LEGENDS GAME – 1:05 p.m. The 11th annual Hall of Fame Classic 7-inning game w/6 HOF legends & players from all-30 MLB teams will play 7-inning game. Tickets $11-12.50. Pregame Home Run Derby at noon. Doubleday Field. Info, 607-207-9519, www.BaseballHall.org
By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
ONEONTA – As an audience member at the Catskill Symphony Orchestra, it will be, in part, up to you to help the Symphony select the new conductor.
“We’re encouraging people to buy subscriptions so they can attend all three concerts,” said executive director Thomas Wolf. “Afterwards, audience members can fill out forms and rate each conductor.”
On Monday, May 6, the Symphony announced that, of 73 applicants, three finalists had been chosen to vie for a chance to succeed Chuck Schneider as music director/conductor: Silas Nathaniel Huff, Carolyn Watson, and Maciej Żóɫtowski.
“They all bring different strengths,” said Wolf. “But all of them are very interested in helping build the orchestra and helping the organization grow.”
Laurie Zimniewicz is chairing the search committee, which formed in the wake of Schneider’s announcement last spring. “It’s was a long, exhausting process,” said Wolf. “We reviewed resumes and watched videos for every candidate. And here we are.”
Huff is the musical director of the Astoria Symphony Orchestra, the Colorado Pops Orchestra and the Boulder Concert Band, as well as the conductor of the 44th Army Band (New Mexico’s National Guard Band). He holds degrees from Texas State University and UCLA, and in 1999, won First prize in the Los Angeles Valley Composition Competition for “Begging The Question,” an homage to modernist composer Charles Ives.
Watson, the director of Orchestral Studies at The University of Kansas took home a top prize at the 2012 Emmerich Kálmán International Operetta Conducting Competition in Budapest. She has conducted orchestras throughout Europe including the Brandenburg Symphony, BBC Concert Orchestra, North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Kodály Philharmonic, Savaria Symphony Orchestra, Budapest Operetta Theatre, Bulgarian State Opera Bourgas and in Russia, the St and holds a PhD in Performance (Conducting) from the University of Sidney.
Żóɫtowski collaborates with many Polish symphony orchestras including the National Symphony Orchestra of the Polish Radio (Katowice), the Polish Radio Orchestra (Warsaw), the Polish Orchestra Jeunesses Musicales, Beethoven Academy Orchestra and Poznan Philharmonic. He studied violin at the F. Chopin and J. Elsner Music Schools in Warsaw, where he also received M.As in conducting and composition.
The three were each in town last week tour the facility and interview for the position. “It was very thorough,” said Wolf.
They will not, however, be required to relocate to the area. “We only do four concerts a year,” said Wolf. “They will fly into town when we need them to. The week of the show, there are four two-and-a-half hour rehersals, so they’ll have 10 hours of time with the orchestra.”
Each conductor will have a chance to perform for an audience; Huff will conduct on Saturday, Sept. 7, Watson on Saturday, Oct. 12 and Żóɫtowski on Saturday, Nov. 16.
And once the committee has had a chance to review the audience remarks, as well as input from the orchestra and the board of directors. Wolf hopes a decision will be made by December.
CONCERT – 7 p.m. Jeremy Wall and Colby Thomas perform a concert in the home of Jay Fleisher and Judy Pachter with dessert, beverages. $40 to benefit Catskill Symphony Orchestra. 2101 Kelly Corners Road, Oneonta. Info, RSVP, (607) 286-7541.
By JIM KEVLIN • Hometown Oneonta & The Freeman’s Journal
ONEONTA – A lyric tenor, Thomas Wolf’s operatic career was on the rise.
Southwest Germany’s largest daily, Munchner Merkur, celebrated his “particularly beautiful and warm tenor” voice, “wonderfully controlled.” In 1992, when a headliner dropped out of Mozart’s “Magic Flute” at Munich’s opera house, it seemed like his big break had arrived.
As the date approached, however, he felt a growing pain in his chest. Rehearsing the week of the premier, he passed out. “It came on me like a ton of bricks” – heart trouble, and his performance career was over.
It was a tragedy for the aspiring tenor from Cleveland, who by this time had been on the European opera circuit for almost a decade – but today it’s an opportunity for the Catskill Symphony Orchestra: Thomas Wolf, living in Bloomville, has been appointed CSO executive director, effective earlier this month.
