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.
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.
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.
DMS General Director, Maestro Stephen P Brown, leads #Vision26 summit attendees in a review of “Strategy 2019”
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.
Members of the Dunedin Music Society (DMS) had a hankering to travel, to play music, and to enjoy camaraderie with fellow concert band performers from all over the nation and the world – so in true DMS style, a new ensemble was established! The Florida Symphonic Winds (FSW), initially conceived in 2020, met for three workshops and several rehearsals before embarking on a week-long tour, not only to sightsee in the beautiful regions of Austria and Bavaria, but most importantly to participate in music-making together with communities across the ocean.
On July 16, the week before the group left for Europe, they performed their prepared program in a pre-tour concert locally in Clearwater, at the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. 41 musicians and their conductor for this overseas adventure, Dr. Jeffrey Traster, gathered in the church to showcase the music they would be playing in Austria and Germany for an enthusiastic full-house audience.
Florida Symphonic Winds in rehearsal for a pre-tour concert
Mondsee, Austria
On July 22, as FSW percussionist Stephanie Lafleur noted, “Everyone arrived [in Europe] on time, and we loaded a beautiful motor coach headed for Mondsee. The ride from Munich was rather long since it was a Friday afternoon, and the locals were heading out for the weekend or summer holiday. The view from the bus, however, did not disappoint. The countryside was dotted with villages and lush fields. As we got closer to Mondsee, the mountain line got more dramatic out our large bus windows. Finally, we arrived at Schloss Hotel in Mondsee, an adorable boutique hotel set in an idyllic Austrian village.”
The Florida Symphonic Winds 2022 European Tour skimmed the edge of the Austrian Alps
One of the ensemble’s first concerts was at Mirabell Gardens in Salzburg. The group set up their instruments and equipment in the shady outdoor venue as audience members passed by. The concert consisted of 12 pieces of American and European contemporary and classical music, wrote ensemble member John Herring. Todd Emmer remarked, “As we play, some audience members are obviously deeply affected and there are some shared tears among audience and band members.”
The musicians were excited and pleased with their performance. One of the emotional highlights of their sightseeing visit to Salzburg was a tour of Mozart’s birthplace! The FSW also performed in the town square of Mondsee.
Florida Symphonic Winds performing an outdoor concert at the Marketplatz in Mondsee, Austria, near the church in the wedding scene from the movie “The Sound of Music”.
Vienna, Austria
On the fourth travel day the ensemble departed from Mondsee to Melk and Mank, still in Austria. Highlights in those towns included Melk Abbey founded in 1069 and the Schafer Brass Factory where horns are made from sheets of metal. Finally the FSW made it to beautiful Vienna. According to trumpet player John Herring, “Off to an early start in Vienna, the FSW toured the Art History Museum. This was followed by free time to explore other cultural activities such as the ongoing Film Festival. The FSW prepared for another outdoor concert at 6PM in Vienna at the Maria Theresien Platz on the other side of the Art History Museum.”
Florida Symphonic Winds performing at the Maria Theresien Platz in Vienna, Austria
On July 28, the intrepid group hit the road toward Wurzburg, Germany. As Stephanie commented, “we stopped along the way for breaks and lunch. In the late afternoon, we arrived in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany. This medieval town is located on the “Romantic Road” and is full of kitschy shops, sidewalk cafes, and great photo opportunities. We quickly set up our concert in the town square, adjacent to the church and in front of many spectators. Our music was well received and it was amazing to look out into the crowd with the small German village as the backdrop!”
Overseas discovery
One of the audience members in the crowd at Rothenburg, Jan Senkyr, spotted the band and posted on social media: “We saw you guys! It was an amazing performance. We went all the way to Germany to stumble upon your performance and find that we have great talent from our own backyard in Dunedin.” Hopefully she and her family will be new audience members of all the Dunedin Music Society ensembles right here at home!
Dunedin resident Jan Senkyr traveling with her family came across the Florida Symphonic Winds in downtown Rothenburg, Germany!
Amid sightseeing days filled with museums, wonderful breakfasts, marketplaces, and medieval churches, the Florida Symphonic Winds concluded their tour by playing together with the Moderner Spielmanns- und Fanfarenzug Retzbach-Zellingen band, and enjoying community friends, a macaroon festival, and other summer traditions held in Retzbach. Finally, at the end of the concert tour, musicians had the opportunity either to come back to Florida or to extend their stay for a visit to Prague, Czech Republic.
Tremendous thanks must go to Lee Lafleur, DMS Tour Coordinator, and Maury Schulte of Tour Resource Consultants, as well as our friend Sabine Binzberger in Retzbach, for putting together an inspired moment of memories treasured by so many.
Keep moving
After 2½ years of isolation and uncertainty throughout the world, it is magnificent to see musicians teaming up with each other around the world and forming new bonds of friendship through the shared love of live music. With future workshops, weekend retreats and tours already being considered, who will the FSW connect with next, we wonder?
Welcome home, Florida Symphonic Winds.
Florida Symphonic Winds and the Moderner Spielmanns- und Fanfarenzug Retzbach e. V. performed together at a festival in Retzbach, Germany.
Contributors: Todd Emmer, John Herring, Stephanie Lafleur, Jan Senkyr.
