OK, so bash might be too strong a word, but we are doing a really cool concert with tons of music by Bach, much of it featuring very big trumpet parts. Plus, I get to stand up front and center for a solo on Cantata 51, with my friend and colleage, soprano Karen Roberts. If you like watching trumpet players sweat it out in the hot seat with lots of high, exposed playing, this is the concert for you!

Our February subscription concert with the Flint Symphony will include the famous Symphonie Fantastique, by Hector Berlioz, among other pieces. A special trumpet note: We’re including the cornet solo in the second movement of the symphony, and I’ll be playing it (and most likely the rest of the piece) on my recently acquired circa 1899 Boston cornet. This instrument produces a really unique sound and is exactly the kind of instrument that would have been in use at the time the piece was written.

Or, to translate the above, West Side Story at Chippewa Valley High School. Every once in a while I get called to sit in with the high school musicians in the pit for a high school musical. This time, it’s a performance of West Side Story at Chippeway Valley High School, in Clinton Township, MI (which coincidentally is the town I lived in when I attended High School, far too many years ago).

The Birmingham First Chamber Choir and Orchestra offer this unique collection of psalm settings, including the spirited Dixit Dominus by Handel, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and works by Grieg and Mozart. Tom Trenney, Director. Carole Halmekangas, Organist, Chamber Orchestra. At Ward Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Northville, MI. This is a repeat of our performance titled “Psenturies of Psalms” which was presented Friday night at First Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, MI.

For our first concert of 2009, the Flint Symphony Orchestra will be performing Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. As a trumpeter, performing any Mahler symphony is always a treat, and I’ve been fortunate to perform nearly all of his symphonic works during my time with the FSO.The fifth holds a special place as one of the most important orchestral trumpet parts in the repertoire. I’ve wanted to perform it since the very early days of my musical career, so I’m very excited about this performance.

The Birmingham-First Chamber Choir and Orchestra offer this unique collection of psalm settings from across the ages, including the spirited Dixit Dominus by George Frideric Handel and other works by Edvard Grieg, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Leonard Bernstein. More information is available here.

The FSO Brass will be making our annual appearance at the Fenton Family Julib’EVE performing arts festival. We’ll be in the sanctuary of Fenton United Methodist Church at 7:45 and 9:00. More information can be found here.

The first half of our Holiday Pops concert, broadcast live on December 20, 2008, will be re-broadcast across Michigan on Public Television Stations. Here’s the schedule: Dec. 22 - 9:00 pm WNMU 13 (Marquette) Dec. 23 - 8:00 pm QTV 19 (Saginaw) Dec. 24 - 9:00 pm WFUM 28 (Flint) Dec. 24 - 4:00 pm WTVS 56 (Detroit) Dec. 25 - 12:00 pm WGVU 35 (Grand Rapids) Dec. 25 - 12:00 pm WKAR 23 (World) Dec.

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“428” caption=“Image source: www.thefim.com Flint Institute of Music”][/caption] Our annual Holiday Pops concert. Celebrate the season by sharing this warm and joyful musical event with your family. Enjoy your favorite carols like Joy to the World, White Christmas and holiday favorites including Handel’s Messiah. Get your tickets today! For ticket information, call The Whiting Ticket Center at 810.237.7333 or 888.8CENTER or click this link. The first half of the concert will be broadcast live on WJRT TV-12 in Flint.

The New Century Chorale will present their 15th annual Yuletide Festival. I’ll be performing with a brass quintet assembled just for the occasion. Both concerts will take place at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Grand Blanc, MI. More information is available here.

[caption id=“attachment_222” align=“aligncenter” width=“382” caption=“Detroit Symphony Brass and Friends”][/caption] I’ll be performing with a large brass ensemble made up of mostly Detroit Symphony brass players and a few friends at the Lexington Music Theatre in Lexington, Michigan. More information is available here.

I’ll be joining the FSO Brass Quintet as part of the Flint Institute of Music’s annual Nutcracker and Holiday Pops Sneak Peek event. From the FSO Website: Take a fun, fascinating look behind the scenes of two of this area’s favorite holiday programs. You’ll find lots for you and your children to do and see at this FREE family event!

During the month of November I will once again be returning to the pit at the Detroit Opera House, performing in Michigan Opera Theater’s production of Giacomo Puccini’s masterpiece opera, Madame Butterfly. Led by Maestro Edoardo Muller, the cast includes: Ermolena Jaho and Mihoko Kinoshita in the role of Cio-Cio San James Valenti and David Pomeroy in the role of Pinkerton Joseph Hu in the role of Goro David DiChiera, Artistic Director for the Michigan Opera Theater, offers a synopsis of this opera on the Detroit Opera House website.

I’ll be performing with the Ann Arbor Symphony in a concert titled “The Orchestra is Here To Play.” From the A2SO website: Join the A²SO and everyone’s favorite twins—Gemini—as they share their warmth, humor and fun. Bring your family and sing along with music from around the world and original songs about growing up. Plus, our Ann Arbor connections continue with a performance by the Ann Arbor Youth Chorale, singing along with Gemini and the A²SO.

For the second concert of our 2008-2009 “Cafe Paris” season, we’ll be playing a large program with a couple of great pieces for trumpeters! Enrique Diemecke, conductor Peter Soave, bandoneón Moncayo, Sinfonietta Debussy, Prélude to Afternoon of a Faun Piazzolla, Aconcagua; Concerto for Bandoneón Stravinsky, Petrouchka Music excerpts, program notes, and lots of other information can be found at the FSO Website.

