‘About the Saxophone’

The Music Section of the Scarsdale Woman’s Club will host musician John Syvertsen presenting his program, “About the Saxophone,” Wednesday, March 15, at 2 p.m. He will explore how the saxophone can be used in different settings and recordings as well as with live piano. The program idea was suggested by Syvertsen’s friend and longtime Scarsdale Woman’s Club member Rita Kuo, to whose memory he dedicates the program. Syvertsen was introduced to wind instruments through an experimental NY State Department of Education program in his Brooklyn elementary school that identified talented students for program and instrument support. He pursued studies of saxophone, clarinet, flute and music theory with John Signorelli, Saul Tepper and Jaki Byard, all New York City working musicians. He did club dates including with Stephen Scott Music, the house band at the Rainbow Room in New York City and the Garden City Hotel in Garden City, New York. He was trained and employed by Steinway & Sons for 43 years as a piano technician. Syvertsen will be joined by Barbara Orwick in a performance of Debussy’s Sarabande, transcribed for saxophone and piano. He and Kuo previously performed this work together at the woman’s club. Orwick earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Manhattanville College and much of her focus has been on playing, singing, arranging and composing Jewish music. A member of The Guild of Temple Musicians, her current positions include Temple Sinai in Stamford, Connecticut and Community Synagogue of Rye. For over 25 years, Orwick has been with the Play Group Theatre, a children's theater organization. During her tenure as musical director with the group, she participated in more than 50 shows, including several for which she composed the music. She rehearses the woman’s club’s Choral Singers and accompanies some performances. The Scarsdale Woman’s Club is located at 37 Drake Road. The program is free and open to the public.

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