The Concord Band will begin its forty-third season with a Fall Concert at 51 Walden Street in Concord at 8:00 PM on Saturday, October 27, 2001. The highlight of the concert will be a guest conducting appearance by Alfred Dentino, Director of Bands ad Concord-Carlisle Regional High School. Several Studen clarinetists from Concord-Carlisle will also be featured.

The concert will open with Procession of the Nobles, the brilliant, festive cortege from the opera-ballet Mlada by Rimsky-Korsakov. This work is the last movement of a five-part suite from the opera-ballet arranged for orchestra by Rimsky-Korsakov. Erik Leidzen, who has transcribed numerous orchestral works for concert band, scored this work.

Miniature Set for Band, a contemporary suite for band by Donald H. White, was voted "the most outstanding contribution to the band's literature for 1958" by the College Band Directors National Association. Its five short movements each exploits a minute idea: sonority, a melodic fragment, a rhythm, etc. This work is very reminiscent of the writing of Vincent Persichetti. The movements are entitled "Prelude", "Monologue", "Interlude", "Dialogue" and "Postlude".

Morton Gould, called an "American Treasure" by Frederick Fennell, has composed many important works with an American theme. The Concord Band will perform the second movement of his American Symphonette #2, "Pavanne", a masterwork of restraint and contrast. The piece features a delightful trumpet solo.

The first half of the concert will close with a performance of a major new work for concert band by Philip Sparke entitled To a New Dawn. Sparke is a popular British composer, well-known for such works as Jubilee Overture and Year of the Dragon. In 1997, he became only the second European composer to win the prestigious Sudler Prize of the John Philip Sousa Foundation. To a New Dawn sweeps its listeners through grand vistas, pensive recollections and glorious proclamations.

The second half of the concert will open with Charles Belsterling's March of the Steel Men. This was the only march composed by Belsterling, who was a successful lawyer, a steel executive (from 1938-1942, he served as vice-president of U.S. Steel Corporation), and a lover of bands and music. March of the Steel Men features four trumpeters and four trombonists in the trio seciton.

In keeping with its tradition of performing masterworks of the concert band literature, the Concord Band will perform Gordon Jacob's An Original Suite. Jacob ranks with Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams as among the most important composers of band music. Other Jacob compositions such as Flag of Stars, Music for a Festival and William Byrd Suite are considered standards of the concert band literature. The Concord Band performed William Byrd Suite last March under the baton of Assistant Conductor Christopher Moorehouse. An Original Suite is divided into three movements: "March", "Intermezzo" and "Finale".

Guest Conductor Alfred Dentino will take the podium to conduct the remainder of the concert (see related story). He will open with a performance of Winds of Poseidon, the second movement of The Odyssey (Symphony #2) by Robert W. Smith. Winds of Poseidon was inspired by the tale of the Sirens, whose singing of the most beautiful music lures sailors to their deaths on the rocks.

Several student clarinetists from Concord-Carlisle will join the Concord Band and Mr. Dentino onstage to perform Adolf Schreiner's humerous fantasy, Immer Kleiner (Always Smaller). This performance will mark the first time that students from Concord-Carlisle Regional High School have been featured with the Concord Band. The band is honored to be able to welcome these students and Mr. Dentino to our stage.

The concert will close with Roland F. Seitz's great march, Brooke's Chicago Marine Band March. This march, along with March Grandioso and Salutation, is the most well-known of his fifty-plus marches and is a favorite of Mr. Dentino.

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Alfred Dentino, Guest Conductor

Concord-Carlisle Regional High School Band Director Alfred Dentino will be conducting part of the Fall Concert. Mr. Dentino, an alumnus of Concord-Carlisle Regional High School, received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from the Ohio State University in 1976. While at Ohio State, he was principal clarinetist and President of the Ohio State Concert Band under the direction of Dr. Donald E. McGinnis. He earned his master's degree in Fine Arts from Harvard University in 1991, where he won the "Crite Prize" for his research into portrayals of musical instruments in ancient Greek art.

Mr. Dentino has taught in the Columbus, Ohio Public Schools, Wachusett Regional High School in Holden, Massachusetts, and the Concord Public Schools. Since 1992 he has served as Director of Bands at Concord-Carlisle, where his responsibilities include directing the Repertory Band, the Concert Band, two jazz bands, the Pep Band and the Pit Orchestra for the school's annual Broadway musical. Under his direction, the Concert Band has earned a gold medal at the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association (MICCA) State Concert festival in each of the past nine years. The Concord-Carlisle Concert and Jazz Bands undertook an extremely successful tour of Hokkaido, Japan in 1998 and the Jazz Band again visited Japan in the summer of 2001 to initiate planning for the Concord-Carlisle Concert Band's return visit to Hokkaido in 2003.

