Concert Band Celebrates KSC's 100th
KEENE, N.H., 02/16/09 - The Keene State College Music Department presents the KSC Concert Band’s spring performance entitled “Happy Birthday Keene State!” on Wednesday, March 11, at 7:30 p.m. in the Main Theatre of the Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond. The concert celebrating of the 100th anniversary of Keene State College will be conducted by KSC music faculty member Dr. James Chesebrough.
The band will perform the Suite in Eb for Military Band by Gustav Holst, who wrote the piece in 1909, the year Keene Normal School was founded (and later renamed Keene State College). The band will also play several Keene-related compositions, including a new work, Rise and Fall, by KSC student and music major Brian Campbell. Also being performed is Black Granite III by James L. Hosay, who composed the work as a musical tribute for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our country. This piece will be performed as a tribute to the many veterans who attended Keene State. The themes stated throughout Black Granite III are heroic and patriotic and lead to a solemn, reflective passage that ends with an energetic reprise of heroic glory.
The performance is the first of the semester. The band’s second concert on Tuesday, April 7, 2009, will also be in celebration of the College’s centennial, featuring John Philip Sousa scholar Keith Brion performing as America’s March King. Brion will direct the KSC Concert Band in a reconstructed performance of an actual Sousa concert from the days of the founding of Keene Normal School. The performance is sponsored by the KSC Centennial Committee, the School of Arts and Humanities, and the KSC Music Department.
Located off Wyman Way, the Redfern Arts Center is accessible to people with disabilities. Admission is $10 for the general public and $5 for KSC students, senior citizens, and youth ages 17 and under. For tickets, or to request accommodations for a disability, please call the box office at 603-358-2168 prior to the concert.
