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Northeast Connecticut Community Orchestra
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Play an orchestra string instrument? Come play with us! Click here for details.
Where and when do we rehearse? Click here for details.



Concerts


Linda Tracy Conductor for Spring Concert

Our Spring 2024 concert will be conducted by Linda Tracy of Storrs, a violinist in NCCO who was a choral music teacher for 34 years in the Windham and Tolland public schools.

Linda earned a B.S. in Music Education with a concentration in voice from the University of Connecticut and an M.S. in Music Education from Central Connecticut State University.

She is the creator and artistic director of the a cappella choral ensemble, Take Note!, which is based in Mansfield Center. Performing benefit concerts for the past 20 years, Take Note! has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for those in need in eastern Connecticut.

As musical director and choral director for several years for the Windham Theatre Guild in Willimantic, Linda directed the Guild’s Adult Broadway Chorus and Classic Chorale as well as the pit orchestra in many of their musical productions.

She was also the creator and director of the Capitol Theatre Summer Chorus in Willimantic for many years.

Since retiring from teaching in 2018, Linda has played trombone in the Windham Concert Band and violin in NCCO.

Linda has also tapped into her love of the visual arts, becoming a pastel artist and published illustrator. Her paintings are featured in the book, “A Pagan’s Path to Meditation: 10 Meditations for Yoga and Nature Lovers,” by Willington resident Val Rogers.

Linda is excited to work with NCCO in the role of conductor and thanks the entire ensemble for their support, teamwork and camaraderie.

Fall Concert 2023


Friday, November 17th at 7:00pm
Clark Chapel, Pomfret, CT

Sunday, November 19th at 2:00pm
Clark Chapel, Pomfret, CT




Past Concerts

Program notes and special guest's bios.
Past concert clips on YouTube.
About Us

History of the Northeast Connecticut Community Orchestra

By Jane Anderson Vercelli, NCCO president

Our regional amateur orchestra in the northeast corner of Connecticut was founded in January 2012 when violinist Yaroslav “Yarek” Tereshchenko, then of Mansfield, CT, asked several of his adult students to help him start a string orchestra. The first students he asked were violists Jim Bump of Putnam and me. For years, Jim and I had been playing duets together, dreaming about being in a string orchestra. Now that we had a willing leader, we emailed everyone we knew in the area who played violin, viola, cello or string bass. Soon, about 20 people said yes. Since then, the orchestra has played one spring and one winter concert each year, performing music written by composers ranging from Vivaldi and Mozart to Scott Joplin and the Beatles. To raise money for music and ads, and to pay our conductor, we musicians have passed the hat among ourselves and requested donations at concerts. By 2014, Yarek was looking for an assistant conductor to lead rehearsals because he had scheduling conflicts with paid jobs at Connecticut symphony orchestras. That summer, he was playing in a pit orchestra under the stage at the University of Connecticut’s Jorgensen Center for Performing Arts when he met violist Dylan Lomangino, then a UConn music major. Dylan was enthusiastic about conducting rehearsals and became Yarek’s assistant. After Yarek joined the Omaha (Nebraska) Conservatory faculty following the 2016 Christmas concert, Dylan became our orchestra’s conductor and music director. In 2017, violinist Melissa Joyal of Pomfret followed in Jim Bump’s footsteps as music librarian after Jim’s death. Violinist Dr. Saul Ahola of Woodstock volunteered to do the paperwork for the orchestra to become a 501(c)3 non profit organization. Now, along with playing viola and teaching music in Connecticut schools, Dylan considers conducting to be his calling. “It’s a dream come true to have an orchestra I can work with every week. We’re playing fantastic music, and everyone is enjoying themselves, too,” Dylan said.

Read About Us

Hartford Courant, June 21, 2018


Dylan Lomangino - Conductor and Artistic Director

Dylan Lomangino has been music director and conductor of the Northeast Connecticut Community Orchestra since 2016. He graduated with a B.A. in Music from the University of Connecticut where he studied viola with Robert Merer, Steve Larson and Dr. Solomiya Ivakhiv. He studied conducting with UConn Orchestra Director Harvey Felder and in 2016 finished his B.S. in Music Education from the University of Bridgeport. Dylan currently lives in Manchester and teaches strings privately and in the public schools in the Hartford area. He plays viola in the Connecticut Valley Symphony Orchestra and Beth-El Symphony Orchestra.

