Taffanel Wind Ensemble is very busy performing these days. Tonight, the trio will perform at Belmont House and next week, Lansing Residence, Kensington Residence where we entertain for a volunteer recognition dinner and Friday, the Balmoral Club- a very busy week.
In addition to the trio performances, members of the Taffanel Wind Ensemble also play with Otteto Proscuitto which was mentioned in a previous entry. The group is busy preparing for its final performance of the 2008 season. The octet with friends will play works by Farkas, Beethoven, Schubert and the Strauss Serenade and Suite for 13 winds on Tuesday, October 21st at Jubilee United Church, 40 Underhill (Lawrence and Victoria Park area) at 7:30 p.m.
We hope that friends and family will be able to join us that evening. Should be an exciting evening of music to cap off another successful season.
The Taffanel Wind Ensemble has been entertaining audiences across the GTA at esteemed venues such as the McMichael Gallery, Spadina House, Roy Thomson Hall, and many others for over 10 years. The group [flute, clarinet, and bassoon] enjoys performing for audiences of all sizes and exploring various genres of chamber music composed for this combination of instruments.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
National Grandparents Day
As a performer, you are always learning things if you want to keep up with things. Are you aware that September 7th is National Grandparents Day? http://www.grandparents-day.com/The Taffanel Wind Ensemble will be performing at the Harold and Grace Baker Centre to celebrate the occasion.
As a group, we have celebrated many special events including the March 21, the Equinox http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equinoxiki/Equinox at Colborne Lodge, a historic home in High Park- but this will be the first time that we have participated in this celebration. The residents certainly deserve a celebration and
a time to reflect on the lives and families. We are pleased to be part of this occasion.
As a group, we have celebrated many special events including the March 21, the Equinox http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equinoxiki/Equinox at Colborne Lodge, a historic home in High Park- but this will be the first time that we have participated in this celebration. The residents certainly deserve a celebration and
a time to reflect on the lives and families. We are pleased to be part of this occasion.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Sunnybrook
Yesterday, Bill and Nora, also members of Otteto Prosciutto performed at Sunnybrook-K wing, the veterans wing. It was a privilege to perform for people who gave for their country. The majority of the veterans at K-wing are veterans from WWII. These men and women were delightful.
Our programme was varied with Ferenc Farkas' Contrafacta Hungarica, Beethoveen's Rondino, a septet by Rosetti and Schubert's wind octet. These works will be performed once before we perform at Jubilee United Church on October 21st.
After taking blogging break from the Taffanel Wind site,we will be updating readers with information about the music we are now preparing for future performances.
Our programme was varied with Ferenc Farkas' Contrafacta Hungarica, Beethoveen's Rondino, a septet by Rosetti and Schubert's wind octet. These works will be performed once before we perform at Jubilee United Church on October 21st.
After taking blogging break from the Taffanel Wind site,we will be updating readers with information about the music we are now preparing for future performances.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Spadina House
If any of you wondered if Otteto Prosciutto performed yesterday, the answer is yes. We are dedicated. We moved into the coach house area which is to the right of the area in the photo and the audience managed to find shelter under the canopy of the building. The audience was not large but is was appreciative.We played Ferenc Farkas' Contrafacta Hungarica, Beethoven's Rondino with Diane James performing the 1st horn part, Rosetti's Parthita in f and Schubert's Wind Octet.
After many years,the octet continues to enjoy the opportunity to explore wind octets. Our next public performance will Tuesday October 21st, 7:30 p.m. at Jubilee United Church when all three members of the Taffanel Wind Ensemble with perform with the group.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Next week's concerts
This is a busy week for the members of the Taffanel Wind Ensemble. On Wednesday evening, we will be performing for the Pleine Air concert series. Because this is an outdoor venue, we are hoping for very dry weather. We also have to remember to bring music clips, and I am going to put on insect repellent. There were a number of insects visiting us during our preview performance. I can imagine some of the bugs checking out Zach's fingers as he plays. 
