Crane Symphonic & Concert Bands Take Stage for Joint Fall Performance on Oct. 10

SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music Presents Joint Performance by Crane Symphonic Band and Crane Concert Band

SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music will present a concert featuring both the Crane Concert Band and the Crane Symphonic Band, on Thursday, Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m., in the Helen M. Hosmer Concert Hall.

The Crane Symphonic Band will open the concert with Joseph Willcox Jenkins’ “An American Overture for Band, Op. 13,” followed by Timothy Kramers’ “Mosaics” and Adolphus Hailstork’s “American Guernica.” The band will also present “Amazing Grace” by Frank Ticheli, the “Symphonic Suite” by Clifton Williams and “The Washington Post March” by John Philip Sousa.

Following an intermission, the Crane Concert Band will take the stage. The band will open with David Biedenbender’s “Stomp” and Vincent Persichetti’s “Divertimento for Band, Op. 42.” The ensemble will then present an arrangement of Johannes Brahms’ “Blessed Are They” (from “Ein Deutsches Requiem”), arranged by Barbara Buehlman, immediately followed by Steve Danyew’s “Into the Silent Land.” The concert will close with John Mackey’s “Aurora Awakes.”

This concert is free, and the public is invited to attend.

About the performers:

Conducted by Dr. Brian K. Doyle, the Crane Symphonic Band is SUNY Potsdam’s oldest wind band. James Garfield, a 1905 Potsdam Normal School graduate, established the band as The Normal Band in 1926. Although Garfield referred to the group as the Symphonic Band as early as 1940, the ensemble went through several official name changes before Professor Harry Phillips settled permanently upon the current name. Guest conductors have included Percy Grainger, Edwin Franko Goldman, Vincent Persichetti, Capt. William J. Stannard (founder of the U.S. Army Band, “Pershing’s Own”) and Col. William Santlemann (U.S. Marine Corps Band, “The President’s Own”). The Crane Symphonic Band has premiered numerous works, including those by Crane faculty members Arthur Frackenpohl, Robert Washburn and Elliot Del Borgo.

Conducted by new faculty member and Associate Director of Bands Dr. William L. Lake, Jr., the Crane Concert Band dates back to the earliest days of the Potsdam Normal School’s Music Department. Begun as a laboratory band, the “Junior Band” was where younger students received experience on secondary instruments and older students practiced their conducting skills. The Concert Band underwent several name changes, including a period in the 1970s where bands were assigned colors (Red, Blue and Green) to emphasize their co-equal natures, a trait still adhered to today. Past conductors have included Joshua Roach, Michael Schaff, Rebekah Covell, Alan Woy, Roy Schaberg and Gordon Mathie. Both Elliot Del Borgo and Robert Washburn guest conducted and composed works for the Concert Band.

This concert will be broadcast live on the Crane School of Music YouTube channel at the performance time. To view the program and see other upcoming streaming performances, visit www.potsdam.edu/academics/Crane/streaming.

About The Crane School of Music:

Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York’s only All-Steinway institution. For more information, please visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.