Mr. Dentino serves as Past-President of MICCA, was invited to conduct the Massachusetts Music Educators Association (MMEA) Western Senior District Band in 1999, and conducted the All Cape and Islands festival band in 1996. He is the recipient of the MICCA "Conductor of the Year" award for 2001. He has served MMEA as a clarinet adjudicator and district manager at the Junior High level. Mr. Dentino is the Associate Conductor of the Lexington Bicentennial Band, has been a guest lecturer at the Boston Conservatory, has been invited to lecture at Ohio State University in 2002, and maintains a busy private clarinet and saxophone lesson schedule in his home studio.

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Amazing Place

This is another one of those articles about how we spend the money you contribute to the Concord Band and why we need it. No pie charts or graphs this time; several photos, however.

From past newsletters, you know that the only paid participants in the Band are our Music Director, Assistant Conductor and guest artists. You also know that we pay rent for 51 Walden, and spend money on published music, the commissioning of new music, printing (newsletters, postcards and concert programs), postage (at nonprofit rates), and equipment.

It is the last category on which we focus this time; on percussion instruments in particular. But not only on these instruments (which the Band shares with the Concord Orchestra), but also the very unusual place in which they are stored: the rear wall of 51 Walden's music stage (see photo below).

Those who have been around for a quarter century or more may recall that what is now 51 Walden, Concord's performing arts theatre/dance studio/concert hall, was reclaimed by FOPAC, the then newly-formed organization established for that purpose, from a century-old, little-used facility known as the Veterans' Building. Funds were raised and a huge amount of work was done by both professional trades people and local volunteers.

One of the inputs given to the architect of the 51 Walden renovation was that the design of the music stage include a place to store percussion instruments. As a veteran percussionist, this writer can tell you that what we have had available here in Concord for the past 26 years is one of the most convenient percussion storage arrangements anywhere. At high schools and colleges (even at Symphony Hall), percussion equipment and carts must be rolled down halls, often onto freight elevators, and frequently lifted (it takes four people to lift a set of chimes) before it can be put in place for rehearsals and concerts. Not here.

At 51 Walden we simply open the rear doors, the accordion-like design of which contributes to the building's acoustics, and roll whatever we need into place. One person can set up the entire percussion section at 51 Walden in 10 or 15 minutes. It is a truly amazing place. As wonderful as our percussion closet is, we have room in it for only the most frequently used instruments. The least often used instruments are stored in two other locations within the building.

Although our closet was built and paid for long ago, we continue to add percussion instruments to be stored in it. Some of the instruments are owned by the percussionists themselves, some by the Band, some by the Orchestra, and some jointly by both groups. One such joint purchase is the large timpani (kettle drum) shown in the center photo in front of its closet. About a year ago, it completed the set of four concert-quality copper-bowl drums that both groups have needed for years. Our share was $1,156. The Band's most recent purchase (at $200) is a heavy-duty rolling bass drum stand (see photo) that tilts for ease of playing and even provides a foot rest so that the drum can be damped with the player's knee.

Do we have every percussion instrument we will ever need? Goodness no! But little by little, we will continue to add percussion equipment as the need arises. To that end, and for the many other types of expenses listed earlier, you may help by writing a check for as much as you can afford and returning it in the enclosed envelope. If you have no return envelope, simply send your check to the address at the top of this newsletter.

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Concord Band on CD

The Concord Band's
digitally-mastered CD

A great choice for holiday gift giving, the Concord Band's first CD, A Winter Festival, first published in 1997, will be available from the Band and at area retail stores. Among the pieces on the CD is Overture to a Winter Festival by James Curnow (in its premier performance), a piece commissioned by the Concord Band. The CD also includes two Leroy Anderson favorites, A Christmas Festival and Sleigh Ride, three collections of Chanukah melodies, Victor Herbert's March of the Toys and the powerful Russian Christmas Music by Alfred Reed.

A Winter Festival, priced at $15, will also be available at the Band's Fall concert on October 27^th and at the Holiday Pops concerts on December 7^th and 8^th. Please call (978) 897-9969 for information on retail locations.

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Upcoming Events

At 51 Walden Street, Concord, 8:00 pm.

FALL CONCERT: Saturday, October 27
HOLIDAY POPS: Friday and Saturday, December 7 and 8

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It's Time to Make Your Concord Band Holiday Pops Reservations

Be sure to use the reservation card enclosed with this mailing to make your reservations early for the Concord Band's annual Holiday Pops concerts, to be held at 51 Walden on December 7^th and 8^th.

There's no better way to celebrate the holiday season than to enjoy an evening of great music and fun in the festive 51 Walden holiday atmosphere! Holiday Pops with the Concord Band is a tradition and sells out early. Plan a great evening out with your friends and neighbors and the Concord Band. Table seating is priced at $15 per person ($60 for a table of four) and includes beverages and snacks. Return your reservation card today! Reservations can also be phoned in to (978) 897-9969.

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This page last updated: 2003/1/18

David Tweed, webmaster