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News + Notes February 23, 2010
Greetings!! And Happy Belated New Year! Things have been taking off this winter...Palisades Virtuosi has just presented yet another world premiere - this one of a piece by Ting Ho, faculty of Montclair State University. His Making Peace was written for soprano Lorraine Ernest and the Palisades Virtuosi. This work marks our 40th premiere of a new work (including those written as gifts and transcriptions) in just 7 short years. We are pretty proud of our track record and look forward to many more new works in extant because of our commissioning program!
Here I am at a recent landmark celebration (ARRGH!), with PV at Montclair State last week, and with Paul Moravec (November 2009 - another PV premiere!)
October's celebration Recent PV concert with composers Ting Ho & Joseph Turrin with Paul Moravec This spring PV will have several performances - check out the schedule page and come and see me in concert!!
Have a wonderful spring!
Margaret
August 20, 2009
Well - I've had quite a summer! My trio Palisades Virtuosi has embarked upon its next recording project "New American Masters - Volumes 3 & 4" - (12 commissioned works!) to be released hopefully sometime in the Spring. At this point we are roughly a third of the way through the recording process.I made my annual trek to Ohio and had a great time with my friends and colleagues there. Highlights included "Scheherazade", "Green Eggs & Ham" (a ballet/operetta based on the Dr. Seuss tale) and a very fun wind quintet concert!
Then on to Vermont for a few (far too few!) days of family fun at our annual Reunion by the Lake.
Once home in New Jersey it was back into the studio and on to the National Flute Association Convention in NYC, where I was fortunate enough to have two performances. One with Sheryl Henze as part of the first ever - TELEMANNathon (6 hours of ALL of Telemann's flute duets played by 11 pairs of flutists!) and also with my trio on a program of "Remembrance & Healing". We performed one of our commissioned works, "Wind-Space" (a 9-11 commemorative) by Brian Schober.
PV in the studio with producer, John Ostendorf the "Fab Five" - LFO WW Qn'tet with Sheryl Henze & John Solum at NFA convention This just in from the Lancaster Festival Office!!
Here I am with "The Temptations" and our wonderful festival pianist Judy StillmanNext up - our Palisades Virtuosi season begins in September with a premiere of a work by a young composer whose been turning heads lately - Ryan Francis. And in November a new work by Pulitzer-Prize winning composer, Paul Moravec. Keep checking back here and I'll be posting more information soon!!
Enjoy the end of summer - hope to see you at a concert soon!!
Margaret
June 18, 2009
Yikes - I just looked my website and realized that it’s been 4 months since I’ve put an update in! This spring has been so busy! My harpist, Emily Mitchell, flew in from Texas in February and Legacy Duo performed a full length recital in Chappaqua on Feb. 22. Our program included works by Lowell Liebermann, CPE Bach, LaSala and Irish folk tunes.
The following evening we performed works by Gabriel Pierne, Sam Davis, Robert Mucyzinski and Richard Faith, with Ed Matthew - clarinet, Carlene Stober - Cello and Kurt Coble - violin on a recital in NY at Trinity Lutheran Church.
with Emily
(l-r) Carlene Stober, me, Emily, Ed Matthew, Kurt CobleOn March 15 the program that Legacy Duo taped for Bob Sherman’s program “Woody’s Children” on WDUV was broadcast. It was exciting to be on the air performing the Irish tunes & actually making my singing debut on the air!
Also in March I had yet another Palisades Virtuosi concert - “Women In Music” in celebration of Women’s History Month. We performed at Bergen Community College in a wonderful hall - it was such a delight to perform there! The program included works by Jennifer Higdon, Elizabeth Raum, Cecile Chaminade, Amy Beach, Germaine Tailleferre & Madeleine Dring. In addition we performed the world premiere of “Thumbnail Moon” by Pulitzer Prize winner, Melinda Wagner who was on hand to meet audience members and talk about her beautiful new little lullaby.
Here I am with Melinda Wagner, composerIn April we reprised this program for the Bronxville Women’s Club and enjoyed a lovely spring day in their historic space. It is truly a beautiful building!
Don, Me, Series Director Joyce Balint, Ron Levy 
Bronx Women's Club hall In May, Emily returned for an appearance with the Chappaqua Orchestra. By coincidence their regular flutist was unable to make this particular performance and their director asked me to step in for the concert. Emily was featured on the Ravel Introduction & Allegro and it was such fun to perform chamber music on an orchestra concert! Also on the program were the Siegfried “Idyll” and Dvorak “New World” Symphony.
