KSC Concert Band Honors Old and New Masters
KEENE, N.H., 4/18/07 - The Keene State College Concert Band will pay homage to old and new masters of composition and musicianship on Saturday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. in the Main Theatre of the Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond. Tickets are $7 for the general public and $5 for KSC students, senior citizens, and youth ages 17 or younger. Call the box office at 603-358-2168.
The program, entitled “Old and New Masters,” refers to the featured composers in the concert, which spans over 400 years of composition for wind bands originating in “old world” Europe and the “new world” of North and South America. The concert includes the William Byrd Suite transcribed by Gordon Jacob, Gustav Holst’s Second Suite in F for Military Band, and John Barnes Chance’s Incantation and Dance. Keene State faculty member James Boccia will lead the band through Giovanni Gabrieli’s Canzon duodecimi toni. Mozart’s “Overture” from _Il Re Pastore _will also be performed.
The KSC Concert Band is also pleased to be featuring two of its members as soloists. Daniel Levenson will perform the first movement of the _Concerto for Marimba and Wind Ensemble _by Ney Rosauro, and Nathan Shower will be featured during A Trumpeter’s Lullaby by Leroy Anderson. This is a special event as both soloists are members of the Keene State graduating class of 2007.
In addition to featuring its instrumentalists, the KSC concert band will be joined by Dr. Andrew Boysen, Jr., Director of Bands at the University of New Hampshire, Durham. He will conduct his own composition, Hands Up. According to Melanie Prisby, KSC flutist with the band, this contemporary work has proven a challenge for them to prepare, but is one that the players enjoy performing.
James M. Boccia is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, in Boston, Mass., and received his Master’s degree from Stony Brook University in New York. He has been the trumpet instructor as well as the Brass Ensemble Director at Keene State for the past four years. He has also been active in New Hampshire as a freelance player. He lives in Londonderry with his wife and their three children.
Dr. James Chesebrough received his bachelor of Music Education degree from Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio, and his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in conducting from the University of Connecticut. For 26 years he was a band director in public schools in Ohio and New Hampshire. He came to Keene State after one year as Visiting Music Director of the Yale University Bands. In 1998 the New Hampshire Band Directors’ Association honored him as their “Outstanding Band Director of the Year.” In spring 2007, he became a tenured member of the Keene State music faculty.
