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Since 1959..................P.O. Box
302, Concord MA 01742............Published Semi-annually
Winter/Spring 1998 Newsletter
Young Artist Kathryn René to Perform
Winter Concert
Michelle French Returns
A Busy Summer Schedule
What Your Money Buys
McManus Elected President of MENC Eastern Division
Berkshire Band Fest
Calendar of Events
Previous Issues of Notes:
Young Artist Kathryn René to Perform
Kathryn (Katie) René, is this year's winner of the Concord Band's Young
Artist Scholarship, will perform at the Concord Band's Winter Concert,
Saturday March 7 at 8:15pm. The Young Artist Competition is now in its
third year. Katie, 16, is a junior at Lowell High School, where she is an
honors student recently inducted into the National Honor Society. A
flutist for six years, Katie is an active member of the Lowell High
Marching and Concert Bands, the Jazz Band and the A Capella Choir. She is
also a member of the Chelmsford Community Band, the Chelmsford Flute Choir,
and the Timberlaine Flute Choir in Plaistow, NH.
Never one to miss an opportunity to expand her musical horizons, Katie has
attended band camp at the Univiversity of
Massachusetts at Lowell, where she has studied under David Martins,
director of the Metropolitan Wind Symphony, and Prof. Daniel Lutz, whose
Concord Band commission, Dichotomy... Impressions of Kerouac, was
premiered last fall. She also attended the George N. Parks Drum Major
Academy, and hopes to lead the LHS Band on the field in her senior year.
Katie is also a member of both the National Flute Association and the
Greater Boston Flute Association, and has attended master classes taught by
James Galway, internationally recognized flutist, and Fenwick Smith of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Not satisfied to play only one instrument, Katie also plays the piccolo,
oboe, baritone horn and piano. Musical talent runs in Katie's family: Her
mother, Vanessa René, who is a long-time member of the Concord Band, plays
oboe and English horn; her younger brother plays alto saxophone; and her
younger sister plays French horn. Upon graduation from high school, Katie
plans to attend Boston University, where she will major in Music
Education.
A devotee particularly of the Romantic and Impressionist styles of music,
Katie has chosen to perform Concertino for Flute Solo by Cecile
Chaminade, an Impressionist era French composer.
Her flute teacher, Theresa Dovydaitis D'Errico, has encouraged and nurtured
Katie's talents in this period, as is apparent in her rendition of the
Chaminade.
The Band wishes Katie good luck on her debut. We hope that, like previous
Concord Band Young Artists, she will inspire other talented young
instrumentalists to apply for this scholarship.
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Winter Concert
51 Walden, Concord, Saturday March 7
In contrast to the Concord Band's Fall
Concert, which had a decidedly American flavor, our Winter Concert will
feature music from countries around the world. The band will be conducted
by the Band's Music Director, Dr. William McManus.
The program will open with James Curnow's composition Welsh Variants,
commissioned by the Concord Band. This work is based upon a folk song which
Mr. Curnow first heard on the sound track of the film, Empire of the
Sun. Subsequent research by Mr. Curnow revealed its Welsh origins. The
first performance of this work was presented in 1988 with the composer
conducting. Mr. Curnow has composed several other commissioned works for
the Concord Band including Five Concord Diversions and Overture
to a Winter Festival, commissioned in honor of Music Director Emeritus,
William M. Toland.
The program will continue with settings of two folk songs by Percy Grainger.
The first is Irish Tune from County Derry, popularly known as "Danny
Boy." Grainger composed this work in memory of the great Norwegian
composer, Edvard Grieg. This beautiful composition has become a favorite in
the repertoire of concert bands all over the world. The second Grainger
setting is the delightful Shepherd's Hey, a traditional English
Morris dance tune which Grainger also set for orchestra as well as solo
piano.
The first half of the concert will close with a recently published
arrangement of music from the great Rogers and Hammerstein musical,
Oklahoma!
Robert Russell Bennett, who composed Suite of Old American Dances
recently performed at our Fall Concert, arranged an orchestral medley from
the show in 1944. This orchestral medley of Bennett's original score has
been adapted for band by R. Mark Rogers and is sure to become a staple of
the concert band repertoire.
The Band will open the second half of the concert with an overture by one
of the great composers of Italian Opera, Giuseppi Verdi. Nabucco
Overture features what has come to be known as the "Rossini's
Crescendo," an increase in volume that builds over a lengthy stretch of
music.
The Concord Band's 1998 Young Artist Competition winner, Katie René, will be featured in a performance of
Concertino for Flute Solo, a beautiful work for solo flute by French
composer Cecile Chaminade.
Originally written for flute and piano, the accompaniment was scored for
band by Clayton Wilson in 1947.
The concert will close with John Barnes Chance's exciting composition,
Variations on a Korean Folk Song. Chance based this work on the
Korean song "Arrirang." The Concord Band has performed several works by
Chance including Incantation and Dance and Introduction and
Capriccio.
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Michele French, Guest Artist, soprano.