The rest of May was spent preparing for our most recent concert, held May 31 at our usual location, the USR in Ridgewood. “Back to the Movies - Part II” brought in a very nice crowd - we had a very nice attendance for our Pre-Concert Talk!! Our program of serious chamber works by film composers included works by John Williams, Paul Chihara, Alex Shapiro, Leonard Bernstein, Miklos Rozsa, Robert Russell Bennett and featured the world premiere of “Statements” by Joseph Turrin.
PV with composer Joseph TurrinWe performed next at the Trenton War Memorial on a benefit for WWFM on Sunday June 7 which will be re-broadcast next weekend! Check out www.wwfm.org. for details.
The summer ahead includes my usual trip to the Lancaster Festival - this year we will be doing “Sheherazade” - that will be fun. Also the Temptations are set to headline one of our pops concerts. You can visit www.lanfest.org for more information.
In August I will be performing at the National Flute Association convention in NYC with Sheryl Henze on the “Telemannathon” - 6 hours of Telemann Flute duets with 12 pairs of flutists!! Also Palisades Virtuosi will be performing Brian Schober’s “Wind-Space” (a 9-11 commemorative) on a “Remembrance & Healing” concert at the convention.
Onward and upward! I hope you all enjoy the rest of Spring & your Summer!!
All the best,
Margaret
January 31, 2009Dear Friends - Happy New Year!
It's a brand new year and change is underway. I am filled with hope and optimism as we step into a new era of government. I pray each day that all Americans will come together under this new president and create a stronger, more vital country for us and for our children. Amen!
In addition to a private event for Palisades Virtuosi, I have two public perfomances coming up this month. On February 22 Legacy Duo will perform at the Chappaqua library. I think this is our third concert on their series - an anuual event now! We will be performing works by CPE Bach, Lowell Liebermann and Angel La Sala. In addition we will perform celtic tunes specially arranged by us and using both instruments and voice. (Visit the schedule page for more information.)
(here is Emily with her Celtic Harp)The following evening, February 23rd we will join with our friends Ed Matthew, clarinet, Kurt Coble, violin and Carlene Stober, cello to perform an evening of chamber music at Trinity Lutheran Church on 65th St. and Central Park West. Click here for more information.
Next month Palisades Virtuosi will make its debut on the "Sunday Sounds" concert series at Bergen Community College. On Sunday March 29 we will be premiering a work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, Melinda Wagner on a program of works by women composers in honor of Women's History month. (We have one further concert on our series this spring - May 30 we will feature serious chamber works by film composers and a world premiere of a piece by Joseph Turrin!)
Recent News: Esteemed flutist and colleague, John Solum has put together an impressive team of performers for an unprecedented 6 hour concert of Telemann duos at the upcoming National Flute Association convention in NYC this August. I am honored to be a part of this team and am looking forward to performing in the first ever TELEMANN-athon. Great Work John!
Also selected for a performance at the convention is my trio, Palisades Virtuosi. We will be performing "Wind-Space" (a 9-11 commemorative) by NY composer Brian Schober, on a memorial program in honor of 9-11 victims. This work was commissioned by PV in 2007 and received its NY premiere last season on the New York Flute Club concert series.
On a personal note, I have finally joined Facebook so if you're on there too, look me up and say hello! I'm looking forward to getting out of this deep-freeze and into spring - at least the days are getting longer now!
til next time...
Margaret
News Archives
September 13, 2008
Greetings and Happy Fall!
It was a busy summer for me. I spent two weeks at the Lancaster Festival where we recorded music of William Bolcom with soloist Richard Stolzman. This first CD to be released by the Lancaster Festival Orchestra included Bolcom's Ragomania Overture, Commedia and his Clarinet Concerto. It will be distributed internationally by Key Classics of Canada and will probably in out the Spring of next year. Big news for our little orchestra!
with composer, William Bolcom with Richard Stolzman I was barely home for 3 days before I headed up to Stratford Ontario for concerts with Palisades Virtuosi & Bob McGrath at the Stratford Summer Music Festival. We performed two children's concerts that included some of our commissioned works and some of the familiar favorites from the Sesame Street show. We had great food and even saw Hamlet at the Shakespeare Festival. It was an amazingly well done production!
PV with Bob and the "little duckies" PV with festival director John Miller and our techie, Rick I was home again for barely 6 days and off to Vermont for family holiday and reunion at the lake in Vermont.
