Wednesday, March 20th:  Thanks to all who attended the Kick-off concert!  Students have worked so hard preparing for this special event and it was great to have an audience with which to share.  

We will utilized this blog page to keep everyone informed of our daily adventures, repost important announcements, and, of course, share photos!

For now, here are some fun facts about Carnegie Hall:

• Symphony #9 by Dvorak (His "New World Symphony") was premiered in Carnegie Hall.  Learn more about this important event here.

•  The hall opened on May 5, 1891, with an orchestral concert conducted by Walter Damrosch and Piotr Iylich Tchaikovsky. 

•  In the late 1950s, Carnegie Hall almost succumbed to the wrecking ball. Civic leaders lobbied the city of New York to purchase the venue for $5 million in 1960 and establish the non-profit Carnegie Hall Corp. to manage the theater. The federal government designated it as a National Historic Landmark in 1962.

Remember, we are meeting at 5:30 a.m. on Friday morning!  Time to start packing.

Friday, March 22nd:  It was an early departure this morning and a long bus ride, but we made it!  All of the travelers were pros and arrived ready for a nice meal at our hotel.  Not much to report today, but enjoy scrolling through a few photos from dinner.

Saturday, March 23rd:  Our day started with breakfast at the hotel before departing for One World Observatory.  Although the conditions were not good for viewing the city today due to the diluge of rain, we were glad that the rain was today when we were mostly inside!  After lunch, we headed to the 9/11 museum.  It was overwhelming to see the vast collection and stories related to this important event in our history.  

Students enjoyed dinner (and we celebrated a chaperone birthday!) and some shopping at the flagship Macy's store before an evening at the New York Philharmonic.  

Enjoy scrolling through photos from our day:

Sunday, March 24th:  After breakfast at the hotel we headed to the city for our clinic with Dr. Peter Boonshaft of Hofstra University.  The students, as expected, were very receptive to his comments and he was very complimentary of their playing.  It was nice to have a chance to play together today since we haven't played since Thursday in class!

Today we had some time for lunch and shopping in Times Square prior to going to see the musical Hadestown.  Students enjoyed dinner (and we celebrated a student birthday!) with singing waitstaff at Gayle's Broadway restaurant.  

During the clinic today, Dr. Boonshaft asked students how many of them had never been to New York before and the vast majority of hands went up!  It is fun to see the students enjoying their visit and welcoming family and friends who are making the trek to come to the concert tomorrow.  Today we were even able to meet up with an alumna member of the Wind Ensemble, the principal clarinet from the class of 2013 who now lives in the area!  We look forward to welcoming more Alumni to the performance tomorrow night.

Monday, March 25th:  Our day started like every other day, but what an ending!  

After breakfast together we departed for a guided tour of Central Park.  We learned so many interesting facts about the park and enjoyed walking on the crisp cool morning.  Next, we headed for a lunch cruise featuring amazing views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the New York Skyline.  

We had a sound check on stage at Carnegie Hall prior to the evening concert.  What a thrill it was to walk on the stage to play in this iconic hall.  Many of the photos we will share of the experience will be from the sound check since we were unable to take photos during the concert.  Students have also shared photos which we will upload in the next few days.  For now, it is time to get some sleep before we start our journey home tomorrow.  

Enjoy a few photos from our evening, and a special thanks to our wonderful community for your support to ensure that EVERY member of our ensemble was able to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime event.