GCC Foundation Encore 2017 co-chairs Jim and Patty Pacino.
Submitted photos and press release:
The Genesee Community College Foundation is excited to share the line-up for its 2017 Encore gala: Icicles and Pearls on Tuesday, Dec. 12. All are invited to support the College Foundation by reserving tickets and enjoying this beautiful and delicious evening!
Proceeds from Encore support the GCC Foundation Scholarship Fund, which awarded over $127,000 in scholarships last year helping to keep talented students in our communities and helping students overcome financial hardships. Under the leadership of co-chairs, Jim and Patti Pacino, an amazing gala is underway to ensure the scholarship fund continues to support our deserving students.
The reception will feature the exhibit, "Waterworks: Water Tables & Other Aquatic Accoutrements" by artist, Jennifer Hecker, on display at the Roz Steiner Art Gallery. Guests are invited to meet the artist and view these powerful water sculptures.
A formal dinner reception featuring seasonal favorites and culinary masterpieces by American Dining Creations will begin at 6 p.m. in the William W. Stuart Forum. During dinner, guests will enjoy a contemporary jazz ensemble by the Derek Reiss Group. A cash bar with beverage service will be provided by the Michael S. Tomaszewski Funeral & Cremation Chapel LLC and the Dibble Family & Event Center on behalf of Michael and Valerie Tomaszewski.
After dinner, at 7:45 p.m., guests will be escorted to the Stuart Steiner Theatre for a special Holiday Pops Concert performed by the two-time Grammy Award winning, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra led by resident conductor, Stefan Sanders.
Since 2014, Sanders has led more than 200 performances with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also the newly appointed music director of the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra and the Round Rock Symphony in Central Texas.
This year, he will serve as the principal conductor for the 2018 Hot Springs Music Festival in Arkansas. Recent guest conducting appearances have taken him from Poland to Ecuador, as well as around the United States to Virginia, Naples, Syracuse, San Antonio, Austin and Corpus Christi. He studied at the University of Texas at Austin and was a fellow at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the Juilliard School. This will be Sanders' final season with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
The BPO's performance at Encore will feature principal oboist Henry Ward. A Philadelphia area native, Ward previously served two seasons as acting associate principal oboe for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Ward's solo debut was in 2012 when he performed Mozart's Oboe Concerto in C Major with the Carnegie Mellon Chamber Orchestra.
The spectacular Encore evening concludes with an exquisite dessert reception at 9:30 p.m. held in the Wolcott J. Humphrey III Student Union.
"This year's Encore gala is sure to be a special evening for all. From the 'Waterworks' exhibit in the art gallery, to the delicious meal and the moving musical performances, Encore is truly an evening to celebrate all that the GCC Foundation brings to our communities," says Encore Chairperson Patti Pacino. "My husband, Jim, and I are thrilled and honored to be a part of it this year."
Once again this year, Five Star Bank led the support for Encore as the Benefactor Sponsor. However, sponsorship opportunities are still available at the following levels:
Conductor's Circle -- $1,000 entitles donor to six tickets to the gala and Prelude Reception
Golden Baton Society -- $600 entitles donor to four tickets to the gala and Prelude Reception
Inner Circle -- $300 entitles donor to two tickets to the gala and Prelude Reception
Patron -- to attend the gala, supporters can purchase tickets for $100 each
To become a 2017 Encore sponsor, please contact the Foundation Office at (585) 345-6809.
Questions regarding the Encore event can be directed to the GCC Foundation at (585) 345-6809 or via email foundation@genesee.edu
Below is principal oboist Henry Ward. Bottom photo is Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Resident Conductor Stefan Sanders.
Opening night of "Sally Cotter and the Censored Stone" SOLD OUT its first performance at Batavia High School last evening. Students from the Drama Club performed their 16th annual show and had the crowd laughing and on their toes throughout the performance.
Director Caryn Leigh Wood has worked with many students but this was challenging, especially toward the finale. Sorrow was still resonating for the cast, who lost a former BHS student, Tori Nigro, in a sudden accident last week.
The Drama Club ended the performance with a tribute honoring the memory of Tori.
There are two remaining shows, tonight at 7:30 and a matinee tomorrow at 2 o'clock. Tickets are $8, and $6 for students and seniors.
For more photos go to: http://steveognibenephotography.zenfolio.com/p419033762
The Genesee Chorale performs "Christmas Memories" this Saturday and Monday in Batavia and Medina.
