May 2022 Newsletter

This small, lovely non-profit chamber music organization under the umbrella auspices of Whidbey Island Arts Council--was initially conceived over the course of 2012. Sparked by a combination of inspiration, whimsy, and naivetee and inspired by the music I enjoyed in Tekla Cunningham’s annual Whidbey Island Music Fest, I first imagined the Consort as a resident, semi-professional early music ensemble. After much discussion with friends and colleagues Chris Harshman, Franny Kenney, the late, great Buell Neidlinger, and Dianne Vars, Island Consort took form and performed it’s first concert in October of 2013 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Whidbey Island. The Consort performed with both an instrumental and a choral division—the choir singing under the baton of the inimitable Dr. Dianne Vars, who also conducted with the two divisions performed concerted works together. The instrumental division, when performing on its own, was mostly unconducted (though one of my personal favorite experiences was conducting Copland's Quiet City!).

We quickly widened our purview, and ultimately performed chamber music from the 1600s to the present day. The Consort produced a few festivals—Women in Music concerts, two New Music on the Rock festivals featuring contemporary, Pacific Northewest region composers, and a Schubertiade or two. Our programming was interesting and varied, and full of wonderful juxtapositions, such as pairing Britten with Purcell for a St. Cecilia’s Day concert, or sidling Renaissance motets up alongside Brahms’ Liebeslieder for a Valentine’s Day special. We performed concerts of British music, French music, 20th Century American music. We performed motets and madrigals, concertos and requiems.

Then came 2020 and the global pandemic. I was freshly back from India in January of that year when the first news of Covid was hitting the airwaves. I managed one salon concert in February, after which it was Cancelled! Cancelled! Cancelled! All Island Consort concerts for the duration of the 2019-20 season went the way of all things. As it happens, what would have been our Spring concert of 2020 was going to have been Dr. Vars’ last concert with Island Consort. With her retirement and the ongoing pandemic, Island Consort has been in hiatus, save for sponsoring a couple of small ensemble projects along the way.

Now it is the Spring of 2022. The Island is exploding with the greening of the trees and the blooming of bulbs and bushes everywhere. New life is revealing itself, as it must. For everything there really IS a season, thus there will always be endings and beginnings, fadings away and new emergences. No doubt the pandemic has given us all the opportunity to till under our green crops, preparing our inner soil for whetever must emerge anew.

As it happens, I have been as busy as ever with my music endeavors. Concerts are resuming for me, and I have a few new projects occupying my attention and my practice and rehearsal schedule. After much long and heart-centered contemplation, I have become away that my time with my “baby,” Island Consort, is coming to a close. I am so happy with this labor of love, and proud of what we have accomplished. But my energies are flowing in other directions now, so—finding myself at the proverbial crossroads—I had to decide whether to till the Consort under or find a way for it to have renewed expression. The latter became the obvious path.

Thus I am beyond thrilled to announce that my dear friend, collaborator, and colleague, (saxophonist and conductor) Sebastian Seranno-Ayala will be taking the baton and ushering Island Consort into its next chapter of expression (read more about Sebastian below!). I remain on his team to assist him as he re-groups and re-fashions the Consort and gets it back up on its post-pandemic feet. He will be in touch via the e-newsletter just as I have been. And I will continue to be in touch about my own musical endeavors as well.

To all of you who have faithfully attended Island Consort concerts, sent your words of encouragement, donated funds to support our concerts: Thank you, thank you, thank you. I remain in deep gratitude to you always. Without an audience there is no performance—music is ALWAYS a partnership and Island Consort is indebted to our supporters and collaborators in this little effort of the heart. Please continue to support Sebastian and the new Consort, and I hope to see you in the concert hall once again.

With much love and thanksgiving,

Sheila F. Weidendorf

~former Island Consort Director~

Colombian conductor Sebastian Serrano-Ayala has recently been named a Conducting Fellow by the Allentown Symphony Orchestra for their upcoming 2021-22 season. He is actively involved with the Saratoga Orchestra as cover and assistant conductor.

Other recent engagements have included Symphony Tacoma, the Royal Military Chapel "Johan Willem Friso'' in partnership with the World Music Contest (WMC) in Kerkrade, Netherlands. The United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” in Washington, DC, the University of Cincinnati wind ensembles and chamber orchestra, and The Andrews University Wind Symphony at Chiesa di Saint ‘Ignazio in Rome and Chiesa Santa Cristina in Bologna.

Serrano-Ayala holds a DMA in Wind - Orchestral Conducting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), where he studied with Terence Milligan, Kevin Holzman, and Aik Khai Pung, and a MM in Conducting from Andrews University, studying with Alan Mitchell. Serrano-Ayala also holds degrees in music education from the Adventist University of Colombia (UNAC) and the Adventist University of the Philippines (AUP).

Through research, publishing, and programming, Sebastian is an active advocate for the music of today, especially those influenced by folk elements of Latin American and his native Colombia. Sebastian is passionate about bringing collaborative leadership, energy, and dynamism to the musical experience.

Stay Tuned, & Happy Spring!
www.islandconsort.org