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Since 1959..................P.O. Box
302, Concord MA 01742............Published Semi-annually
Fall 1998 Newsletter
Soprano Donna Kearney Featured
Fall Concert
Holiday Pops
Western Tour
The Missing 86 Years
Robert E. Turkington
A Winter Festival CD
Calendar of Events
Previous Issues of Notes:
World Premiere of McGah Work Dedicated to Carol Anne Burdine
Soprano Donna Kearney of Framingham will be the featured
soloist in the world premier of a new work for soprano and band
composed by Boston composer Thomas McGah.
The new work, Sunsets, based on a poem by Carl
Sanburg, was commissioned for the Concord Band by Bill and Nancy
Burdine in memory of their daughter Carol. Carol, well known and
loved by the members of the Concord Band, passed away last year.
Donna sang at her memorial service in Lexington.
Miss Kearney, a graduate in Music from the University of
Massachusetts, has been performing throughout Massachusetts for
several years, appearing with the Savoyard Light Opera Company,
Turtle Land Playhouse, the Hovey Players, and Vokes Theater. She
has performed for Boston's First Night Celebration with the Janus
Opera Company. This fall, Donna will be performing in Turtle Lane
Playhouse's pro duction of Carousel. This will be Donna's first
appearance with the Concord Band. A repeat performance of Sunsets
is planned for the Band's 1999 concert series at the Band's
summer home, Fruitlands Museums in Harvard, Massachusetts.
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Saturday, November 7, 8:15 pm
 The Concord Band, under the baton of
Music Director, Dr. William McManus,
will kick off its 1998-99 season with a Fall Concert on November
7th at the Band's home at 51 Walden Street in Concord.
Tthe Fall Concert is one of two concerts each year that
features classic repertoire from the concert band literature. The
band will also perform popular musical selections at both the
fall and spring concerts, as well as music that will challenge
the Band and the audience alike.
The concert will open with one of John Phillip Sousa's most
loved marches, El Capitan. This march was extracted from
the most successful of Sousa's operettas of the same name. Other
marches on the program will include the great Radetzky March
composed by Johann Strauss and arranged for concert band by
Alfred Reed and Pascual Marquina's Espaņa Caņi, a
Spanish march filled with the flair and bravura that is
typical of the Spanish idiom.
The Band will be performing two classics of the concert band
repertoire, Robert Jager's Third Suite, and Peter
Mennin's masterwork for band, Canzona. Robert Jager, one
of the most prolific composers of concert band music in the
country, has composed numerous commissioned works for high school
and college bands. Third Suite is a charming
three-movement work full of fun and bright tunes. Canzona,
on the other hand, is the only piece for band composed by Peter
Mennin, one of America's most gifted composers. His many works
include seven symphonies, works for chamber orchestra, concertos,
cantatas and choruses. Commissioned by famous bandsman Edwin
Franko Goldman, Canzona uses the reeds and brasses of
the band in alternate tonal blocks creating a stunning twentieth
century work reminiscent of the early Baroque canzona so
brilliantly exploited by Gabrieli (1555-1612) at the Cathedral of
St. Mark in Venice.
 One of the highlights of this concert
will be the premier of a new work for band and soprano by Boston
composer, Thomas McGah (see story).
Transcriptions of orchestral music, especially music from
operas, have long been an important part of the Concord Band's
repertoire. This year, we have selected excerpts from Richard
Wagner's opera, Die Meistersinger, scored for symphonic
band by Eric Osterling.
Long recognized for commissioning new music and performing
music of local composers, the Band will be performing a new work
by John Frantzen, a music teacher in the Belmont Public Schools.
The work, titled Poem, was commissioned by the
Marshfield High School Band in memory of William P. Selvitelle,
Jr., a trumpeter in the band.
As a lighter touch in the concert, the band will be performing
Highlights from Sophisticated Ladies, featuring the
music of America's great jazz composer, Duke Ellington. Another
piece in a lighter vein will be the Tritsch Trastch Polka,
a delightful little gem by Johann Strauss, guaranteed to put a
tap in your toes and a smile on your face.
Whether your taste in music is a Sousa march, opera, jazz,
classics of concert band literature, or very contemporary mus ic
for symphonic band, you are sure to find much to enjoy on
November 7th. Don't miss it!
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Be sure to make your reservations early for the Concord Band's annual
Holiday Pops concerts, to be held at 51 Walden on December 11th and 12th.
What better way to celebrate the holiday season than an evening
of great music and fun in a festive holiday atmosphere? Concord
Band Holiday Pops is a tradition in Concord and sells out early.
Plan a great evening out with your friends and neighbors and the
Concord Band. Table seating is available at $12 per person ($48
for a table of four; $72 for a table of six) and includes
beverages and snacks. Don't be disappointed--return your
reservation card today! Reservations may be phoned in to the
Concord Band line at (978) 897-9969.
