The Canadian Staff Band joined forces with the University of Notre Dame Concert Band in a unique concert held Monday, May 11, 2009, at St. Patrick Catholic Secondary School in Toronto. The UND Concert Band was completing a week-long tour of Southern Ontario and is the oldest college band in the United States, having been founded in 1846.
The format for the concert consisted of solo items from both bands, along with two massed items at the end. The CSB’s contributions included music by Paul Lovatt-Cooper with Where Eagles Sing and Vitae Aeternum, Dean Goffin’s classic Symphony of Thanksgiving, and Concertante by Stephen Bulla. The band also featured soloists Steve Pavey in Ralph Pearce’s Welsh Fantasy for Euphonium and Band and Ron Heintzman in James Curnow’s Concertpiece for Cornet.
The UND Concert Band is a large group, consisting of around 50 players, but they exhibited good balance and intonation and were obviously benefiting from the expert leadership of their music director, Dr. Kenneth Dye. Their contributions included Curnow’s Fanfare and Flourishes; Trieste Overture (Deiro), the ever
popular Amparito Roca and Alfred Reed’s Alleluia! Laudamus Te.
The band also has many fine soloists, and I particularly enjoyed a New Orleans brass-band style arrangement of Just a Closer Walk with Thee, played in the traditional format, slow then fast. An ensemble, featuring two trumpets, two trombones and an alto sax, were featured out front of the band, with the lead trumpet player almost taking the paint off the back wall. He looked like a clone of Stan Mark, who some will remember played lead trumpet in Maynard Ferguson’s band some years ago. This kid could play, and the crowd responded with enthusiastic applause.
The band’s associate conductor, Larry Dwyer, compèred the program and gave some useful insight into the items presented. He also conducted the band in a medley entitled Benny Goodman in Concert, which of course included arguably his most popular composition, Sing Sing Sing. The crowd also enjoyed Meredith Willson’s 76 Trombones, for which the CSB trombone section joined forces with the visiting group.
The two bands combined to present Bob Childs’ arrangement of Evelyn Glennie’s A Little Prayer, conducted by our own Bandmaster John Lam. Then Dr. Kenneth Dye steered the bands through William Himes’ tongue-in-cheek item, The Stars and Leafs Forever, based on the famous Sousa march.
Following a standing ovation, the UND band invited Bandmaster John Lam to conduct them in the university’s famous football song, The Fighting Irish, to end the night. It was interesting to hear and see this fine group in action, and as Dr. Dye mentioned in his remarks, confirmed to all of us how music transcends all borders and cultures.