Some of you will remember that the Pleine Air stage is a wonderful structure designed for intimate performances. It is interesting what creative individuals will build!
On Saturday, Zach and Nora will perform duos at a seniors residence and then on Sunday, Bill and Nora will join Otteto Prosciutto to perform octets at Spadina house for the addendum to Spadina House's Music in the Orchard series. This historic house is beside Casa Loma. Spadina House which is 140 years old was donated to the city by the Austin family and the last member of the family lived in the house until the 1970's. One of the historically interesting facts about the house is that most of the furniture is original. In the past, the octet has performed under the overhang of the coach house. Hopefully the weather will cooperate once more and the audience can enjoy the experience of hearing music outdoors. 
The coach house is now used to store plants from the main house and garden tools. We hope that some of you might have the chance to join us on Wednesday or Sunday (the Sunday concert is free to the public). Pleine Aire concerts are $10.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Pleine Aire Concert Preview
On June 24, the Taffanel Wind Ensemble performed as part of the Pleine Aire Concert previews. We had the opportunity to experience performing on the unique stage that the organizer, Susan Brown had constructed on the site. The stage provides just enough space for the trio to perform. For a really intimate concert, we could reverse our position and have a small group sitting in built in seats facing us.
As part of our performance, it has become a tradition that we introduce our musical selections. Over the years, Nora has taken on this role and researched the many compositions and composers that
we have included in our programmes. We were pleased to hear that the audience appreciated this aspect of our performance. More research will be done before our actual concert on July 16th. Maybe some of you will consider attending this concert.
we have included in our programmes. We were pleased to hear that the audience appreciated this aspect of our performance. More research will be done before our actual concert on July 16th. Maybe some of you will consider attending this concert. Sunday, June 29, 2008
Robert Washburn
The Taffanel Wind Ensemble continues with a busy schedule of rehearsals and performances. On June 24, the group performed at the preview concert for Plein Air concerts. The group was well received and looks forward to performing on July 16th.
One of the works that the group performed was Three Pieces for Three Woodwinds by Robert Washburn. Born in 1928, Washburn is still actively writing and composing and the group hopes that he will compose works for our combination,flute, clarinet and bassoon.
For those readers, who are interested in Washburn, we have included more information about the composer:
Robert Washburn
Biography
Robert Washburn is Dean and Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow in Music at the Crane School of Music of the State University of New York at Potsdam. After completing his undergraduate studies at Potsdam he was awarded a Danforth Foundation Fellowship to complete a Ph.D. in composition at the Eastman School of Music where he worked with Howard Hanson, Bernard Rogers and Alan Hovhaness. Further studies included a summer at the Aspen Music School where he studied with Darius Milhaud, and a season in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. He also participated in seminars at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the University of Oxford in England.
Washburn later received a Ford Foundation Grant which permitted him to devote a year to composition and has received grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Juilliard Repertory Project, and Meet the Composer. He is a fellow of the MacDowell Colony and held a scholarship at the Bennington Composers Conference. Subsequently he was awarded a SUNY Foundation Summer Fellowship to compose Symphony for Band. Other honors have included the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Potsdam College Alumni Association's Minerva Award, and a SUNY Faculty Exchange Scholar appointment. His military service in the USAF included duty as chief arranger for the Air Force Band of the West and the Air Force Sinfonietta and he spent a year as a member of the San Antonio Symphony.