Summer was over before I knew it! The kids are back in school now and I'm just trying to catch up!
Our opening concert for Palisades Virtuosi is on September 27 in Ridgewood (see our site for more info) and we're off and running! Plans for this season include 4 Palisades Virtuosi series concerts including one at the Bergen Community College, a Legacy Duo concert and a chamber music concert with "Legacy Duo and Friends" in February. Check the schedule page for more information on these concerts. Have a great fall and I'll hope to see you at one of my concerts soon!!
all the best,
Margaret
February 18, 2008Greetings All and Good Wishes for this new year - 2008!!
I've been swamped with the holidays, a big fund raiser concert for PV and finally finishing our master for New American Masters - Volume 2. It is finally into Albany Records for production and I can turn my attention to all the things that I've gotten behind on over the last three months!
In November I performed on the New York Flute Club concert series with my trio, Palisades Virtuosi and it went really well - our New American Masters, works by Aaron Grad, Carlos Franzetti, Brian Schober, Robert Manno and John Lampkin, were very well received. 3 of our composers were there at the concert and that made it very special to us!
with longtime coach, teacher & friend - Trudy Kane onstage at the NYFC concert PV's 2nd concert of our season series featured ensembles from the Art of Motion dance studio in Ridgewood, NJ performing choreographed works to our live performances. A first for us, it was a big hit with our patrons and was a lot of fun for us too! We also premiered a new piece by Randall Faust - "Three American Portraits". We have really created quite a body of repertoire for our instrumentation now, this latest features a travelling toccata, a folksong middle movement and a big marching finale and our audiences loved it.
Here I am with my colleagues, Ron & Don, and composer Randall FaustComing up are another PV concert in March with a world premiere by Gwyneth Walker and another Legacy Duo (flute & harp) recital in April. I am also going to be singing(!) on a concert in April. Last year on April Fool's Day I played flute in a comedic concert with Tenor, Anthony Laciura and Glass Armonica/Theremin player, Dennis James. I also sang the Rossini "Cat Duet" with soprano, Julie Schmidt. It was a performance so wacky and so totally fun that we were asked to repeat it this year on April 27. Check out the schedule page for all the details!
Please be sure to come up and say hello if you make it to one of my performances this spring! I'll check back in soon and keep you posted! Have a great St. Patrick's day and enjoy your Easter/Passover holidays!
all the best,
Margaret
November 2, 2007
The November 2007 issue of the New York Flute Club Newsletter features an interview with me in conjunction with the Palisades Virtuosi concert on November 18th:
MARGARET SWINCHOSKI AND THE PALISADES VIRTUOSI - Interview by Katherine Fink"I have known Margaret Swinchoski for many years and have always been impressed by her energy and enthusiasm for performing. As a resident of Rockland County, home to long stretches of the Hudson River Palisades, I have been riveted by the progress of the Palisades Virtuosi, an ensemble that started with one concert and is now a powerhouse conduit for new repertoire. It is inspiring to see a local group with a focus on living composers grow and flourish in this region and bring so much music into the lives of their audiences..." more...
You may view and sign my guestbook here!
October 17, 2007Dear Friends -
I can't believe it's been nearly two months since I last checked in here. First off - I have a new guestbook! I'd love to hear from you if you'd like to drop me a line!
Since August, I've been incredibly busy with editing our latest Palisades Virtuosi CD - New American Masters - Volume 2, and preparing for our first Palisades Virtuosi concert of the season on October 6th. Our premiere for this concert was "Wind-Space", a 9-11 commemorative piece by composer Brian Schober. Written for Alto Flute, Bass Clarinet & Piano, it is a very effective and haunting piece with extended solo passages for the Alto Flute.
Here I am with composer, Brian SchoberWe will be performing this piece again on our November 18th concert for the New York Flute Club. Also on that program will be 4 more of our commissioned works - "Three Scenes From the Mountains" by Robert Manno, "Lepidopterology" by Aaron Grad, "George Washington Slept Here!" by John Lampkin and "Four Movements for Virtuosi" by Grammy-Award winning composer, Carlos Franzetti. These works (with the exception of the Manno, which received its NY premiere in 2005) will be receiving their New York premiere on this program. But before I ever get to that concert there are two more PV concerts - one for the Rossmoor Music Association in Monroe Township, NJ and another in Morristown at the Abendmusik program at the United Church. For both of these concerts we will perform our "South (&North!) of the Border" program with works by Villa-Lobos, Ginastera, Franzetti among others. (Please see the schedule page for more information on these concerts.)
