CLASSICAL MOVEMENTS PRESENTS ST. OLAF COLLEGE CONCERT BAND on DEBUT TOUR of AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND
COMPOSER/CONDUCTOR DR. TIMOTHY MAHR LEADS 6 COLLABORATIVE CONCERTS:
SYDNEY, MELBOURNE, CANBERRA; AUCKLAND, WELLINGTON
JANUARY 15—30, 2018
Award-winning Minnesotans perform American and Australian repertoire,
collaborating with Royal Australian Navy Band Melbourne,
Canberra Wind Symphony and Auckland’s West City Concert Band
From January 15—30, 2018, Classical Movements will present six exciting performances by the world-renowned St. Olaf College Concert Band of Northfield, Minnesota—“one of America’s preeminent bands,” The New Yorker—during their first-ever concert tour to New Zealand and Australia.
Led by acclaimed composer, conductor and St. Olaf alumnus Dr. Timothy Mahr, the 94-member ensemble’s 17-day journey marks its debut in both Australasian countries, after more than a century of international touring.
The St. Olaf Band’s expertly curated program of American and Australian music, dubbed FLOURISH, celebrates Leonard Bernstein‘s centennial, the film scores of John Williams, Melbourne’s own Percy Grainger, New South Wales native Jodie Blackshaw, as well as classic works from the wind band repertoire.
On this historic tour, the 126-year-old ensemble will be joined on stage by three local collaborators: Royal Australian Navy Band (Melbourne); Canberra Wind Symphony (Canberra); West City Youth Concert Band (Auckland). All ticket proceeds from St. Olaf’s two joint concerts with the RAN Band Melbourne will be donated to Legacy, a charity providing services to Australian military families suffering after the injury or death of a spouse or parent, and in Canberra, the concert with the Canberra Wind Symphony will benefit the Indigenous Reading Project, a non-profit working to help change the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids.
According to band manager Terra Widdifield:
“Founded back in 1891, the St. Olaf Band is noted for its superb musicianship, performing the classics and very best transcriptions for symphonic band in an exciting, crowd-pleasing style. In New Zealand and Australia, we’re really looking forward to featuring our student soloists, and a good march, along with Dr. Mahr’s award-winning composition, The Soaring Hawk.”
SCHEDULE:
Auckland, NEW ZEALAND | Massey High School, Bruce Ritchie Performing Arts Centre
Date: Thursday, 18 January
Time: 19:00
Tickets: $10-35 | +64 021 237 8688
Host: West City Youth Concert Band
Wellington, NEW ZEALAND | St. Andrew’s on the Terrace
Date: Sunday, 21 January
Time: 16:00
Tickets: $10-20 | +64 04 472 9211
Melbourne, AUSTRALIA | The Drum Theater
Date: Tuesday, 23 January
Time: 19:30
Tickets: $10-20 | +61 03 8571 1666
Host: Royal Australian Navy Band of Melbourne
Charity: Legacy
Melbourne, AUSTRALIA | Frankston Performing Arts Centre
Date: Wednesday, 24 January
Time: 19:30
Tickets: $10-20 | +61 03 9784 1060
Host: Royal Australian Navy Band of Melbourne
Charity: Legacy
Canberra, AUSTRALIA | Australian National University, Llewellyn Hall
Date: Friday, 26 January
Time: 14:30
Tickets: FREE, with Eventbrite reservation (Gold Coin Concert)
Host: Canberra Wind Symphony
Host: Indigenous Reading Project
Sydney, AUSTRALIA | Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Verbrugghen Hall
Date: Sunday, 28 January
Time: 16:00
Tickets: FREE, with Eventbrite reservation (Gold Coin Concert)
PROGRAM:
WILLIAMS, JOHN (b. 1932)
Sound the Bells
BERNSTEIN, LEONARD (1918-1990)
On the Waterfront (arr. Bocook)
VIII. March: “The BSO Forever” from Divertimento (arr. Grundman)
BLACKSHAW, JODIE (b. 1971)
Twist
DAUGHTREY, NATHAN (b. 1975)
Limerick Daydreams
GRAINGER, PERCY (1882-1961)
Australian Up-Country Tune
HERMAN, JERRY (b. 1931)
Hello! Dolly
LITHGOW, ALEX (1870-1929)
Invercargill
MAHR, TIMOTHY (b. 1956)
Flourish
The Soaring Hawk
SOUSA, JOHN PHILIP (1854-1932)
The Stars and Stripes Forever
Live from Northfield, Minnesota, watch Dr. Mahr conduct his own composition, Bright Side, with the St. Olaf College Concert Band.