 

Officers

President Jane Anderson Vercelli
Vice President Melissa Joyal
Secretary Linda Hilliard
Treasurer Dr. Saul Ahola

Backstage Support

Music Librarian Melissa Joyal
Gatekeeper Eileen Geriak
Photography Mark Thayer
Videography Lee Hilliard
Signature Sounds Mark Thayer
Website Gale Olsen



Support Us

We have two free programs each per year. Please consider a donation at our next concert. Donations may be mailed to:

Northeast Connecticut Community Orchestra, Inc
88 Butts Road
Woodstock, CT 06281

The orchestra has been delighted by a grant from CT Humanities in 2022 for $5500 which was extremely helpful during COVID and grateful for another grant for $5200 to support our community orchestra in 2023. The grants were made possible by the CT State Legislature, who during the pandemic designated monies for support of community-based art, humanities and cultural non-profit organizations through the CT State Dept of Economic and Community Development and the CT Office of the Arts. CT Humanities is the statewide nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) which administers the grant funds.




Rehearsals

Come Play With Us

The Northeast Connecticut Community Orchestra is a non audition-based string orchestra open to anyone who plays violin, viola, cello or string bass. Our members include people who played a string instrument when they were children, gave it up and are relearning to play. We also have members who began playing one string instrument or another for the first time late in life.

The strength of our group is that we have several conservatory-trained musicians who provide musical leadership for those players who have not had the advantage of many years of music lessons or of majoring in music in college.

The disparity in musicianship is reflected in the attendance at orchestra rehearsals. Those players who are the most proficient are welcome to attend only the “full rehearsals” designated by our conductor, Dylan Lomangino, several times per semester. Those of us who are weaker players try to attend all the rehearsals to iron out the kinks in our playing. For us, missing a rehearsal is a rare occurrence.

Many folks appreciate the diversity of our musical selections which have ranged in age and complexity from Vivaldi and Mozart to Scott Joplin and the Beatles. We have played music by Albinoni, Handel, Telemann, Bach, Haydn and Strauss. We have enjoyed traditional tunes from the British Isles and Christmas carols from France. We have reveled in Andante Festivo by Sibelius and felt the creativity of a little known Lullaby by Gershwin.

If you or someone you know would like to join us, please come to a rehearsal or phone Jane Vercelli at 860 428-4633.



Be Paid to Play With Us

The Northeast Community Orchestra is pleased to announce that starting Fall 2022, we will be offering scholarships to local high school string players and keyboardists who apply to perform with our orchestra! At this time we are offering $250 to one high school student per semester (Fall and Spring) to attend at least five rehearsals and two concerts. While we are only able to award one scholarship per semester, we welcome any student who would like to volunteer their time to play with us! The NCCO rehearses on Friday nights from 6:30-8:30pm at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 525 Ashford Center Road, Ashford, CT.

All applications will be considered for volunteer service and scholarships will be awarded based on seniority. Scholarship applicants who are not selected will be considered for future semesters. Please note that all orchestra members must adhere to our Covid-19 Policies: At this time we will still require members to be fully vaccinated (including eligible boosters) and wear masks at rehearsals (KN95 or N95 are recommended). Thank you for your understanding.

Application instructions: Please click the following link to access the application: application link. Email dylan.lomangino@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.



Where and When

Fall 2023 Schedule:

Friday, September 8 @ 6:30pm - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Rehearsal
Friday, September 15 @ 6:30pm - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Rehearsal
Friday, September 22 @ 6:30pm - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Rehearsal
Friday, September 29 @ 6:30pm - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Rehearsal
Friday, October 6 @ 6:30pm - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Rehearsal
Friday, October 13 @ 6:30pm - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Rehearsal
Friday, October 20 @ 6:30pm - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Rehearsal
Friday, October 27 @ 6:30pm - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Rehearsal
Friday, November 3 @ 6:30pm - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Rehearsal
Friday, November 10 @ 6:30pm - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Rehearsal
Friday, November 17 @ 7:00pm - TBD - Concert
Sunday, November 19 @ 2:00pm - TBD - Concert



Contact Us

Email: mail@NortheastConnecticutCommunityOrchestra.org