The program includes some new, some old and some old favorites with a new twist, sung by approximately 70 singers under the direction of Ric Jones and with accompaniment by Doug Hanson.
Concerts are at 7 p.m. Dec. 2 at St. James Episcopal Church, 405 E. Main St., Batavia, and at 7 p.m. Dec. 4 at First Presbyterian Church, 522 S. Main St., Medina.
Tickets are $8 presale, available from Chorale members or online at www.GeneseeChorale.com.
Photos by Howard Owens from Monday's rehearsal at St. James.
Genesee Community College's Forum Players will perform "Strong Kids" Children's Theatre at 7 p.m., Dec. 1, at the Stuart Steiner Theater.
The musical celebrates confidence and believing in one's self while simultaneously addressing bullying, peer pressure, and rejection often faced by children today. It is a musical compilation of poems, new and original monologues, and some classic favorites from "Hairspray," "The King and I," "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown," "Wicked," and "The Lion King."
The cast of "Strong Kids" are all GCC students and includes singers, dancers and soloists.
The cast:
"Strong Kids" is directed by Maryanne Arena.
Tickets to see "Strong Kids" are available now and are $8 for adults, $5 for seniors (55+) and GCC faculty/staff. Students and children pay $3, and GCC alumni with ID will receive a $2 discount on an adult ticket. To reserve seats, contact the GCC box office at boxoffice@genesee.edu or (585) 345-6814.
There will be a Jamboree Benefit Fundraiser for Mark Dougherty at the Stafford Fire Hall from 2 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 3. Admission is free; donations accepted.
Five bands will perform:
There will also be a basket raffle, 50/50 and Bell Jar tickets.
Special thanks to Bill Pitcher.
The Stafford Fire Hall is located at 6153 Main Road in Stafford.
There will be a Jamboree Benefit Fundraiser for Mark Dougherty at the Stafford Fire Hall from 2 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 3. Admission is free; donations accepted.
Five bands will perform:
There will also be a basket raffle, 50/50 and Bell Jar tickets.
Special thanks to Bill Pitcher.
The Stafford Fire Hall is located at 6153 Main Road in Stafford.
The Genesee Chorale Ensemble, a select group of 20 singers, will perform at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 1 E. Main St., Le Roy on Thursday, Dec. 21 at 7 p.m.
The group, under the direction of Ric Jones, will perform sacred and secular music of the season. The evening will also include a vocal quartet of Kim and Tom Cox, Jim Ellison and Pat Fussell.
More than 500 music students from the eight-county region were at Batavia High School today for the NYSSMA Zone 2 Area All-State Music Festival.
NYSSMA is the New York State School Music Association.
There were performances by the orchestra, concert band, treble choir, and mixed choir.
Participating local students were:
Alexander: Nicholas Allen, Cayna Bliss, Carson Daley, Kathleen Nolan, Eric Stroud.
Batavia: Margaret Andersen, Cameron Bontrager, Eryn Dunn, Lydia Geiger, Elise Hoerbelt, Madison Hoerbelt, Karissa Kesler, Mary Murphy, Adeena Riedel.
Byron-Bergen: Stephanie Buell.
Le Roy: Margaux Carmel, Katie Dessert, Caleb McGee, Megan Privatera, Alex Wynn.
Notre Dame: Sam Bowman.
Oakfield-Alabama: Jules Hoepting, Justina Pruski, Lauren Reding.
Pembroke: Eli Fox.
The Genesee Valley Wind Ensemble will perform an Autumn Concert beginning at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 19, in the Alexander Central Auditorium. It is located at 3314 Buffalo St. in Alexander.
Philip J. Briatico is the conductor.
These are the works to be featured:
Admission prices are:
The purpose of the GVWE is to serve and to provide the Greater Genesee Valley audience with new and familiar live music, to serve its membership with the opportunity to perform challenging wind ensemble literature and to create the opportunity for the conductor and musicians to grow their collective musical talents.
The Genesee Valley Wind Ensemble is based in Batavia.
This program is made possible, in part, by the Reach Grant program administered by the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council.
Contact: geneseevalleywindensemble@gmail.com
A three-year legal battle for the owners of The Ridge (aka Frost Ridge Campground) appears to have come to a close with a state appeals court upholding prior court decisions allowing the campground to host live music concerts, rent campsites and run a restaurant.
The ruling was handed down today by the Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department.
David and Greg Luetticke-Archbell haven't missed a concert season since 2010, even though the legal challenges to their concert series -- Jam at the Ridge -- started in 2014 when the Town of Le Roy, and David and Mary Cleere, and Scott and Besty Collins, first brought legal action to stop live music at the campground.
