The wind band world is very small. My home base of Oneonta, NY is even smaller. This semester saw the two coming together more than ever before, to the mutual benefit of both. In ways both commonplace and extraordinary, Oneonta showed its capacity as a great home for bands.

Band activities at Hartwick College reached incredible heights this semester. We began the season with the Hartwick Faculty Wind Octet playing (and recording!) a fabulous program:

Dawn Chorus – JoAnne Harris (world premiere)

Machiavelli’s Conscience – Michael Markowski

Chamber Symphony – Chris Lamb

Krummholz Variations – Oliver Caplan

Octet for Winds – Igor Stravinsky

This was a wonderful program to put together from start to finish, from lining up players to studying the music to rehearsing, then performing and recording. The players were Hartwick faculty members and other professionals, all of whom brought real artistry to the process. The composers were all wonderful friends and ideal colleagues who came to our campus for a long weekend of dress rehearsal, concert, and 2 full days of recording. Hartwick student composers were also involved as assistant producers for the recording sessions. And I can’t possibly heap enough praise on our recording engineer, Mark Morette, whose expertise and good humor guided us successfully through even the most frustrating moments of recording. I will forever treasure the memories of this project. And it’s not over yet! This coming April, I will travel to Clarence, NY for the mastering at the Mark Custom studios. Look for a CD release in 2020!

The Hartwick Wind Ensemble began its season on October 3, in a program called ARISE!:

Sunny Side Up – Michael Markowski

Strength in All Things – Megan DeJarnett

New Wade ‘N Water – Adolphus Hailstork conducted by Jordan Kinsey

Crypto Atlas – Chris Lamb

Second Suite in F – Gustav Holst

The New Colossus – Oliver Caplan (arr. Pease), featuring soprano Ashley Rickson ’20

The Invincible Eagle – John Philip Sousa

We had several of these composers (Markowski, Lamb, and Caplan) visit a rehearsal, and the DeJarnett piece was a world premiere. Balanced with the Holst and the Sousa, this was a wide-ranging program that covered 120 years of band music.

Next was the Hartwick Honor Band! On October 26, we welcomed Jasmine Britt to campus to lead our 3rd annual Hartwick Honor Band. These high schoolers from all over our region played:

Fairest of the Fair – John Philip Sousa

Salvation Is Created – Pavel Tschesnokoff, arr. Houseknecht

Awakenings – Kimberly Archer

Rocketship! – Kevin Day

This concert opened with the Hartwick Wind Ensemble, playing selections from both of the semester’s main concerts.

On November 19, the Hartwick Wind Ensemble was joined by the Sidney Elementary School Band, led by Amy Hoxie, in a program called REFUGE:

Three Billy Goats Gruff – Mike Hannickel and Amy Adam (Sidney Elementary Band)

“The Gum-Suckers” March – Percy Grainger

Wayfaring Stranger – Christopher Nelson, conducted by James Dana

Colorado Peaks – Dana Wilson, conducted by Russell Elster

Harvesting the Fields of Russia – Elena Roussanova Lucas

Songs of Paradise – Kevin Walczyk, conducted by Dr. Matthew Westgate

Rhapsody in Blue – George Gershwin, arr. Tomanini, featuring Prof. Fideliz Campbell on piano

Elsewhere around Oneonta, I led the Oneonta Community Concert Band in 2 concerts. The first was at the Grand and Glorious Garage Sale on September 7.

Star Spangled Banner – Francis Scott Key, arr. Robert Russell Bennett

Flourish for Wind Band – Ralph Vaughan Williams

The Washington Post – John Philip Sousa

Tijuana Brass in Concert – Ted Ricketts

The Klaxon – Henry Fillmore

The Lion King – Elton John & Hans Zimmer

The Beau Ideal – John Philip Sousa

Italian Rhapsody – Julie Giroux

The Circus Bee – Henry Fillmore

The King and I – Richard Rodgers

The Thunderer – John Philip Sousa

William Tell Overture – Gioacchino Rossini, arr. Leidzen

I also conducted their Veterans’ Day concert on November 10, to an extremely grateful audience:

The Gallant Seventh – John Philip Sousa

Boys of the Old Brigade – W. Paris Chamber, ed. Claude T. Smith

Irish Tune from County Derry – Percy Grainger

Semper Fidelis – John Philip Sousa

American Patrol – F. W. Meacham

U. S. Air Force Blue – Keith Textor

South Pacific Symphonic Scenario – Richard Rodgers, arr. Robert Russell Bennett and Mark Rogers

Minuteman – Robert Pearson

Hymn for the Lost and the Living – Eric Ewazen

The Black Horse Troop – John Philip Sousa

Armed Forces Salute – various, arr. Lowden

God Bless America – Irving Berlin

Also in Oneonta, the Catskill Valley Wind Ensemble will presented its fall concert on November 17, as well as a runout concert on October 6 in Norwich, NY, which both selected from the following:

Concerto for Bass Trombone “War Games” – Barbara York, featuring soloist Frank Meredith (world premiere of band version)

Lassus Trombone – Henry Fillmore

Symphonic Suite – Clifton Williams

The Cowboys – John Williams, arr. Curnow

Danzon no. 2 – Arturo Marquez, arr. Nickel

Cheerio – Edwin Franko Goldman, arr. Vinson

English Folk Song Suite – Ralph Vaughan Williams

Guardians of the Galaxy – Various, arr. Brown

At the very end of the semester, I traveled a bunch: first to the NYSSMA convention in Rochester, where I represented Hartwick College; next to UMass-Amherst, where I conducted their Wind Ensemble in Kevin Walczyk’s Songs of Paradise; and finally to the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, where I presented about the Magic of Singing with Your Band. It was an extremely rewarding whirlwind of semester from start to finish.