Michael Garvey joined the Contra Costa Wind Symphony as Principal Bassoonist in 2004. He is a frequent performer with many San Francisco Bay Area ensembles, including the Ohlone Wind Orchestra, San Francisco Composer's Chamber Orchestra, and Diablo Valley Philharmonic. He has performed with Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, Kensington Symphony Orchestra, Livermore-Amador Symphony, Pro Art Symphony Orchestra, Prometheus Symphony, Berkeley Opera, Opera Nova and others. During summers, he regularly assists and performs with the UC Berkeley Summer Symphony.

Mr. Garvey was a member of the San Franciso Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) during its first five seasons (1981-1986). In 1986, during its first European Tour, The SFSYO was awarded the world's highest honor for a young musician's orchestral ensemble, the City of Vienna Prize, at the Fifteenth International Youth and Music Festival.

Michael Garvey studied bassoon with Walter Green, Stephen Paulson and Rufus Olivier, Jr. and Clarinet with Donald Carroll. He attended San Francisco State University, where he studied orchestra performance practice with Lazlo Varga.

Steven Reineke's boundless enthusiasm and exceptional artistry have made him one of the nation's most sought-after pops conductors, composers and arrangers. In 2010-2011, Reineke begins his second season as Music Director of The New York Pops. In addition to conducting the orchestra's annual Carnegie Hall concert series, Reineke leads concert tours, recordings and nationwide telecasts, including the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks on NBC Television. New York's only permanent and professional symphonic pops orchestra, The New York Pops is the largest independent pops orchestra in the United States.

In addition Mr. Reineke serves as Principal Pops Conductor of the Long Beach and Modesto Symphony Orchestras and he retains the title of Associate Conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, where for fifteen years he served as a composer, arranger and conducting protégé of the late celebrated pops conductor Erich Kunzel.

Steven Reineke's recent guest conducting appearances include the orchestras of National (Washington, D.C.), Houston, Toronto, Detroit, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Vancouver and Edmonton. He made his Boston Pops and Philadelphia Orchestra debuts in 2009 and appeared twice with The Philadelphia Orchestra in 2010. He made his Hollywood Bowl debut in 2007 with the multi-faceted entertainer Wayne Brady and returned to the Hollywood Bowl in 2008 to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In addition, Mr. Reineke conducted, arranged and orchestrated the music for Mr. Brady's orchestral show and played the same role in his collaboration with rock legend Peter Frampton.

As the creator of more than one hundred orchestral arrangements for the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Mr. Reineke's arrangements have been performed worldwide, and can be heard on numerous Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recordings on the Telarc label. Mr. Reineke is also an established symphonic composer. His works Celebration Fanfare, Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Casey at the Bat are performed frequently in North America, with recent performances by the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic. In August 2008 his Sun Valley Festival Fanfare debuted with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony to commemorate the opening of the orchestra's new pavilion. In 2005 his Festival Te Deum and Swan's Island Sojourn were performed by the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops respectively. The Cincinnati Enquirer had this to say about Festival Te Deum: "Melodious and joyous, it had antiphonal brass in the balconies, organ, full orchestra and wonderful choral passages.” His numerous wind ensemble compositions are published by the C.L. Barnhouse Company and are performed by concert bands around the world.

A native of Ohio, Mr. Reineke is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio, where he earned bachelor of music degrees with honors in both trumpet performance and music composition. He currently resides in New York City. Mr. Reineke is represented by Peter Throm Management, LLC.

PROGRAM NOTES: SYMPHONY NO. 1 "NEW DAY RISING"

The title plays a dual roll in describing the day that the city was destroyed as well as the rebuilding that occurred following the destruction. Each day brings with it new challenges. It is scored in four movements:

I. "City of Gold"

The work begins with an ominous and foreboding introduction that signifies the danger beneath the Earth and the destruction that will soon ensue. This fades into a glorious picture of San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century. It is a vibrant, colorful place. We hear the sounds of ragtime and trolley cars. The city is bustling with life and commerce.

II. "Nocturne"

The second movement depicts the city on the evening of April 17th, 1906. The frenetic pace of the day has given way to a more peaceful, relaxed atmosphere. The people of San Francisco are blissfully unaware of what is to come in the ensuing hours. Strains of the aria "I Try Not to Own That I Tremble" from Bizet's "Carmen" are wafting through the streets. This movement is segue attacca into the third movement.

III. "And the Earth Trembled"

The third movement begins in the early morning hours of April 18th, 1906. The city sleeps and is unprepared for the tragedy to come. Suddenly the fault line rips and the Earth begins to tear apart. Devastation and destruction ensues as the city turns to chaos caused by tremors and aftershocks of the earthquake. An odd-metered march develops that signifies the soldiers marching in to take control of the city as it burns in the aftermath of the quake.

IV. "New Day Rising"

The final movement depicts the rebuilding of shattered lives and restoring of civilization. It begins in peaceful sadness then grows from despair into restored faith and renewed hope. On the Sunday following the great earthquake, a minister gathered his flock for an impromptu church service on a grassy knoll in Golden Gate Park. Beside the minister stood a young man with a battered cornet. His melody drew hundreds of refugees of all denominations and creeds. They repeated in solemn voice "Other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on Thee; leave, oh, leave me not alone, still support and comfort me." After the glorious and majestic finale, the coda ends quietly with the final unresolved chord signifying the danger that still lurks beneath the Earth. It can and will strike again someday.