I’ll be performing an all Andrew Lloyd Weber show at Saginaw’s Temple Theatre to raise funds for the Field Neurosciences Institute. This is a great cause, so if you’re in the area and have the time, come on out!!

I’ll be returning to the stage of Bay City’s State Theatre to perform with the Bijou Orchestra in a concert titled “Gay Paree.“ From the Bijou Orchestra website: Feast on the music of a great city. Savor familiar classics like the “Bacchanal” from Samson and Delilah and Debussy’s Clair de lune. Discover Paris in the 1920’s when songs performed by Mistenguett and Maurice Chevalier filled the cafés or Montparnasse and the night clubs of Montmartre.

The Flint Symphony Orchestra’s 2008-2009 season, “Cafe Paris,” opens with a unique opportunity to hear our music director, Enrique Diemecke, not only conduct but also perform as violin soloist! Also featured will be pianist Ina Yoon. We’ll be performing Gershwin’s American in Paris and the always popular Bolero, by Maurice Ravel, and more. Full program information is available here. Please be aware that this concert starts at the VERY unusual time of 6:00pm.

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“327” caption=“Stefan Sanderling conducts the TSO”][/caption] On September 26 and 27 I’ll be performing with the Toledo, Ohio Symphony, as they open their 2008-2009 season with Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, The Resurrection. This is one of my all-time favorite pieces of symphonic music, and I’m always thrilled to have the opportunity to perform it. From the TSO Website: A concert experience unlike any other. The Toledo Symphony performs with 350 performers - its largest force!

I’ll be performing with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra on their season opening concert, titled “Roots.” From their website: In this season of commemoration, we complete our Naxos CD project with Fetler’s Bicentennial evocation of the yearning for innocence in times of war. Louis Nagel brings to life the raw intensity and rich sound of Ravel’s neoclassical piano tour de force. Finally, your A²SO rounds out the concert with Dvořák’s cheery homage to his Bohemian roots.

Radio station KUSP of the California Central Coast region will be broadcasting several of our Cabrillo Festival concerts over the next few weeks. These broadcasts are available online! Here’s the schedule from their website (NOTE: all times on the original website are PAC time, but I’ve changed them here to Eastern time, since that’s where I and most of my readers are): Sunday, August 24, 2 pm: San Juan Day with Music at the Mission.

For the second year, I will perform with the orchestra backing up the official tour band of Led Zeppelin to present The Music of Led Zeppelin: A Rock Symphony. This concert will be held at DTE Energy Music Theater (or, as all of us still call it, Pine Knob). The band they put together for this last year was outstanding. They’re not the original Led Zeppelin members, but they sound great.

Our final concerts of the 2008 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music: (4:00pm SOLD OUT) Mission San Juan Bautista Tickets: $35 / click here to order Chiayu: Feng Nian Ji (Harvest Festival) (World Premiere) Osvaldo Golijov: Last Round Alla Borzova: To the New World (U.S. Premiere) Avner Dorman: Variations Without a Theme (West Coast Premiere) Four composers new to the Festival, each with voices rooted in lands far away, will be honored in the storied setting of the Old Mission sanctuary on a program aptly titled To the New World.

The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music continues with our fourth orchestral program. There’s a lot of great music on this program, but of special note to trumpeters is the Adams, which has a stunning extended trumpet solo for our principal trumpeter, Craig Morris. Saturday, August 9, 8:00pm Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium Tickets: $26-41 Matthew Cmiel: Sneak in a Window (World Premiere) Mark Anthony Turnage: Riffs and Refrains (Bharat Chandra , clarinet) (U.

My sixth season with the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music starts off with an exciting concert at Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. From the Cabrillo Festival Website: Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium Tickets: $26-$41 Stephen McNeff: Sinfonia Conciso (U.S. Premiere) Eric Lindsay: Darkness Made Visible (World Premiere) David W. Sanford: Scherzo Grosso (Matt Haimovitz , cello) Christopher Rouse: Concerto for Orchestra (World Premiere/Cabrillo Festival Commission) This very First Night is itself full of firsts.

The Flint Symphony Orchestra summer season comes to a close with a performance with rock and roll group Flash Cadillac at the Flint Cultural Center. More information is available here.

I’ll be playing with the Bijou Orchestra up in Pigeon, Michigan on Thursday, June 26th. The concert will start at 7pm, at the Pigeon Band Shell. More information is available at the Pigeon Band Shell website.

The Flint Symphony Orchestra continues it’s tradition of performing at Flint’s Riverbank Park during the July 4th weekend. This year we’ll be joined by Motown group The Contours for a concert of Motown hits and patriotic music. More information is available http://www.thefim.com/musicintheparks.asp.

Gretchko Elementary School in West Bloomfield holds a fun concert every spring, where First Grade students perform a musical created just for them. This year’s musical is based on the Brothers Grimm tale Stone Soup. This is a pretty unique production for an elementary school, in that they bring in professional musicians and really do a good job with production values. I’ll join the orchestra to play music from Puccini’s Turandot and other classics.

I’ll be performing Terry Everson’s Idea Number 24 with the MSU Trumpet Ensemble, under the direction of Richard Illman. This performance will take place as part of the “trumpet preludes” series during the International Trumpet Guild’s annual conference at the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts, in Banff, Alberta, Canada. Check the conference program for more details.