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Winter Concert
Meet Assistant Conductor Christopher Morehouse
McManus Completing Term as MENC Eastern Division President
New Dixieland Arrangement Premiers at April Pops Concerts
In the Beginning...
Harvard Band Director Thomas Everett to be Guest Conductor
Calendar of Upcoming Events
Saturday, March 3
On Saturday, March 3rd, 2001, the Concord Band will take the stage at 51
Walden Street under the baton of Assistant Conductor Christopher Morehouse.
The concert will feature a wide variety of concert band music ranging from
that of the Renaissance to the contemporary.
The concert will open with a lesser known Sousa work entitled Easter
Monday on the White House Lawn. Originally composed as the third
movement of Sousa's suite, Tales of a Traveler, the title is derived
from the traditional egg rolling in Washington that was initiated by Dolly
Madison in 1816. It was President Benjamin Harrison who introduced music to
the annual event. John Philip Sousa, as leader of the Marine Band,
conducted on three such occasions.
Gordon Jacob is recognized as one of the foremost contributors of
original works for band, having composed such classics as An Original
Suite for Military Band and Music for a Festival. The Concord
Band is proud to perform his delightful arrangement of the keyboard music
of William Byrd, entitled William Byrd Suite. The Band will be
performing five movements of this work, including "The Earle of Oxford's
Marche," "Pavana," "Jhon [sic] Come Kisse Me Now," "Wolsey's Wilde" and
"The Bells."
Following the William Byrd Suite, the band will perform Frank
Ticheli's beautiful setting of the American folk song, Shenandoah.
Writing about this work, Ticheli said, "I was inspired by the freedom and
beauty of the folk melody and by the images evoked by the words, especially
the image of a river." Sometimes the accompaniment flows quietly under the
melody; at other times it breathes alongside it. The work's mood ranges
from quiet reflection, through growing optimism, to profound
exaltation.
To close the first half of the concert, the Band will play Robert
Longfield's transcription of Reinhold Gliere's exciting Russian Sailors'
Dance from the ballet, The Red Poppy. The Russian Sailors'
Dance, the best known excerpt from the ballet, is founded on the
popular Russian folk song, "Yablochka" (Little Angel). The dance takes the
form of a series of variations on this striking song.
The Band will open the second half of the concert with another work by
Frank Ticheli, entitled Sun Dance. This piece features carefully
balanced song- and dance-like components. The song-like principal theme is
stated by the oboe. Most of the themes in this work are more vocal than
instrumental in nature.
Earlier this year, the Concord Band performed the Stephen Foster
Songbook by Stephen Bulla. The Band is proud to feature its saxophone
section in another musical tribute to Stephen Foster, entitled Stephen
Foster Revisited. Gerry Kriedberg will be playing soprano saxophone on
this work. Eddie Jennings will play alto saxophone. Judy Piermarini and
David Southard will play tenor saxophone and Larry Rubin will anchor the
section on baritone saxophone. This arrangement by Bill Holcombe is written
in a jazz style.
Lucien Cailliet's setting of Wagner's Elsa's Procession to the
Cathedral, from Lohengrin, is one of the great classics of the
concert band repertoire. In this transcription, Cailliet has succeeded in
building into the instrumental framework of the modern band a true
representation of all that Wagner so eloquently describes for chorus and
orchestra.
The Band will close its 2001 Winter Concert with music from Andrew Lloyd
Webber's musical, Evita, featuring the great tune "Don't Cry for Me,
Argentina."
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Christopher Morehouse Assistant Conductor
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At its March 3rd concert, the Concord Band will welcome its Assistant
Conductor, Christopher Morehouse, to the podium. Music Director Bill
McManus will be at the MENC Eastern Division Concerence in Pittsburgh
(story below). Chris grew up in Winsted, as small town in Connecticut whose
only other claim to fame is that of being Ralph Nader's birthplace. Chris
attended Ithaca College as a bass trombone major, receiving his Bachelor of
Music degree in music education. At Ithaca he began the study of conducting
and had the opportunity to conduct the Ithaca Trombone Choir in many
concerts.
Upon graduation, Mr. Morehouse moved to Long Island, New York, and
taught 6th, 7th and 8th grade band at the Miles Middle School in
Amityville. Soon thereafter he was accepted into Frank Battisti's graduate
conducting program at the New England Conservatory of Music. Chris studied
for two years at NEC as Mr. Battisti's graduate assistant.
After receiving his Master of Music Degree in wind ensemble conducting,
Chris accepted his current position in the Belmont Public School System. At
Belmont High School, Chris conducts the Symphonic Band, Freshman Band,
Marching Band, and Jazz Ensemble. He also teaches 4th and 5th grade
instrumental classes throughout the system.
Chris is an avid snowboarder and enthusiastic traveler. This summer, he
will spend a month in South Africa and Botswana on a photo safari. Speaking
of his work with the Concord Band, Chris said, "I have been privileged to
work with the Concord Band over the past two years. I enjoy making music
with them and look forward to our concert on March 3rd."
