Wednesday, October 12, 2011

SUNY Orange Symphonic Band: Centennial of Transcontinental Flight & 'Remember Autumn Skies' of Brooke Pierson, Nov. 5

[Kevin Scott, conductor, SUNY Orange Symphonic Band]

Kevin Scott is conductor of the SUNY Orange Symphonic Band. He sends news of the fall concert. Continuing his tradition of introducing new composers, Maestro Scott includes a premiere by the young Michigan composer Brooke Pierson of Remember Autumn Skies, which can be sampled in mp3 format at Facebook.com. Kevin Scott writes:

Hello, all! Hope your summer was fine, and now that fall is in gear, I am just letting you know of our upcoming concert on November 5th, which will be a special program in many ways. Our fall concert has a dual theme this year - the celebration of autumn, and the centennial celebration of Calbraith Perry Rodgers' first Transcontinental flight from New York to Long Beach, California. What makes this celebration so special is the fact that the first stop on Rodgers' flight was here in Middletown, New York, not far from the SUNY Orange campus.

The plane, a Wright Brothers Model EX, was dubbed the "Vin Fiz" after a carbonated soft drink created and sold by what we now know as Armour & Company, famous for their hot dogs and other meat products. J. Ogden Armour was Perry's sponsor for his excursion, which was to answer William Randolph Hearst's offer for anyone to fly across the country. I have programmed music inspired by and relating to either Perry's flight, the Wright Brothers or the music of the period (ca. 1911).

In addition, the band will also offer the first New York State performance of Remember Autumn Skies by Brooke Pierson, an up-and-coming composer based in Michigan who holds a lot of promise. Hope you can make our concert, which is on Saturday, November 5th, 2011 at the Paramount Theatre in Middletown. If you can't, just send well-wishes by transcontinental email, which is a lot faster than the planes of the days of yore!

Sincerely,
Kevin Scott

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