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On Saturday morning, June 20th, the members of the Concord
Band boarded a bus and traveled to western Massachusetts to
participate in the 1998 Berkshire Bandfest sponsored by the
Eagles Band of Pitts field. Arriving in Pittsfield around noon,
the band members spent the afternoon attending instrument
clinics, roundtable discussions, and listening to other community
bands. The highlight of the day was the Concord Band's
performance in the late afternoon which was adjudicated by three
college band directors, Malcolm W. Rowell, Jr. Director of Bands
at the University of Massachusetts, Douglas A. Nelson, professor
of music at Keene State College, and Eric Becher, Associate
director of bands at the University of Louisville. The Concord
Band received an extended standing ovation from the audience,
primarily composed of musicians from the other bands attending
the festival. After listening to the Concord Band's performance,
adjudicator Malcolm Rowell wrote the following in his evaluation
of the Band: This is a wonderful ensemble with a marvelous
history. You perform with vigor, enthusiasm and pas sion,
riveting not only one another but your audience! ... This
organization is a cultural treasure! Before coming home Sunday
afternoon, the band stopped in Springfield and presented a
concert at Springfield's "Taste of Springfield
Festival." The weekend trip did much to help band members
get to know one another better and make new friends.
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Editor's note: The following paragraphs contains nearly
factual information; the column ends with a plea for funds.
Everything in between is an attempt at humor by our Fund Raising
Chairman. Please address all complaints to him, directly.
As everyone who has ever read this news letter knows, the
Concord Band was found ed in 1959. But was it? While the
committee to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Concord
Public Library was conducting research into the Library's past,
it was discovered that music was provided at the dedication of
the Library in 1873 by ... The Concord Band! The anniversary
celebration was held recently and included music performed by a
chamber ensemble from within the Concord Band.
Since nothing else could be found about the 19th century
Concord Band, there has been much speculation as to why it
disappeared.
One school of thought suggests that the Band's performance at
the library dedication was so strange, including as it did music
not to be written for another century, that it was forced to
choose between disbanding and explaining itself to Concord's
Performing Arts Council. Perhaps it chose the former.
Others suggest that it may have been the Band's
instrumentation (3 bagpipes and a triangle) for which there were
not many musical arrangements. There is vague evidence which
suggests that two of the bagpipers doubled on violin, and the
third on 'cello, while the triangle player could also play viola.
Perhaps historical mentions of the Concord String Quartet refer
to the Band's alternate instrumentation.
Conspiracy theorists among us suggest that the Library
dedication performance was so strange that the Band went
underground at the request of President Ulysses S. Grant to
emerge later as the US Marine Band under John Phillip Sousa.
A much more likely scenario is that the Band was unable to
raise the funds necessary to stay in operation.
Please help the Band avoid another 86 missing years and, in so
doing, make it possible for the Concord Band to continue to bring
to the community the best in concert band music: Write us a check
and send it in the enclosed envelope. If you have no such
envelope, please send your contribution to the masthead address.
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The Concord Band lost a valued and much loved member when
Robert E. Turkington died on July 26, 1998. With the Band since
1960, Bob contributed greatly to the Band's distinction as a
community- based musical organization. In addition to his
excellent trumpet playing, he assisted the Band in many
capacities over the years, from serving on the Board to setting
up the hall for performances, from working with his wife, Jean,
to coordinate the annual Christmas Pops concerts to distributing
the Band's new CD to area retailers. For many years Bob also
coordinated the assignments of parts and solos within the the
trumpet section. No matter what the task, Bob always did an
outstanding and enthusiastic job for the Concord Band. It was no
understatement when one of our members was heard to comment,
"We lost the equivalent of five or six people when we lost Bob."
The Concord Band extends our condolences to the
Turkington family, and our thanks to the many friends who sent
donations in Bob's memory.
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A Winter Festival Just in time for holiday gift giving, the
Concord Band CD, A Winter Festival, will be available from the
Band and at area retail stores. Among the pieces on the CD are
Curnow's Over ture to a Winter Festival (in its premiere
performance), two Leroy Anderson favorites, A Christmas Festival
and Sleigh Ride, three collections of Chanukah melodies, Victor
Herbert's March of the Toys, a Christmas sing-along, and the
powerful Russian Christmas Music by Alfred Reed. A Winter
Festival, priced at $15, will also be available for purchase at
the Band's Holiday Pops concerts on December 11th and 12th.
Please call (978) 897-9969 for information on retail locations.
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- Fall Concert
- Saturday, November 7 51 Walden, Concord, 8:15 pm
- Holiday Pops
- Friday and Saturday, December 11 and 12, 8:00 pm
Use enclosed card for reservations, or call (978)
897-9969.
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