The appointment comes at a critical time, said Diane Williams, CSO board president: The Oneonta-based orchestra is in the midst of selecting its first conductor in 45 years, after last year’s retirement of maestro Charles Schneider.
COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND: Mar. 14 – 15, 2019
COOPERSTOWN – Two incumbents and a newcomer are running unopposed for Village Board Tuesday, March 19.
Incumbents Jeanne Dewey and Richard Sternberg seeking three-year terms; newcomer MacGuire Benton is seeking a one-year term. All are Democrats.
Al Rubin, president, A&D Transport Services, which provides taxi and medical transport services in Central New York and the Southern Tier, took the honor of leading the The Catskill Symphony Orchestra in ‘Stars And Stripes Forever’ during this year’s Guest Conductor Competition at the SUNY Alumni Field House this evening. At right, Libby Cudmore, Managing Editor of The Freeman’s Journal, Hometown Oneonta and AllOTSEGO.com, challenged the audience to help her write the headline “Symphony Raises Record Amount” and they delivered, bringing in $46,321 by the evening’s end. Also in the competition was Cindy Donaldson, choral music director for Oneonta Middle School, director of First Presbyterian Church Choir and conductor of the Catskill Choral Society Children and Youth Choir. Laura Dohner, executive director of the Catskill Symphony Orchestra, said, “Not only was it the most money we have raised, it was the closest competition we’ve had on record.”(Ian Austin/AllOTSEGO.com)
CABARET CONCERT – 7:30 p.m. Catskill Symphony’s annual Cabaret Concert, featuring the Sultans of String and guest conductor Paul Massey, as well as the annual Conductor Contest. Alumni Field House, SUNY Oneonta. Visit catskillsymphony.net/news-events/upcoming-events.html
PLAY READINGS – 3 – 5:30 p.m. NEXT! Readings of New Works by Regional Playwrights. Plays to be announced January. The Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown. 607-547-1400 or visit www.fenimoreartmuseum.org
ONEONTA – Al Rubin, president, A&D Taxi, choral director Cindy Donaldson and Libby Cudmore, managing editor of the Hometown Oneonta, The Freeman’s Journal and AllOTSEGO.com, have all been announced as the competitors in this year’s Catskill Symphony Orchestra conductor contest.
One dollar equals one vote, and whoever raises the most money in the competition will win a chance to conduct the CSO in “Stars and Stripes Forever” during the Cabaret Concert, featuring the Sultans of String, on Saturday, March 9 at the Alumni Field House, SUNY Oneonta.
OTEGO – Roger B. Sullivan, 68, SUNY Oneonta associate vice president/enrollment management, passed away on Jan. 4, 2019, at his home in Otego. He also had a home in Sunset Beach, N.C.
Roger was born on Dec. 28, 1950, in Ogdensburg, the son of Roger P. and Velma I. (O’Shaughnessy) Sullivan.
He graduated from Lisbon Central High School and later earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from SUNY Potsdam and Bowling Green (Ohio) State University, respectively, before beginning a 40-year career in the SUNY system.
The Catskill Symphony Orchestra held a Veterans Day performance this afternoon in the Hunt Union Ballroom at SUNY Oneonta. Above, guest Conductor Timothy Perry, Binghamton, leads the orchestra and the audience in “The Star Spangled Banner” as a salute to upcoming Veterans Day, Sunday, Nov. 11. At right, Hartwick College President Margaret Drugovich, right, and Beth Steele, the college’s director of Advancement Communications, watch Dave Irvin, East Meredith, play the double bass during the opening number. (Ian Austin/AllOTSEGO.com)
END DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME – 2 a.m. Turn clocks back 1 hour. Visit www.timeanddate.com/time/change/usa
HOT COCOA RUN – 9:30 a.m. Enjoy fall day with 5K run/walk/roll followed by cup of hot cocoa. Benefit for Helping Hands Fund, assisting individuals with developmental disabilities, families meet challenges. Neahwa Park, Oneonta. 607-433-8445 or visit www.arcotsego.org/hot-cocoa-5k-run-walk-roll/
CONCERT – 4 p.m. Cooperstown Summer Music Festival concludes its 20th season with performance by celebrated Ying Quartet featuring works by Haydn, Tchaikovsky, more. Cost, $25/adult. The Otesaga, Cooperstown. 800-838-3006 or visit www.cooperstownmusicfest.org
