Finger Lakes Concert Band Celebrates 30 Years
Concert, Saturday, May 31, 2014 at 7:30pm
The Finger Lakes Concert Band is celebrating its 30th year as a community band with a concert Saturday, May 31 at 7:30pm in the Canandaigua Academy Theatre. The evening’s program directed by Greg Kane includes Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger, which was performed on the very last concert of the inaugural year in June 1985. Other music includes the Celebration Fanfare by Joan Tower, Canterbury Chorale by Jan Van der Roost, two works by John Philip Sousa, and Symphonic Dance No. 3 “Fiesta” by Clifton Williams. Featured soloists on the program will be trumpeter Jeff Stempien, performing on an arrangement of the Carnival of Venice and Vito Giacalone performing the alto sax on Harlem Nocturne. Jeff is a retired music teacher from the Penn Yan Central Schools, who now teaches for Hobart and William Smith College and Keuka College. He is also principal trumpet for the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes. Vito, new member to the FLCB, is a graduate from Boston University and the New England Conservatory of Music and taught saxophone for a number of years..
The Finger Lakes Concert Band’s (FLCB) first year was Sept. 1984-June 1985 and eight of the original charter members are still performing; they are Nancy Pease, Bonna McMahon, George Barden, Daniel Brigham, Louise Smith, Marjie Adams, Rose Copper Brown, Lauralee Maas. The Band is comprised of 54 adult instrumentalists from the Greater Finger Lakes community and was originally under the auspices of Finger Lakes Community College, but reorganized in the summer of 2005 to become part of the ensemble program at Hochstein School.
Marjie Adams has been playing clarinet with the Band for 30 years and never once missed a concert! She answered an ad asking for new band members after missing her middle school and high school band days. She has fond memories of the founding band director, Frank Verget, who had the dream to start a community band when he was an instructor at Community College of the Finger Lakes (now Finger Lakes Community College). It was originally called the Finger Lakes Wind Ensemble and used to perform in the FLCC “shell,” before it had a shell and was just a stage. Band Director Verget was a “bit of a showman” Marjie says, “who once brought a white horse onstage during the playing of the William Tell Overture.” He also enlisted jazz dancers from Midlakes High School to perform during a concert and another time when the rain redirected the Band out of the Highland Bowl during the Lilac Festival, they performed in the beer tent. After a few more directors came and went Marjie got to perform under her old high school band director, Charles Van Buren, who led the group for several years. “We all enjoy the energy and enthusiasm that the new director, Gregory Kane, has brought to the group since last year,” she noted.
Door admission is $5, however student 18 years and younger are free. Canandaigua Academy is located at 435 East Street in Canandaigua, New York.