In late September I made a trip back to my hometown, Johnson, VT, to attend my 25th College Reunion and receive an Outstanding Alumni Award from my alma mater. It was extremely gratifying to be recognized by the college and it was wonderful to be back on the campus where I spent so many hours studying, practicing and performing.
Here I am with JSC President Barbara Murphy
Dibden Center for the Arts - what a view!
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Here is "Legacy Duo" performing last year at the Chappaqua Chamber SeriesI also have two recitals with harpist Emily Mitchell on October 28th & November 4th. We'll be doing a program called "The Devil's Trill", appropriately titled for the season! In addition to the title work, a sonata for violin by Tartini that we have transcribed for flute & harp, this program will feature "Dance of the White Lotus under the Silver Moon" by Stella Sung, John Corigliano's "Voyage", the Sonata for Flute & Harp by Adrian Shaposhnikov and a World Premiere of "Tarot" by Barry Hartglass.
(Please see schedule page for more information on these concerts.)
In the meantime I'm trying to finish the CD editing and keep pace with my 6 year old twins! OY!
I hope to see you soon at one of these concerts - please be sure to sign my guestbook before you leave!
I'll check back in soon!
all the best -
Margaret
Previous Newsletter
August 27, 2007Well, here it is - my new website! First I would like to thank Gabrielle Mappone at TurtleBug Graphics for all the work she did to create my original site. Since I now run the Palisades Virtuosi site I decided to recreate and manage my own site so that I can keep in better touch with schedule changes and happenings in my world!
So - I am back from my travels this summer. The month of June found me again at Wolf Trap, playing for the NY Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company as they regaled Washington area audiences with a fun-filled production of "The Mikado". We always have a great time there - and - believe it or not - really great Thai food in a tiny little strip mall near Tysons' Corner!!
Our PV season finale concert was on June 9 (see pictures here) and featured a commissioned work by Jazz Legend, Dick Hyman. Mr Hyman came to the cabaret-style concert and performed an impromptu set of variations on "I Got Rhythm" for our audience! That was great fun!
I spent two weeks in Ohio again at the annual Lancaster Festival. This festival is modeled on the idea of the Spoleto festival with all disciplines of art & music represented - classical, pops, and chamber music along with dance, visual art, choral, jazz, blues, folk and country performances are juxtaposed throughout the 10-day event. The centerpiece of the festival is its orchestra, celebrating its 20th year this year, made up of musicians from all over the country, and even some from other countries. We enjoy wonderful concert experiences together and as we are hosted by the wonderful folks in this town, we look forward to returning each year to our 2nd home.
David Hunsicker, trumpet
Elizabeth Robertson, oboe & Michael Davis, violinThis year I was fortunate enough to have several great performing opportunities. As principal flutist with the festival I was featured with my colleagues, David Hunsicker - trumpet, Elizabeth Robertson - oboe and Michael Davis - violin playing Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 on the opening concert, on two different chamber concerts (Debussy - Sonata for Flute, Harp, Viola and Francaix - Woodwind Quartet) and was very happy to do my favorite Beethoven Symphony, No. 6, on the Chamber Orchestra Concert. Also in the mix were two Pops concerts that included Rimskii-Korsakov - "Cappricio Espagnol", Copland - Rodeo Suite, Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 2 with John Kimura Parker (Wow - isn't he something??) and several other guest artists! As always, it was great fun!
Debussy - Sonata with Heather Garner, viola
and Anastasia Jellison, harp
Francaix Quartet - with Elizabeth Robertson - oboe,
Linda Morton-Fisher - bassoon and Les Nicholas - clarinetBack home from the festival, I joined the Hudson Valley Philharmonic for Prokofiev - 5th Symphony in the first week of August and then headed off to Vermont for a much-needed respite and family reunion at my brother's lake-side cabin in South Hero. That was beautiful!
The lake at sunset in South Hero, Vt.Back to New Jersey where PV laid down the final tracks of what will be New American Masters - Volume Two - due to release on February 1, 2008.
Now I am regrouping for another season with Palisades Virtuosi, Legacy Duo and all the various other ensembles with which I play.
I hope you all enjoy the remainder of the summer - check back in here in a few weeks for more news - look at my schedule page and try to catch one of my concerts this season! I'll look forward to meeting you if you come!
All the best,
Margaret©2010 Margaret Swinchoski - entire site. All rights reserved.