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Concord Band Music Director, Dr. William McManus, has been serving as
President of the Eastern Division of MENC, the National Association of
Music Education, since July 1999. His duties have required him to serve on
the MENC National Executive Board and to speak at state music conferences
throughout the Eastern United States and Europe. His last official duty
will be to preside over the MENC Eastern Division Conference, which will be
held in Pittsburgh, on March 1-4. The Conference will include over 100
educational sessions and concerts by some of the most outstanding musical
ensembles in the country, including the River City Brass Band, the Eastern
Wind Symphony and the Berklee College of Music's Rainbow Band conducted by
Phil Wilson. More than 2000 music educators from all over the eastern
United States are expected to attend this conference. McManus will
officially complete his term of office on June 30th, 2001, and will then
serve as Past President until 2003.
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The Concord Band has commissioned Colonel Lewis Buckley, Conductor of
the US Coast Guard Band, to compose a new arrangement for Dixieland band
and concert band. Funding for this new work was provided by long-time
Concord Band percussionist and Dixieland enthusiast, Neil Tischler, and his
wife, Regina.
The Concord Band has a long tradition of featuring its Dixieland band on
such arrangements as Original Dixieland Concerto, Dixieland on
Stage and Dixieland Jam. Buckley, himself an accomplished
Dixieland trumpet player, will be attending the premier of his new work and
will perform it with the Concord Band. The Band has played works by Buckley
in the past, including Bell Flight and Danny Boy. Be sure to
mark your calendars and plan to attend one of our Spring Pops Concerts on
Friday, April 6th or Saturday, April 7th.
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In the late winter of 1959 Gene Parish and Bill Phelan, both then in
their mid-30s, gathered with 30 or so other musicians at the behest of
Janice Bacon to form a band to march in Concord's annual Patriots' Day
parade. As the Concord Band, which no longer marches, prepares for its
upcoming concert, the same two men continue to be an integral part of what
has become an important Concord institution. They are, in fact, the only
founding members of the Band who are still full-time members. A third
founder, Bill Siebert, who now lives a fair distance from Concord, played
with the Band last summer; we hope to see him next June.
Trumpeter Bill Phelan, recently honored as one of only five individuals
who have served three or more terms on the Band's Board of Directors,
readily acknowledges that the Band has been a very important part of his
life. His three grown children (he and his wife, Genevieve, also have three
grandchildren) see it as valuable therapy for him. Bill began his musical
studies at the age of 13, one of his teachers having been Jacob Knuttenden,
cornet soloist with John Philip Sousa's band in the '30s. In addition to
his long membership in the Concord Band, Bill spent thirteen years each as
a member of a brass band and a brass quintet.
Over the years, the Band has benefitted from Bill's career as a hardware
department manager, and later a home center manager. Most recently he built
an additional stage riser for his own trumpet section, is supervising the
construction of a new Band equipement storage area in the basement of 51
Walden and helped build drawers for the percussion section's rolling
storage cabinet.
Tubist Gene Parish (actually, he plays a Sousaphonea version of
the tuba designed for marching) and his wife Harriet, have three children
and four granddaughters. An alumnus of MIT (SB and SM in mechanical
engineering), Gene worked for a number of area companies until retiring in
1986.
Gene's training as a musician began on the now rare alto horn when he
was in the seventh grade. He switched to tuba a year later. He recalls that
when asked to list his hobbies a few years ago, he listed boating and
woodworking, among others, but failed to list music or participation in the
Concord Band. When this was called to his attention, he realized that the
Band is such a large part of his life that he doesn't think of it as a
hobby.
Gene has been president of the Band and now serves as its representative
on the FOPAC board of directors. He has been an active participant, both on
and off the stage, in the Band's annual Holiday Pops concerts. Gene has
also taken on the responsibility of distributing the Band's Winter
Festival CD to local retailers.
To help continue the work that Bill and Gene started 42 years ago,
please write a check for as much as you can afford and return 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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The Concord Band is honored to welcome Harvard University Band Director
Thomas G. Everett to the podium for a guest conducting appearance at the
Band's Winter Concert on March 3rd. Since his appointment to the Harvard
faculty in 1971, Mr. Everett has founded and directed the Harvard Wind
Ensemble, the Harvard Jazz Band and the Harvard Summer Pops Band. A
graduate of Ithaca College, he has held positions at Phillips Academy,
Brown University and the New England Conservatory. As a noted bass
trombonist, he has performed with the Bolshoi Ballet, the Boston Pops, the
Portland (Maine) Symphony, and the jazz bands of Tommy Dorsey, Dizzy
Gillespie and Ray Charles. Mr. Everett has been a conductor, adjudicator
and soloist throughout the United States, Europe and the former Soviet
Union. He was the conductor for jazz trombonist J. J. Johnson's album,
The Brass Orchestra (Verve, 1997), which was nominated for three
Grammy Awards.
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Concerts will be held at 51 Walden, Concord, at 8:00pm.
Winter Concert
Saturday, March 3
For tickets call (978) 897-9969
Spring Pops
Friday, April 6,
sponsored by the Concord Rotary Club.
For tickets call Beth Sheldon: (978) 369-6100
Saturday, April 7,
sponsored by the Emerson Hospital Auxiliary.
For tickets call (978) 287-3019
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