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 WAC Newsletter, February 1998
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Spring WAC Conference

The Spring 1998 WAC Concert/Conference will be held April 3rd and 4th at Carthage College in Kenosha, hosted by Gary Verkade. Featured guest artists will be flautist Camilla Hoitenga, cellist David Cowley, and accordionist Stanislaw Venglevski. There will be a series of three concerts opening with one on Friday night. After that evening's concert, featuring Hoitenga, will be a reception where all are invited. Saturday activities include a morning concert, featuring Cowley, and an afternoon concert. In between will be the general membership meeting and a workshop led by Venglevski. For more information, see the proposed schedule.

This is an opportunity to get together and make new friendships and alliances. Even if you do not have a piece on the program, come support not only the host, but your fellow WAC members.

WCO Premieres Walczak Piece

Congratulations to WAC member Christopher Walczak, whose new work, On Reason and Passion, was premiered Saturday, February 7, by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra under the direction of David Lewis Crosby. The piece received a warm reception from a crowd of about 600, and was described by John Aehl of the Wisconsin State Journal as "wonderfully flowing music," "beautifully orchestrated," and "worth hearing again." Chris was the first composer to be co-commissioned by the Chamber Orchestra and WAC's Madison Chapter in a program that is planned to become a regular feature of the Chamber Orchestra's Artist Series. He was selected from a field of seventeen applicants by a panel of judges comprised of Stephen Dembski, Daron Hagen, and Maestro Crosby.

WAC Web Site Change

http://www.msn.fullfeed.com/~wac/

Thanks to Internet services provided by Fullfeed, WAC now has a new website address. David Drexler currently maintains the site for us. He updates the site often, providing membership information, opportunity updates, current WAC and MadWAC news, plus past and future concert dates. One can also find there the latest issue of the WAC Newsletter and the WAC and MadWAC bylaws. David has added some interesting links, so next time you are on-line, take a look.

CWSO and David Amram

The Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra is featuring composer/conductor/performer David Amram, who promises to bring exotic instruments and wild imagination to Central Wisconsin for an unforgettable concert of classics, jazz, world music and his own works on April 25th and 26th. Resident composer for Leonard Bernstein's New York Philharmonic, Amram has been in the vanguard of America's most vital, creative musical community for four decades.

During Amram's week of residency, students from all around the region will have the benefit of meeting and working with him. As a fundraising effort, the CWSO will open their afternoon dress rehearsal on April 25 from 1:00 to 4:00 pm at the Sentry Theater in Stevens Point to those special interest groups or WAC members who may desire to view the "work in process." This afternoon, including breaks to "stretch a bit," will end with an open question and answer session following the rehearsal. The cost is $5.00 per participant. Those interested should mail a request to CWSO, PO Box 65, Stevens Point, WI, 54481; or call 715-345-2976 for further for information.

Wisconsin Coalition for Music Education

by David Drexler

Last October, I attended a meeting of the Wisconsin Coalition for Music Education. WCME includes educators, parents, business people and others who support music as an essential part of a balanced education. Their credo states: "Just as there can be no music without learning, no education is complete without music." WCME's current focus is supporting K-12 music programs, but may expand to include college-level music education as well. WAC was invited to send a representative as part of an effort to include other music organizations in the effort. Although WCME's goals don't directly include support of new music, it should be obvious that music education is a key part of building continuing audiences for concert music in general, and music by WAC composers in particular. As Copland put it, "Composers tend to assume that most people like music. Surprisingly, most people don't."

A large part of WCME's role is to serve as a clearinghouse for information on the value of music education, for its positive impact on other academic studies as well as for students' personal development. WCME has assembled an impressive collection of resources in its Blue Book, including reports on the benefits of music and arts education, strategies for generating support for music programs, and numerous quotes on the importance of music from the likes of Plato, Martin Luther, Francis Bacon, Friedrich Nietzsche, John Cage, Franco Harris, Roger Staubach, and Ted Turner, to name just a few. (I'll suggest the Copland quote for future editions.) The Blue Book is provided to parents and community members who serve as WCME Local Contacts--volunteers who coordinate efforts to make the case for music education to local decision makers. WAC members who are interested in supporting WCME can write to WCME, 4797 Hayes Road, Madison, WI 53704, or call 800-589-9762.


WAC Newsletter, February 1998
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Last updated 23 February 1998. Contact information.