Press Release

The Concord Band Opens its 44th Season

CONCORD, MA, October 7, 2002 — The Concord Band opens its 44th season Saturday, October 26, 2002, at 8pm at 51 Walden Street, Concord with a concert featuring special guests, special honors, and music from contemporary works for symphonic band, as well as classics of the concert band repertory.

The Concord Band welcomes guest conductor Paul Berler to the podium to conduct Haydn Wood's Mannin Veen, a romantic work that is an extended setting of four Manx folk songs. Mr. Berler will also conduct Charles Ives' contemporary masterwork for band, Variations on America, a delightful piece full of tongue-in-cheek humor. Mr. Berler is the Band Director at Chelsea, Massachusetts, High School and Director of the Chelmsford Community Band.

The concert's featured soloist will be Paul Silver, who plays in the first clarinet section of the Concord Band. Mr. Silver will be perform the third (Rondo) movement of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto. Mr. Silver joined the Concord Band in 1997 and has played as part of the Band's Dixieland ensembles. This concert marks his first solo effort with the Band. Mr. Silver has been a member of the New England Conservatory Chamber Symphony, the Longy School of Music Big Band, the Metropolitan Wind Symphony, and concertmaster of the Middlesex Concert Band.

The Concord Band will honor two people with the Concord Band Lifetime Service Award. The award recognizes individuals whose participation over time has made a fundamental difference to the Concord Band. This year the recipients of the award are Concord Band Music Director Emeritus William M. Toland and retired Concord Band bassoonist Bill Burdine.

For tickets, please call (978) 897-9969.

The Concord Band, founded in 1959, is one of the leading community concert bands in the United States. It is well known for its innovative programming and the exceptional quality of its commissioned pieces. It presents both formal and Pops concerts throughout the year. Its summer concerts at Fruitlands Museums in Harvard, Massachusetts, are attended by more than 10,000 people each year. The band's Music Director is Dr. William G. McManus.

For additional information, contact Yvonne Dailey, Concord Band Publicity. Visit our website at www.concordband.org.