They were able to continue after winning motions in 2014 to allow an already-booked season to go forward, and as they continued to win court decisions -- including a Sept. 2016 decision by Judge Emilio Colaiacovo, presiding at the time over Genesee County Supreme Court, that ruled in favor of the owners.
The Town of Le Roy had dropped out of the lawsuits after losing a prior decision.
At the heart of the defense of Luetticke-Archbell's use of the property is that Frost Ridge -- going back to the ownership of David Frost, father of Mary Cleere and Betsy Collins --and its campground long hosted live music, rented campsites and served food, and that these uses fit within the meaning of a recreational area. The property was used in this fashion, they argued, before the Town of Le Roy changed the area's zoning to residential-agriculture in the 1990s.
In ruling in favor of Luetticke-Archbell, the appellate division concluded that contrary to the plaintiffs' contention, the Zoning Board of Appeals did not reach an arbitrary and capricious decision when the board ruled that the owners' use of Frost Ridge was a prior, non-conforming use. The plaintiffs contended that the ZBA failed to follow its own precedent and did not explain their reasoning.
"We reject that contention," the court ruled. "In 1998, the ZBA interpreted the Code to provide that a preexisting nonconforming use of land as a campsite runs with the land pursuant to section 165-13, notwithstanding section 165-39 (B), which requires that an existing campsite of record be brought into compliance with the Code upon being sold. Contrary to petitioners’ contention, the ZBA’s determination is consistent with that precedent."
The court ruled that there was substantial evidence for the prior, non-conforming use.
"That evidence included the affidavit of a former employee of Frost Ridge’s predecessor, who averred that the Property had been used for skiing and other recreational purposes since the 1950s," the court wrote. "He averred that he began working there in the 1960s and observed numerous recreational activities on the Property, including winter sports, live music, and campsite rentals."
It's common sense, the court concluded that the term "campsite" includes recreational activities, which might include live music, and this definition complies with the Town's own codes.
"The ordinance does, however, require that any large campsite “provide a common open area suitable for recreation and play purposes” (§ 165-39 [C] [8]), and thus expressly contemplates that a campsite is a place for recreation," the court ruled.
"Although the kind of recreation is open to interpretation, it is rational in our view to conclude that live music, along with swimming and other outdoor activities, is the kind of recreation to be enjoyed at a campsite."
The court also cited evidence of witnesses who said live, amplified bands played every summer at the campground in the 1970s and 1980s, and the plaintiffs failed to prove that use ever stopped for an extended period of time to constitute a break in the prior, non-conforming use.
"Here, it is undisputed that the Property functioned continuously as a recreational facility and campsite since the 1950s," the judges wrote. "To the extent that petitioners contend that use of the Property to host live music was abandoned in 2008 and 2009, we note that there is evidence in the record that live concerts were hosted on the Property during those years."
Photo: File photo of David and Greg Luetticke-Archbell
As soon as fifth-grader Caleb Nichols got off the school bus today at Morton Avenue, he took his school-supplied horn, which he just got to today, and started blowing.
We found the Batavia Middle School student again a half-hour later in front of his house still practicing.
He first learned to play trumpet last year and didn't have a trumpet all summer to practice on.
While he practiced, his mother prompted him, "what did your teacher say?"
"She told me not to quit," he said.
Asked why he was going to quit, he said he did a lot of other things, too, like play basketball, but somebody told him, he said, that playing basketball and trumpet would make him better.
"My teacher told me I shouldn't quit because I'm one of the best," Caleb said.
The Genesee Symphony Orchestra performs tonight at Perry High School and again tomorrow at Genesee Community College.
Mia Fasanello, a winner of the Young Artist Competition, on oboe, is one of the featured performers in a show titled "Festivals, Techno, and Fate!"
The program includes "Academic Festival Overture" by Brahms, "The B-Sides," "Five Pieces for Orchestra and Electronica" by Bates, and "Symphony no. 5 in C Minor" by Beethoven.
During Friday's rehearsal, young music students were invited to sit next to orchestra musicians and experience the music from within the orchestra.
This evening's Perry performance starts at 7 p.m. and Sunday's GCC performance is at 4 p.m.
Tickets are available at the door or through GSO's website.
Information provided by Genesee Valley Wind Ensemble.
