA Winds, you’ll share in an unforgettable afternoon of high-powered music making.
The acoustically inviting and beautiful Performing Arts Education Center of Calabasas High School (22855 Mulholland Hwy, Calabasas CA 91302) will once again serve as our venue. As usual, we will begin at 2:30 pm. All who attend will receive a Valentine’s gift package from your LA Winds—a small gesture of thanks to you from your LA Winds. And members of the Maestro’s Circle are also invited to a post-concert dinner and reception at the Marmalade Café in Calabasas.
As many of you may know, each of these works occupies a truly special place among the masterworks of Western culture. Tristan and Isolde marked a giant leap forward in terms of its daring harmonic resources and cataclysmic climaxes. Written in the same year (1859) as Darwin’s Origin of Species and Marx’s Das Kapital, it marked a turning point in the history of Western art, just as the other works were equally transformative in the fields of science and economics. Gershwin’s controversial Porgy and Bess, written in 1936, was likewise a musical game changer in that it successfully combined elements of “classless” jazz and “classical” music into an artform long associated only with upper-class snobbery. And Tchaikovsky’s melodies in Romeo and Juliet (1860), once dismissed by the musical intelligentsia as insubstantial “musical cotton candy”, are now staples in the symphonic diet. Finally, the exoticism of the Saint Saens Bacchanale—certainly not as shocking as it may have been when it premiered in 1877—retains its seductive magnetism as Delilah celebrates here short-lived victory over her newly-shorn rival, her deceived and conflicted lover, Samson.
Although hundreds of you already have tickets to this spectacular event, additional tickets are available through our LA Winds ticket manager Melinda Benane at [email protected]. Advance sales tickets are available at $20. Tickets at the door, $25.
See you on the 11th! Don’t miss it! Amor Vincit Omnia
Sincerely,
Stephen Piazza, Director, Los Angeles Symphonic Winds
SPOTLIGHT
We hope you can join us at 6 pm this Sunday, September 24th at LACMA “Sundays Live” concert. Come see us in the beautiful Bing Theatre – it’s free! Visit the 
As the nearly 500 of you who attended our Mother’s Day concert know, our celebration of women who changed the course of history was a wonderful tribute to women of the past—and to those of you women of today who made our “Season of Independence” so successful. The complimentary roses and beautifully packaged candy were simply our way of saying “thank you”. In order to give equal time to our men subscribers and friends, we’ll have a special gift package for them at our June 18 Father’s Day concert. And the music promises to be no less exciting.
This Sunday’s “Extraordinary Women” concert promises to take you on one of the most fascinating journeys of your LA Winds season. From the 15th century heroine Joan of Arc to the present-day royalty of Queen Elizabeth, the Winds will share with you the power, majesty and beauty of some of history’s most influential women.
I’ve been a band member since 1994. After speaking with bandmate Bob Crosby after a rehearsal of another group we played in, he suggested that I call Steve Piazza. I did so, telling him about my clarinet background. He replied with: “We can always use good ones.” Within 5 minutes of my first rehearsal, I knew I was finally in the right place. Playing with the LA Winds has led to years of enrichment, playing before appreciative home audiences and going on many great ventures, including 5 European trips! My favorite moment was on our first European trip in 2000 where we played a joint concert with the local band in the hill town of Prossedi, Italy.
Now retired, Marcy, a paralegal and Mike, a scientist, were raised in the San Fernando Valley. We subscribed when our high school daughter, Dena, joined the nurturing Wind’s clarinet section. She is now completing a DMA degree in clarinet performance and literature. When her brother, Daniel, returned from college, she encouraged him to join the trombone section.
Thanks to Nancy Lew and her husband, Lee, for their generous support of the LA Winds and for hosting the LA Winds Woodwind Quintet (Juan Rivera, Steve Piazza, Jessica Wilkins, Charles Fernandez & Joy Armstrong) and Saxophone Quartet (Caryn Rassmusen, Ed Etayo, Tom Stipulkosky & Dave Weston) at their lovely home. The cake was amazing (see inset above) and the ribs were unbelievable!
