Hello Teachers,

I hope the start of the school year has gone well for you and your students, and you are looking forward to a restful Thanksgiving weekend. 

Musical life has returned in full force at the Don Wright Faculty of Music, and we are happy to see the return of audiences at our many concerts and events so far.

Performances and Ensembles
I want to bring to attention some wonderful opportunities that you and your students may want to be a part of. We are pleased to offer free admission to all these opportunities however space is limited. Please contact me in advance if you would like to attend to ensure we can accommodate your group.

Below are some daytime concerts that are open to visiting school groups:  

• November 25 (12:30pm): Percussion Ensemble International Week  
• February 16 (12:30pm): Jazz Ensemble 
• March 24 (12:30pm): Percussion Ensemble 
• March 30 (12:30pm): Mark the date! Special schools-only performance with TORQ (visiting guest artist percussion ensemble). More info to come on this special event.  

For smaller groups (around 15-20), you may want to look at our signature "Fridays @ 12:30 Concert Series" series as an option. These concerts are also all livestreamed.

We have welcomed some visitors to our large ensemble rehearsals between 3:30-5:30pm Mon-Thurs. 

Opera at Western dress rehearsals are in the evenings, but open to school groups with advance registration. End-times are approximate.  

• November 14 & 15, 7-10pm (Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel) 
• March 1 & 2, 7-10pm (Verdi's Falstaff) 

Making Connections 
We would love the opportunity to connect with your school program. This could be a visit from myself to talk about programs and admissions, a visit from a studio instructor to work with your band or choir, or from students to share their experiences.

We have people in our Popular Music Studies area who would love to connect with you to talk about songwriting and recording. These connections can be in person or virtual.  

Professor Jana Starling is offering mentorship opportunities (free of charge) for clarinet students. You can download the poster with all the details.

We will be offering a similar mentorship opportunity for French Horn students, who are welcome to attend our Monday masterclasses and stick around to join us for some ensemble playing. We can connect them with our French Horn students for lessons.

Our trumpet professor Aaron Hodgson and our new trombone professor Denis Jiron are travelling to schools to do clinics on Monday mornings. If you would like for them to make a stop at your school, please reach out to me.  

Upcoming Events 
Brass Day 
Our Brass Day is back this fall! The date is Saturday November 12 and includes concerts, clinics a vendor room, and is open to brass enthusiasts of all ages. This year's event will feature Karen Donnelly, principal trumpet of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. 

Vocal Intensive Program 
Western University's Don Wright Faculty of Music presents a 3-Day Vocal Intensive for High School Singers November 18-20 featuring tours, private lessons, masterclasses, a choral workshop, class auditing, meeting current voice students and participating in a Q&A, an opera ticket for Hansel and Gretel and much more! 

Fall Preview Day and Spring Open House  
Western will be hosting Fall Preview Day in person on Sunday, November 20. This is a great day to visit campus for tours, residence visits and faculty-specific information sessions. If you have prospective music students in your classes, please encourage them to register and learn more about Music at Western. If you can’t make Fall Preview Day, mark your calendar for Spring Open House, which will take place on Saturday March 25, 2023. 

Livestream Concerts 
We are livestreaming many of our concerts and our most up to date audience guidelines can be found here.  

High School Competition continues
Last year’s High School Competition saw a lot of interest, and it will continue this year with a new category added in composition. We would like to invite current high school students to participate in a competition for performers and songwriters. This will be an online competition and six prizes of $400 will be available (no strings attached). You can learn more about the competition on our website. Deadline for students to apply is December 15, 2022. 

Please feel free to contact me about any of these opportunities. Be sure to follow our socials for regular updates on what's happening, and to join the conversation. We are on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @westernumusic.

I forward to hearing from you. 

Sasha Gorbasew 
Student Recruitment Co-ordinator 
Don Wright Faculty of Music 
Western University 

519-661-2111 ext. 80532 
agorbase@uwo.ca