Among the many orchestras which have performed Washburn's works are the Baltimore Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Denver Symphony, Eastman-Rochester Symphony, Florida West Coast Symphony, Houston Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Nashville Symphony, National Gallery Orchestra, Oklahoma City Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Vancouver (BC) Symphony, and the Wichita Symphony. Wind/Percussion groups have included the Dallas Wind Symphony, Eastman Wind Ensemble, Crane Wind Ensemble, Osaka Municipal Concert Band, Tokyo Wind Symphony, Washington D.C. Military Services Bands and numerous college and university groups. Many of the performances have been under the composer's direction, including those of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Guadalajara (Mexico), the Cairo Symphony, Cairo National Conservatory Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of the American University in Cairo, Youth Symphony of the Ile de France, and, in the UK, The Royal Air Force Band, Band of the Royal Marines, Royal Military School of Music Band, the band of the Royal Northern College of Music, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and the Birmingham Conservatory. He conducted a number of his works at the Brevard Music Center where he was composer-in-residence.
Since 1961 Washburn has been the recipient of annual awards from ASCAP. He has received a number of commissions for works which have been heard at such events as the American Music Festival of the Eastman School, the American Music Festival of the National Gallery, the Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival, the Spring Festival of the Arts at SUNY Potsdam, the Inter-American Symposium of the University of Texas, the San Jose Festival, Expo '67 in Montreal, the Farnham Festival in England, and the St. Moritz Festival in Switzerland. His works have appeared on programs in Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Symphony Hall in Boston, the Philadelphia Academy of Music, and at the White House, where he was the guest of Mrs. John Kennedy and the Royal Cultural Center in Amman, Jordan, where he was the guest of Queen Noor. In 1980 he was commissioned to compose music for the opening ceremonies of the Lake Placid Winter Olympics which were broadcast over ABC, CBC and BBC television.
More than 150 of Washburn's compositions have been published by Warner Bros./Belwin, Boosey and Hawkes, Oxford University Press, G. Schirmer, Theodore Presser, Shawnee Press and Thompson Edition. As well as orchestral and concert band works, they include many choral works and chamber instrumental ensembles which are widely performed. His works are recorded on the Toshiba-EMI, Golden Crest, Crystal, Mark, and Citadel labels. He has written articles for Music Journal, Journal for Research in Music Education, Woodwind, Brass & Percussion, The Composer, The Instrumentalist, Music Educators Journal and the New York State School Music News. He has served on the editorial board of the Music Educators Journal, on the Advisory Committee of the N.Y. State School Music Association, and as music consultant for the N.Y. State Department of Education, the U.S. Office of Education and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is listed as a biographee in Grove's Dictionary of American Music and Musicians, Baker's Biographical Dictionary, International Who's Who in Music, Who's Who in America, the ASCAP Biographical Dictionary, Machlis' Introduction to Contemporary Music, and other reference resources.
In addition to his activities as composer and teacher, Washburn is a specialist in the musics of Africa and Asia and has made a number of field study trips to those areas, including a sabbatical leave spent in North Africa and the Middle East, a Fulbright Senior Fellowship in Cairo, Egypt, and an African Comparative Cross Culture Study Program in Senegal, the Ivory Coast, Tanzania and Ethiopia. He has participated in seminars in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University and York University in England. Currently he is authoring the portion of a college music text dealing with non-western music. The book is under contract with Harcourt-Brace Publishing Co.
One of the works that the group performed was Three Pieces for Three Woodwinds by Robert Washburn. Born in 1928, Washburn is still actively writing and composing and the group hopes that he will compose works for our combination,flute, clarinet and bassoon.
For those readers, who are interested in Washburn, we have included more information about the composer:
Robert Washburn
Biography
Robert Washburn is Dean and Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow in Music at the Crane School of Music of the State University of New York at Potsdam. After completing his undergraduate studies at Potsdam he was awarded a Danforth Foundation Fellowship to complete a Ph.D. in composition at the Eastman School of Music where he worked with Howard Hanson, Bernard Rogers and Alan Hovhaness. Further studies included a summer at the Aspen Music School where he studied with Darius Milhaud, and a season in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. He also participated in seminars at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the University of Oxford in England.
