Thank you to everyone who came out to enjoy the Celtic Concerts last week. We had a great audience both nights, and I enjoyed meeting many of you. Those of you who came to the Tuesday show will be interested to know that I managed to keep my shoes on for the entire concert on Wednesday night, but it wasn’t easy. I think hitting my 40th birthday has done something strange to my feet. They are no longer cooperating with my desire to wear beautiful heels! But the music was fun, and the band really enjoyed presenting these concerts for the community.
Thanks again to “Kindred Spirits” for their performance, and also to David Spurlock, our guest performer on bagpipes. And thank you once again to all the musicians and volunteers who contribute their time and effort to make these concerts happen. It couldn’t be done without all of you. As usual, it was my pleasure to have the opportunity to make music with the MMB.
Keep an eye on our calendar page (http://melbournemunicipalband.org/category/events/) for upcoming events.
Audio of Terri Wright’s interview with Staci Cleveland
I enjoyed meeting Terri Wright, General Manager of WFIT, this week. We recorded an interview concerning the Celtic Concerts for their “Coastal Connections” segment which will air on Friday, February 12 at 8:30 a.m. and at 5:30 p.m. You can click on the link above to hear the interview any time you like. If you want to listen to WFIT live or just check out their website, go to www.wfit.org.
To view the flyer, click on the link below.
Celtic Concert Flyer
Good news…Pipe Major of the City of Melbourne, David Spurlock, will be on hand at the Melbourne Municipal Band’s performance of “A Celtic Concert” on February 16 & 17. He will set the Celtic mood for us and get our concert started with a performance on his bagpipes.
Don’t forget to arrive by 6:45 p.m. to hear a performance by a local Celtic band, ”Kindred Spirits.” This event is free and no tickets are required. See you there!
Hello! Welcome to the first conductor’s blog from the Melbourne Municipal Band. My name is Staci Cleveland, and I am the Associate Conductor of the MMB. The concert band is rehearsing for our Celtic Concerts which are coming up on February 16 & 17 at the Melbourne Auditorium. This is an exciting program which I know our audiences will really enjoy. Just to give you an idea of what you are going to hear, we’ll have a suite of music from Riverdance, Four Scottish Dances by Malcolm Arnold, some standard favorites like The Irish Washerwoman, Grainger’s Irish Tune from County Derry and a beautiful trombone feature arranged by one of our own members, Jim McCreary, called Loch Lamond. Our warm up entertainment will be a short concert from a local Celtic band called “Kindred Spirits.” They’ll kick off their performance at 6:45, and the main event will start at 7:30. Even the intermission of this show will be entertaining, as we have the (almost world famous) Sunshine Brass Quintet scheduled to play for you.
This concert is especially exciting to me because I will also be auditioning for the principal conductor’s position with the MMB. Our concerts over the next several months will feature guest conductors, all of whom will be vying for the position. The MMB’s Board of Trustees (along with the band) will make their decision about who will be the new conductor later this year. So come to the concerts this season and support the band as they interview and audition candidates.
I hope to see you in February!
