From the Chair

Welcome to the 36th season of the First Coast Wind Symphony!

What a summer it has been! In June, forty members and guests of the First Coast Wind Symphony traveled to Central Europe with instruments in tow to perform with musical groups in Prague and Budapest. We drank lots of Czech beer, learned that the Beer Barrel Polka was actually written by a Czech (it's their country's favorite song - kind of like Stars and Stripes in the U.S.), played with a marching band accompanied by dancing majorettes, drank the healing waters in the UNESCO spa town of Karlovy Vary, dined on the Danube, and made many new friends, both young and old. These international trips, open to the members of the wind symphony, their family and friends, and other musicians from around Jacksonville and the country, are planned every couple of years. Watch our website for updates and join us on our next trip scheduled for 2027!

This 36th season opens on October 9 with a partner concert with FSCJ at the beautiful Wilson Center for Arts. On October 25, at Jacksonville University's Terry Concert Hall and in collaboration with JU's school of nursing, we are holding a day-long symposium "Mental Health and Music: Making Connections". Keynote speaker Dr. Jessi Gold, noted psychiatrist, writer, and speaker trusted for her insights and leadership in mental health conversations, is featured, along with Stronger Than Stigma's Gabrielle Magid, mental health advocate for Millennials. The day-long event concludes with a 4pm concert, conducted by Randall Standridge in a program of his own works, featuring pieces he's written that deal with his own struggles with depression. This unique event is the first of the wind symphony's endeavors to engage and collaborate with non-profits outside of the musical arts. Continuing education credits (CEU's) are offered and, while the symposium charges a modest fee, the concert is free and open to everyone.

It isn't the holidays without our annual partner concerts in December with the Don Thompson Chorale at Riverside Presbyterian Church and Palms Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville Beach.

In our Guest Conductor/Composer February concert, we'll be featuring Timothy Mahr as conductor in a program of his own works.

A benefit concert, in March, to be held at St. John's Cathedral Taliaferro Hall, will feature chamber ensembles comprised of wind symphony members.

The concert for the Concerto Competition, open to Florida high school musicians and in its 15th year, is in April. And the season concludes in May with its special Mother's Day concert and reception at St. John's Cathedral.

Let me know if you're interested in getting involved in any way with the First Coast Wind Symphony; our board is open to folks outside the membership of the wind symphony and we believe diversity drives creativity!

Thanks, and I'll be looking for you in the audience!

Ann
acareyholt@gmail.com

Ann Carey Holt
Chair, Board of Directors