BIOGRAPHIES:
The St. Olaf College Concert Band is the oldest music organization at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, a campus internationally renowned for its high caliber of musical ensembles, as well as high marks in mathematics and the sciences. The band has toured nationally since 1904 and internationally since 1906, when they performed a four-week, 30-concert tour of Norway, making them the first American collegiate band to tour Europe. The band has subsequently toured several times in Norway, Great Britain, Japan, central Europe, the Mediterranean and Mexico.
In October of 2011, the St. Olaf Band performed for King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway during their visit to St. Olaf College, the second time they have had this honor on royal visits since 1995. After the King and Queen’s visit to St. Olaf in 1995, the band toured Norway with the St. Olaf Choir and St. Olaf Orchestra, in commemoration of the centennial of Norway’s peaceful separation from Sweden.
In March of 1997, the St. Olaf Band was one of four collegiate bands from the United States invited to perform for the American Bandmasters Association annual convention in San Diego, California. The band also performed during the opening concert of the 2005 National Convention of the Music Educators National Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2013, the St. Olaf Band was selected through a blind adjudication process as one of only 10 collegiate wind ensembles to perform at the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) national conference at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.
Dr. Timothy Mahr is a professor of music at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, where he is the Conductor of the St. Olaf Band and teaches courses in composition, conducting and music education. Previous to his 1994 appointment at St. Olaf College, Mahr was Director of Bands at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, for ten years and taught instrumental music at Milaca High School (MN) for three years. Mahr is the principal conductor of the Twin Cities-based Minnesota Symphonic Winds and, while in Duluth, was the founder and conductor of the Twin Ports Wind Ensemble. He is Past President of the North Central Division of the College Band Directors National Association (1999-2001), and has served on the Board of Directors of the National Band Association (1996-98) and was a founding board member of the Minnesota Band Directors Association. He is presently the North Central Division Representative on the CBDNA Commissioning Committee.
Active in 35 states as a guest conductor and clinician, Mahr has also appeared professionally in Norway, Mexico, Singapore, and Canada. He has been in residence as a guest composer/conductor on over thirty college and university campuses and has twice conducted performances with the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra. In the past five academic years Mahr conducted all-state bands in Montana, Massachusetts, California, Colorado, Wyoming, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Kansas and North Dakota, and he has been engaged to conduct the Delaware All-State Band and the Florida 9th and 10th Grade All-State Band in 2006. His interpretations have earned the praise of notable composers such as Gian Carlo Menotti, Warren Benson, Vincent Persichetti, Ned Rorem, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Stephen Paulus, Libby Larsen, David Maslanka, Dominick Argento and Dan Welcher. Under Mahr’s baton, the St. Olaf Band traveled to Norway in 1996, Britain and Ireland in 2000, and took a study tour of Mexico during January, 2004. Additionally, the St. Olaf Band performed at the 1997 American Bandmasters Association Convention in San Diego, gave its New York City debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in 2003 and performed in Minneapolis at the 2004 National Convention of the Music Educators National Conference. The St. Olaf Band traveled to Norway again in June 2005, this time alongside the St. Olaf Orchestra and St. Olaf Choir in a tour celebrating the centennial of Norway’s peaceful independence from Sweden. Since 1994, the St. Olaf Band has produced nine compact disc recordings, four of which have received international acclaim.
Mahr is well known as a composer and has over 50 works to his credit, many of which are published for band. He received the 1991 ABA/Ostwald Award for his piece, The Soaring Hawk. Five other works have been finalists in national band composition contests. His works have been programmed at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York, numerous national and international music conferences and in twenty countries on four continents. This year Mahr will premiere commissioned works with a consortium of the high schools of the Lake Conference in the metro area of the Twin Cities, and the Northfield High School Concert Band. He has recently contracted commissions with the Shakopee (MN) and Bowling Green (OH) high school bands, The University of Iowa Symphony Band and the Lawrence University (WI) Wind Ensemble. His works are recorded on the Sony, Citadel, Crest, Mark, GIA, Cafua and St. Olaf labels. He has been the subject of interview articles in Clarino: Internationale Zeitschrift für Bläsermusik (July/August, 1997), The Instrumentalist (March, 1995) and BDGuide (March/April, 1993) and has authored articles for major music journals. He is a contributor to the new text, Composers on Composing for Band (2002), edited by Mark Camphouse, and his scholarly and compositional work is cited in Frank Battisti’s The Winds of Change (2002).
