Stratford Star

Connecticut Symphonic Winds celebrate

Written by John Kovach
Friday, 11 November 2011 08:56

A quarter-century into its existence, the Connecticut Symphonic Winds are blowing in a new direction.

The group will celebrated its 25th anniversary with a series of four “very different” concerts beginning on Saturday, Nov. 12, at Roger Ludlowe Middle School in Fairfield.

The band was established in 1986 as a goodwill exchange group for the Stratford Sister Cities programs, linking Stratford, Conn., with its namesakes in Ontario, Canada, and Stratford-upon-Avon, England.

The ensemble then was renamed the Connecticut Symphonic Band in 1990, a name it held until this year.

“We’re still the same organization. We’re doing a lot of development,” said Charles DePaul, music director of the Connecticut Symphonic Winds. “There’s always been this idea with the band to be more than a community band, play the harder repertoire.”

DePaul was playing with his big band in 1996 when two members of that ensemble, also playing with the Connecticut Symphonic Band, told him they needed French horn players.

The director at the time was the founder, Dr. William Sand, who was also chairman of music for Stratford schools. He retired from the band in 2003.

“In the fall of 1985, I left my position as band director at Stratford High School and became supervisor of the music department,” Sand wrote in a letter to supporters of the Connecticut Symphonic Winds. “That meant a variety of night meetings and commitments, so I was unable to continue my membership in the Greater Bridgeport Symphony (in which I had played for 19 years), so I resigned. It didn’t take me long to realize that I no longer had a musical outlet.”

He found a way back into playing as the Sister Cities movement grew in Stratford.

“A few people got together, and the rest is history,” Sand wrote.

DePaul, also a conductor, began to guest-conduct, and became associate conductor in 1998. He took over when Sand retired.

“Charlie DePaul has done a fantastic job and has made it into what it is today,” Sand wrote.

“When I took over we slowly became an audition band,” DePaul said. “We’re all volunteers, but members have to take a casual audition to get in. We’ve been able to raise the scope of what we do.”

Now 72 musicians strong, the Connecticut Symphonic Winds have appeared in three European tours, three concerts at Carnegie Hall and more than 100 performances throughout Fairfield and New Haven counties.

Rehearsals continue to be held at Stratford High School on Wednesdays from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Those interested in joining can find information at CTSymphonicWinds.org.

Members, DePaul said, come from towns spanning from Greenwich east to New London and north to Hartford. They range in age from high school sophomores to 75 years old.

Most, he said, are from the area surrounding Stratford.

Two musicians have been with the band since it was established: Sandy Eisenberg, who plays flute and serves as treasurer, and Jim Marbury, who plays bass trombone.

“I was a member of the Stratford Community Band,” Eisenberg recalled. “They were looking for members to join the Stratford Sister Cities Band. I went over and started playing with them as well.”

Eisenberg learned to play the flute while attending elementary school in Stratford. She continued throughout her studies.

“For many of us, our instruments are not our primary way of making a living,” Eisenberg said. “Some of us are music teachers, some are not.”

She is among those who are not.

Marbury studied music in college, at the University of Bridgeport and SUNY-Stonybrook, and was performing and giving private lessons when Sand approached him about an exchange with England.

He recalled spending some eight days immersed in British culture.

“We got to go to the Shakespeare Theatre, stay with the people there,” Marbury said. “It was nice to experience England through the eyes of the people who live there.”

A few years later, he had a similar experience in Canada.

As the band has matured, Eisenberg and DePaul said, it has begun to take on more advanced selections.

“We’ve been playing a variety of different music over the years, more difficult pieces by different composers, with more formal-type concerts,” Eisenberg said.

A new member majored in fund raising in college, he said, and grants have given the Connecticut Symphonic Winds “a new outlook.”

“We’re getting money in aside from door sales and things like that,” DePaul said. “We do have a pot out if anyone wants to give. You pay X amount for a movie; do you think live music is worth the same?”

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