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Clay McKinney - President, Alabama Orchestra Association


Hi! I hope the year is going well and that your spring performance plans are coming along. As always, if I or anyone else in the AOA can help you in promoting or supporting your orchestra performance please don’t hesitate to ask. We want to continue to expand our programs and build on the things we have accomplished. We have many new orchestra opportunities in addition to the great ones that have been in place for some time in our state, I encourage you to seek them out for your students.


One opportunity for those students living in the Southeast District is coming up in April. The Southeast District will again be hosting an honors orchestra festival in Dothan Alabama. This is the 2nd


year for the festival


and Michael Gagliardo will be the guest conductor for the orchestra. For more information please contact the Southeast District chair, Eugene Conner through our website www.alabamaorchestraassociation.org. Eugene has done a fabulous job organizing this event so that the students will have a fun and wonderful learning experience.


All State was a great success this year again thanks to the many people who come together to make it so. It also goes without saying that the students did a terrific job. Every year the level of musicianship grows and the concerts continue to get better and better. Our newly


expanded Sinfonia Orchestra was a great success, and we plan to continue that next year. Thank you to all the band directors who encouraged your students to audition. We needed more auditions from winds, brass and percussion this year and we got them, so a very sincere thank you to everyone that helped spread the word. We need even more next year and I know we can work together to help bring this experience to more students. I also want to thank all of the parents and teachers who help with registration and other parts of the festival. This is an indispensible part of the festival and we greatly appreciate it. I also want to thank our board, most of whom have served for many years, Lisa Caravan, Vice-President/President Elect, Marcy Wilson, Past President, Daniel Jamieson, Treasuer, Felicia Sarubin, Secretary and Julie Hornstein, Executive Director. These are the best people to work with and help make this organization great, so when you have a chance thank them in abundance. I have also been blessed in my time as president to work with outstanding district chairs. In the Northern District, Daniel Jamieson, Jacob Frank and Daniel Hornstein. In the Central District, Sarah Nordlund, Zak Enikeev and Julia Sakharova. In the East Central District, Roland Lister. In the West Central District, Dr. Anne Witt. In the Central District, Sarah Schrader. In the Southwest District, Felicia Sarubin. In the Southeast District, Eugene Conner. They have been extremely generous with their time over the years in order to make the All State festival a success.


We are also fortunate in that we are able to collaborate with other orchestra organizations


in the state as well as professional musicians to bring the best experience to our students. The AOA would like to thank the University of Alabama School of Music and it’s faculty, The Alabama Symphony, The Huntsville Youth Orchestras, Osiris Molina at the University of Alabama. Peter Povey of the Montgomery Music Project, Bryan Reeves at Alabama State University, and Michael Fernandez of the Alabama Symphony. While I am mentioning professionals, I want to again say thank you to our Vice-President and soon to be president Dr. Lisa Caravan. She is going to be a great leader for AOA and someone everyone is going to enjoy working with.


One of the things Lisa has already done to provide great leadership was at the annual AMEA conference. I would like to challenge the rest of our string teachers in the state to do the same in 2014. Submissions of proposals for the 2014 AMEA conference are now being accepted. We have many great string teachers in the state and I know we can learn from one another. If you have a topic you would like to present at the conference please go to the AMEA website at www.alabamamea.org


and find


the


application forms. We want to hear from you and we definitely want to see you at the conference in 2014. This is a time to meet and collaborate and share ideas about our programs. It is within our reach to provide orchestra education to every student in the state of Alabama if we come together and work together. The AMEA conference is also a time to hear performances from our groups in the state. There is a performance opportunity on the main stage of the Montgomery Performing Arts Center and there are various performing opportunities in the lobby and common areas of the conference center. Two notable performances this year came from the Carver Elementary Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Tom Boyd and from the Montgomery Music Project under the direction of Laura Usiskin. Thank you to these teachers for bringing your groups and being a part of performing for the conference. The importance of this aspect of the conference cannot be over stated and so I hope others will come and perform next year.


As always, it is my great fortune to serve in this capacity and if I can ever be of assistance do not hesitate to ask.


14


February/March 2013


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