Mahr was the first recipient of a commission from the American Bandmasters Association Commissioning Project, and the resultant work, Endurance, was premiered by the United States Interservice Band in Washington, DC. He has received over 30 commissions including works for the U.S. Air Force Band, the Music Educators National Conference, Kappa Kappa Psi/Tau Beta Sigma (National Honorary Band Fraternities), the Nebraska and Indiana Bandmasters Associations, and a work celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the American School Band Directors Association. He is a recipient of the National Band Association’s “Citation of Excellence” and was elected in 1993 to membership in the American Bandmasters Association. Mahr was recently inducted into his alma mater’s Hall of Excellence at LaCrosse Central High School.
Mahr (b. 1956) graduated with two degrees summa cum laude from St. Olaf College in 1977 and 1978 (B.M. Theory/Composition and B.A. Music Education). In 1983 he received the Master of Arts degree in Trombone Performance from The University of Iowa, where in 1995 he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Instrumental Conducting.
Royal Australian Navy Band Melbourne is based at HMAS Cerberus, Westernport, Victoria. The Band consists of 33 full-time members under the musical direction of Lieutenant Andrew Stokes, and is complemented by a number of Naval Reserve Musicians as required. RAN Band Melbourne provides musical support for Navy ceremonies, events and deployments, and is a highly professional public relations asset to the Royal Australian Navy. All members of the Band perform in the Parade Band and Concert Band with the majority also performing in a variety of smaller ensembles including Big Band, Jazz Group, Rock Band and Brass or Wind Quintets. In addition to supporting ceremonial occasions, RAN Band Melbourne also performs at many public events throughout Melbourne and Victoria, including school concerts, community music festivals, local commemorative services and large sporting events. In short, RAN Band Melbourne is an extremely versatile group of talented musicians who are proud to serve the nation in the finest traditions of the Royal Australian Navy Band.
West City Youth Concert Band is a new initiative created with the purpose of providing a place for students to belong and feel valued for their musical talents. Many West Auckland schools do not have enough instrumental students or qualified staff to offer large ensemble experiences; those that do only tend to offer a limited range of instruments. On top of that, the few community bands on offer are either too advanced for students to join or too far away for students to travel to on a weekly basis. Under the guidance of conductor Matthew Stenbo and the NZCBA Gold-winning West City Concert Band, the new Youth Concert Band aims to foster growth in music and character, while supporting musical education within our West Auckland communities. Students are challenged to achieve their potential in an enriching educational atmosphere where they can form quality relationships with peers and mentors.
The Canberra Wind Symphony delights in creating concert events, sourcing fascinating writers and telling their stories with beautiful colors, striking textures and intriguing rhythms. This stunning wind orchestra – the freshest contributor to the international wind music conversation – brings together up to 40 of the Capital Region’s finest wind ensemble players to present the best 20th and 21st Century contemporary classical music literature. Performing mainly the works of living composers, CWS is capturing the excitement of the ‘new masters’ in large ensemble writing. Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Geoff Grey elaborates … “Think of it as the modern-day equivalent of being in the eras when you could converse with Beethoven, Tchaikovsky or Brahms”. ‘Fresh, entertaining and accessible … It is always a pleasure to uncover or rediscover such incredible, locally based talent’. City News
ABOUT CLASSICAL MOVEMENTS:
Moving the Music, Changing the World
The premier concert tour company for the world’s great orchestras and choirs, Classical Movements creates meaningful cultural experiences through music in 145 countries. An industry leader for over a quarter-century, Classical Movements organizes more than 60 tours every year, producing some 200 concerts every season. Producer of two international choral festivals—Ihlombe! in South Africa and Serenade! in Washington, D.C.—and the Prague Summer Nights: Young Artists Music Festival, in addition, Classical Movements’ Eric Daniel Helms New Music Program has commissioned over 50 works from Grammy, Oscar and Pulitzer Prize-winning composers. Winner of Americans for the Arts’ BCA10: Best Businesses Partnering with the Arts Award, since its founding in 1992, as a truly global company, Classical Movements remains committed to facilitating cultural diplomacy across the world—promoting peace through the medium of music.
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+1 (703) 683-6040
logan@classicalmovements.com
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+1 (703) 683-6040
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