The Genesee Valley Wind Ensemble will perform an Autumn Concert beginning at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 19, in the Alexander Central Auditorium. It is located at 3314 Buffalo St. in Alexander.
Philip J. Briatico is the conductor.
These are the works to be featured:
Admission prices are:
The purpose of the GVWE is to serve and to provide the Greater Genesee Valley audience with new and familiar live music, to serve its membership with the opportunity to perform challenging wind ensemble literature and to create the opportunity for the conductor and musicians to grow their collective musical talents.
The Genesee Valley Wind Ensemble is based in Batavia.
This program is made possible, in part, by the Reach Grant program administered by the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council.
Contact: geneseevalleywindensemble@gmail.com
Invictra, comprised of four young men from Le Roy, is the Battle of the Bands champion in the annual summer-long contest sponsored by Smokin' Eagle BBQ & Brew.
Invictra and The Travis Prinzi Band battled in the finals last night in a tent outside the tavern in Le Roy and the judges and audience picked the heavy metal quartet as the winner.
Invictra is Josh Zalar, vocals and guitar, Alex Dunn, guitar, Dylan Thompson, drums, and Steve Stephany, bass.
The band released a single in July, "A Cardinal Sin."
The band was the first entry to perform this summer and the growth of the band from June to October was apparent in last night's performance. There's a real polish to their performance now. They are tighter, more confident, more polished and perform with greater energy.
In addition to the championship title and a chalice, the band received a $1,000 cash prize.
The Battle of the Bands raised $3,000 for Golisano Children's Hospital.
The Genesee Symphony Orchestra performs today as part of Genesee Community College's 50th Anniversary Fall Gala in the brand new Richard C. Call Arena.
The concert starts at 5 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
Submitted photo. Information from a press release:
The ninth annual Musical Memories concert to benefit Crossroads House will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23, at City Church in Downtown Batavia.
St. Joseph’s Reunion Brass Ensemble is honored and humbled to be part of our community and region. Service, and doing service, is the basic core value for its members.
Performing will be Mighty St. Joe’s Alumni Drum & Bugle Corps, Hamburg Kinsmen, St. Joe’s of Batavia Brass Ensemble, Parkside Brass, and the Rochester Hitmen.
Ticket are $5 & $10. Free will offering to be taken. City Church is located at 210 E. Main St.
The ensemble and its membership along with all the other musicians cordially invite and ask you for your support this Saturday evening.
To all the military men and women this is a show you are sure to enjoy. It is the musicians' way to thank all those who have sacrificed in the past and continue to sacrifice each and every day. Thank you in advance for this very special opportunity to share our music with you.
Come on out for a great evening of music!
Austin Park was filled with praise and worship this weekend for the Here and Now Festival, featuring several Christian music acts and pastors along with dozens of vendors and activities for families.
More than 3,000 people turned out for last night's music and the festival continues today through 10 p.m.
Growing up, Carmen DelPlato got to know just about all of the 200 or so songs his older brother John wrote, which he describes as very Beatlesque.
"John used to sing me when I was a kid frequently so I could sing along with him," DelPlato said. I'm a bit biased but I think the songs are pretty good."
They're good enough, DelPlato thinks, that more people should hear them, so he's created a Kickstarter campaign to raise $1,800 to pay for studio recordings of eight of the songs. For a contribution of $10 or more, you could own a bit of Batavia's rock music history.
"We're doing this to share his music so it can be heard because when he goes the music goes with him," DelPlato said. "We're not out to make money. You can't make money in the music business unless you have a lot of money and we don't have a lot of money."
The DelPlato family is a musical family. Carmen's maternal grandfather, Francesco Marcello, was a musician and composer who wrote marches. One of them, family legend has it, was played for Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
His mother, Mary, was also a songwriter. Some of her Christmas songs have been featured on The Batavian the past couple of years, such as this one.
Carmen is the youngest of nine children -- John, Charley, Danny Jr., Joe, Vincent, Mary Ellen, Michael and Carmen. Carmen professes to no musical talent. John, Charley, Mary, and Vinny all played music. Mary Ellen is also a songwriter.
The boys in this large family often had to share rooms, two and three to a room, in their house on Hutchins Street, but there was still space for a music room with drums, guitars and keyboards. There was also a piano in the living room.
The musical talent has been passed down to Carmen's nephew, Anthony, who will produce and play on the recordings of John's songs. He has a degree in recording.
"He can play many instruments," Carmen said. "He can sing, which makes it easier and cheaper than otherwise to pay other musicians."
To make your contribution to the recording effort, click here.
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