Washburn later received a Ford Foundation Grant which permitted him to devote a year to composition and has received grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Juilliard Repertory Project, and Meet the Composer. He is a fellow of the MacDowell Colony and held a scholarship at the Bennington Composers Conference. Subsequently he was awarded a SUNY Foundation Summer Fellowship to compose Symphony for Band. Other honors have included the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Potsdam College Alumni Association's Minerva Award, and a SUNY Faculty Exchange Scholar appointment. His military service in the USAF included duty as chief arranger for the Air Force Band of the West and the Air Force Sinfonietta and he spent a year as a member of the San Antonio Symphony.
Among the many orchestras which have performed Washburn's works are the Baltimore Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Denver Symphony, Eastman-Rochester Symphony, Florida West Coast Symphony, Houston Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Nashville Symphony, National Gallery Orchestra, Oklahoma City Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Vancouver (BC) Symphony, and the Wichita Symphony. Wind/Percussion groups have included the Dallas Wind Symphony, Eastman Wind Ensemble, Crane Wind Ensemble, Osaka Municipal Concert Band, Tokyo Wind Symphony, Washington D.C. Military Services Bands and numerous college and university groups. Many of the performances have been under the composer's direction, including those of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Guadalajara (Mexico), the Cairo Symphony, Cairo National Conservatory Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of the American University in Cairo, Youth Symphony of the Ile de France, and, in the UK, The Royal Air Force Band, Band of the Royal Marines, Royal Military School of Music Band, the band of the Royal Northern College of Music, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and the Birmingham Conservatory. He conducted a number of his works at the Brevard Music Center where he was composer-in-residence.
Since 1961 Washburn has been the recipient of annual awards from ASCAP. He has received a number of commissions for works which have been heard at such events as the American Music Festival of the Eastman School, the American Music Festival of the National Gallery, the Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival, the Spring Festival of the Arts at SUNY Potsdam, the Inter-American Symposium of the University of Texas, the San Jose Festival, Expo '67 in Montreal, the Farnham Festival in England, and the St. Moritz Festival in Switzerland. His works have appeared on programs in Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Symphony Hall in Boston, the Philadelphia Academy of Music, and at the White House, where he was the guest of Mrs. John Kennedy and the Royal Cultural Center in Amman, Jordan, where he was the guest of Queen Noor. In 1980 he was commissioned to compose music for the opening ceremonies of the Lake Placid Winter Olympics which were broadcast over ABC, CBC and BBC television.
More than 150 of Washburn's compositions have been published by Warner Bros./Belwin, Boosey and Hawkes, Oxford University Press, G. Schirmer, Theodore Presser, Shawnee Press and Thompson Edition. As well as orchestral and concert band works, they include many choral works and chamber instrumental ensembles which are widely performed. His works are recorded on the Toshiba-EMI, Golden Crest, Crystal, Mark, and Citadel labels. He has written articles for Music Journal, Journal for Research in Music Education, Woodwind, Brass & Percussion, The Composer, The Instrumentalist, Music Educators Journal and the New York State School Music News. He has served on the editorial board of the Music Educators Journal, on the Advisory Committee of the N.Y. State School Music Association, and as music consultant for the N.Y. State Department of Education, the U.S. Office of Education and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is listed as a biographee in Grove's Dictionary of American Music and Musicians, Baker's Biographical Dictionary, International Who's Who in Music, Who's Who in America, the ASCAP Biographical Dictionary, Machlis' Introduction to Contemporary Music, and other reference resources.
In addition to his activities as composer and teacher, Washburn is a specialist in the musics of Africa and Asia and has made a number of field study trips to those areas, including a sabbatical leave spent in North Africa and the Middle East, a Fulbright Senior Fellowship in Cairo, Egypt, and an African Comparative Cross Culture Study Program in Senegal, the Ivory Coast, Tanzania and Ethiopia. He has participated in seminars in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University and York University in England. Currently he is authoring the portion of a college music text dealing with non-western music. The book is under contract with Harcourt-Brace Publishing Co.
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