Each year, one of the most beloved and well-attended events of the Dunedin Music Society’s concert season is the Holiday Concert by the Dunedin Concert Band at the Dunedin Community Center. Local residents as well as winter residents come together to participate in the live music-making experience and share “the most wonderful time of the year”. 

As is the custom with the Dunedin Concert Band, the repertoire of this concert program will allow amateur and professional musicians alike to challenge themselves with some more difficult pieces, while also including traditional holiday favorites many people know and love. 

A few of the classical pieces in this year’s program include the Festive Overture by Shostakovich and the Candlelight Carol by choral composer John Rutter.  According to an article by Maureen Buja featured in Interlude, “Shostakovich’s Festive Overture is a joyous bubble starting with a brilliant fanfare. Written for a concert in Moscow at the Bolshoi Theatre celebrating the 37th anniversary of the October 1917 Revolution, this 1954 piece seems to contain so much of Shostakovich’s life and humour… Shostakovich said that he’d originally written the work for the 30th anniversary, in 1947. He said that it represented the ‘state of mind of a man who has undergone the ordeals of war, who has defeated the enemies of the homeland, and now seeks to rebuild his country.’” 

The Candlelight Carol is a Christmas carol with music and lyrics by English choral composer and conductor John Rutter, also famous for his Magnificat, Gaelic Blessing and many other works. This carol was written in 1984 and first recorded by the Cambridge Singers, Rutter’s own choral group. The carol focuses on the birth of Jesus and the love of the Virgin Mary for her son, in particular. Some of the lyrics include “How do you capture the wind on the water? How do you count all the stars in the sky? How can you measure the love of a mother? Or how can you write down a baby’s first cry?”

Some of the other pieces in the program are various themes from James Bond films – which were only featured at Christmastime when UK-born Maestro Stephen P. Brown was growing up – as well as The Sound of Music, another nostalgic family story told around the holidays. Finally, audiences will enjoy the well-known Ding Dong Merrily On High, Go Tell It On the Mountain, Jingle Bells, and Sleigh Ride. 

Come and experience the sounds of the season with the Dunedin Concert Band! 

This concert is ideal for ages 7+, and family-friendly. General admission (in advance) is by donation of $15, and DMS members can log in for a 33% discount. 

Pinellas County and its neighbors are truly blessed to have SO MANY live music opportunities available for performers.

With over 18 bands, 12 community choirs and at least 6 orchestras in the region, there is something for everyone.

Or is there?

It turns out that the current focus of most adult community music orchestras in Pinellas County is to perform traditional orchestral music, which can actually be quite difficult.

It’s great stuff, and a meaty challenge for performers who are up for it and whose fingers still move that quickly!

But what about performers whose abilities haven’t been kept fresh over the years?

Or who never really got the practice time more serious students dedicated themselves to?

Or who only just began learning to play?

What happened to just having fun as opposed to really hard work?

The Dunedin Music Society has recognized this gap and provided beginner and returner adult performers with opportunities to play in groups like the Pinellas Community Players. Indeed, this has become an established community-focused ensemble while the Dunedin Concert Band continues to explore advanced repertoire in its venue-based performances.

But what about string players?

What is available for them?

The Suncoast Symphony and the Tampa Bay Symphony are both established classical music ensembles that get bows scraping to big repertoire, and until recently, the Pinellas Park Civic Orchestra was the only viable option for string players who want to play lighter pops and easier arrangements of familiar tunes outside the PPCO’s Summer Strings program.

But now that the PPCO’s regular season focus has shifted also, where do the intermediate and beginner adult string players go to connect with live music during the winter months?

The DMS, of course!

Because the DMS avoids duplicating what is already available, we want to see who’s actually interested in something less challenging. So we’re hosting a one-time get-together for string players:

At the end of this year, an ensemble called the “DMS Winter Strings” will present two performances of a family-friendly holiday concert in North and Central Pinellas County.

It’s ideal for performers struggling or too busy or too new to keep up with the big repertoire, using what the publishers call “Medium” and “Medium-Easy” sheet music.

Just four fun rehearsals and two performances, all on Thursday evenings, is the only commitment we ask.

Get details here and REGISTER TODAY as space will be limited.

Conducted by our very own Maestro Stephen P Brown, the DMS Winter Strings is a wonderful opportunity, and fills a much desired need for simpler music played really well.

REGISTER NOW!

On June 11, 2022, the Dunedin Music Society (DMS) hosted a #Vision26 summit to review progress since its previous (pre-pandemic) strategy session in 2019, discuss new plans, and develop objectives that will carry the organization through the next few years. Directors serving on the DMS Board and members of the DMS Executive Committee, led and facilitated by General Director Stephen P. Brown, met together at the Countryside Country Club in Clearwater (thanks to a generous donation from Julie Taylor Pantziris) for a day of brainstorming and vision-casting. During the day, they focused on celebrations of the past and new paths for the future.

First, they all celebrated multiple “wins” that the organization accomplished since 2019, including significant improvements in company culture, improved quality of participants’ musicianship, expansion of programs, and a marked increase in funding. The committed team praised the efforts that the organization had been making over the past few years to continue connecting local communities with live music through various means. They also looked to the growth of the future with an optimism characteristic of the DMS.

Full funds, staff, & facilities

Looking forward to 2026, by which time the objectives set forth would ideally be realized, the combined teams decided that three main elements forming their shared vision were paramount for the DMS: to become fully funded as an organization, to be able to hire a fully paid staff, and to operate out of its own facility. Full funding, led by a Development Director, would include the appointment of an Executive Director and Artistic Director initially on a part-time basis, as well as other staff and contracted positions. It has long been an ambitious goal of the DMS to have its own building, as well. This building would ultimately house a concert hall with ample parking outdoors for audience members, rehearsal spaces for DMS ensembles, classrooms and instrument storage spaces, office spaces for staff, and reception area. This new facility would do much for the organization, not only in terms of creating an autonomous “home base”, but it would also solidify its place in the local area while providing a destination for residents and visitors from other parts of the country.

Each summit attendee submitted their workbooks full of notes to a smaller workgroup, and a “Vision26 Strategy Document” as it came to be called, was submitted to the Board of Directors once all the comments were collated. The Directors then gave their feedback and a majority was needed in order for the document to be approved. This meticulous and scrupulous process took a couple of months during the summer, in order to ensure that everyone was in agreement with the way forward before the final draft of the document was published. The process, also keeping in line with the values of the DMS, demonstrated the kind of accountability among its members that the organization is continually proud of and strives for.

Lofty Courage

One of the Dunedin Music Society’s values is “doing the ‘scary’ thing” – but as a group, it was determined that “scary” merely means “courageous”. The objectives may seem lofty to some, but the DMS believes that live music is truly essential for the heart, both physically and emotionally, and is looking very much forward to realizing its ambition, and continuing to connect local communities with vital live music experiences they can carry with them forever.

Download the full #Vision26 document here.