Soprano Michelle French, a favorite of Concord Band audiences, will be
Guest Artist at our Spring Pops concerts on Friday and Saturday, April 3
and 4. Miss French was the Band's first featured vocalist and a frequent
soloist during the seasons from 1989 through 1994. Miss French appeared at
the Band's Fall and Winter Concerts, Holiday Pops Concerts, Spring Pops
Concerts, the Boston Band Festival, and at the Band's summer concert series
at Fruitlands Museums. Her 1989 performance of the "Queen of the Night"
aria from Mozart's Magic Flute was unforgettable. Miss French will
be performing "Romany Life" and "Italian Street Song" by Victor Herbert,
and "Sempre Libera" from Verdi's great opera, La Traviata.
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A Busy Summer Schedule
Mark your calendars and plan to enjoy some wonderful evenings with the
Concord Band this summer. The Band will be opening its summer season with a
concert at Wood Park in Hudson on June 24, beginning at 6:30 PM. The band
will be performing at its summer home at Fruitlands Museums in Harvard on
July 9, 16, 23, and 30. The Fruitlands Concerts begin at 7:30
PM. Picnicking beforehand is a Concord Band tradition! We return to
Belmont's Payson Park Music Festival on Wednesday, July 29, beginning at
6:30 PM. On July 2, the Band will be presenting an Independence Day program
in Bolton. As usual, the Band will be performing at Concord's annual
"Picnic in the Park" on the Fourth of July beginning at 3:00 PM. We look
forward to seeing our many friends at these concerts.
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What Your Money Buys
From time to time we use this space to help those who support the Concord
Band understand the financial side of our operationwhere our money
comes from and how we use it. In the Fall 1997 issue of Notes we
reported on sources and uses of funds by category. Here we give concrete
examples of how your contributions benefit the Band.
Your contribution of:
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Pays for:
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$25
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Printing of concert poster
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$35
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Annual Massachusetts filing fee
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$50
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Membership in band assocication
Printing of concert tickets
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$75
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Tympani tuning gauge
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$100
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Set of music parts
Postage and mailing for one month
Electronic tuner
Wind clips for outdoor concerts
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$150
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Temple blocks (percussion instrument)
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$200
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Fee for band festival
Sound amplification at one Fruitlands concert
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$300
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Young Artist scholarship
Printing of concert program
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$325
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Rent for one month at 51 Walden
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$500
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Digital recording and editing for one concert
Equipment storage at Fruitlands
Rent tables for Holiday Pops
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$750
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Printing one issue of Notes
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$1000
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Music Director's salary for one month
Vibraphone
Bus transportation to band festival
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$2000
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Tympano (kettle drum)
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$3000
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CD production
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$5000
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Commission a new work for concert band
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Will you support the Concord Band financially so that we might continue to
provide the community with the best in concert band music? Please send your
contribution to the masthead address.
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McManus Elected President of MENC Eastern Division
Concord Band Music Director, Dr. William McManus, has been elected
President of the Eastern Division of the Music Educators National
Conference. Initially designated President-elect, he will assume the
position of President of the Division in July, 1999. As President, he will
represent the Eastern Division on the MENC National Executive Board and
oversee the activities of the Eastern Division, which includes all of the
New England States, as well as New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia. In the eighty-year history of
the Division, only two other people from Massachusetts have been elected to
this position: the late Dr. Paul Gayzagian, former head of the Music
Education Department at the University of Lowell; and the late Dr. Lee
Chrisman, former Chairman of the Music Education Department at Boston
University.
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Berkshire Band Fest
The Concord Band is making plans to participate in the 1998 Berkshire Band
Fest, a unique festival for community bands of New England and Upstate New
York. The Band Fest, which is being sponsored by the Eagles Band, Inc., of
Pittsfield, Massachusetts and the Pittsfield High School Music Department,
will be held on Saturday, June 20, 1998, at Pittsfield High School. This
event, the first of its kind in the Berkshires, will provide the members of
the Concord Band with an opportunity to perform a public concert as part of
the festival in the western part of the state, experience a performance
clinic with a nationally acclaimed clinician, participate in master
classes, and discuss ideas that are currently affecting community bands in
our area. In addition to participating in the Band Fest, the Concord Band
is hoping to present a second concert in the Berkshires that same
weekend. The Band members are looking forward to a weekend of fun,
fellowship, education, and great band music.
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Calendar of Events
For driving directions, please click the name of the venue.
- Winter Concert
- 51 Walden, Concord
tickets: 978-897-9969.
- Saturday, March 7, 8:15 pm.
- Spring Pops
- 51 Walden, Concord
- Friday April 3, 8:00 pm. tickets: 978-369-2374.
- Saturday, April 4, 8:00 pm. tickets: 978-263-3743.
- Boston Band Festival
- Faneuil Hall, Boston MA
free
- Berkshire Band Fest
- Pittsfield High School
- Hudson Community Concert
- Wood Park, Hudson MA
free
- Wednesday, June 24, 6:30 pm.
- Bolton Community Concert
- Town Centre, Bolton
free
- Picnic in the Park
- Emerson Field, Concord MA
free
- Saturday, July 4, 3:00 pm.
- Fruitlands Museums Summer Series
- Fruitlands Museums, Harvard MA
tickets: $5 per vehicle at the gate.
Thursdays 7:30 pm.
- July 9
- July 16
- July 23
- July 30
- Belmont Community Concert
- Payson Park, Belmont MA
free
- Wednesday, July 29, 6:30 pm.
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