North Coast Symphonic Band
Clatsop
Community College Arts & Ideas Program
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North Coast Symphonic Band
Guest
Conductor Concert The North Coast Symphonic Band directed will present its 14th annual GUEST CONDUCTOR concert on Sunday, January 20, at 2 PM at the Clatsop College Performing Arts Center, 16th and Franklin in Astoria. Patrick Vandehey, Assistant Professor of Music at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon, will be the guest conductor and Richard Boberg, conductor of the North Coast Symphonic Band, will be the clarinet soloist. Prior to taking the position at George Fox University, Vandehey taught for twenty-three years in the Beaverton School District, building an award winning program in concert, jazz and marching band. He also led his bands to multiple wins in the Oregon State Band Championships. Mr. Vandehey jumped at the chance to conduct the North Coast Symphonic Band. “I am a firm believer in lifelong learning and lifelong music making. The community band movement in this country epitomizes both. I love being a part of it!” The North Coast Symphonic Band will perform selections which are favorites of Mr. Vandehey. “All of them have a certain sophistication and yet provide great audience appeal,” says Vandehey. Included are works by Alfred Reed, Edvard Grieg, Percy Aldridge Grainger, Philip Sparke, and show tunes by the popular team of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. The band will also perform selections by Camille Saint-Saëns and Claude Debussy, including The Girl with the Flaxen Hair featuring Richard Boberg on clarinet. Also on the program are two marches for wind ensemble arranged by the great wind band master, Frederick Fennell. The North Coast Symphonic Band recently received a grant for $310 from the Clatsop County Cultural Coalition and the Oregon Cultural Trust. These funds were used to remodel the music library in the basement of the Performing Arts Center to be more efficient for sorting and storing music. Band members Keith Neal and Glen Hansen supplied the labor for the project and will host an open house in the music library before the concert and at intermission. Refreshments will be on sale in the lobby before the concert and at intermission. Proceeds benefit the Clatsop College Criminal Justice Club. Special support for this concert comes from The Red Lion Inn in Astoria. The event is co-sponsored by Clatsop College’s Arts and Ideas program. Tickets to the Guest Conductor concert cost $10. Children twelve and under are admitted free when accompanied by an adult. Advance tickets to the concert are on sale at Bach & Rock in Astoria. Tickets will also be available at the door starting one hour prior to the concert. Auditorium doors open at 1:15. Musicians in the North Coast Symphonic Band come from as far south as Rockaway Beach, as far north as Ocean Park, Washington, and from Puget Island and the Portland area to the east. Many sections of the band are filled but there are immediate openings for clarinetists and percussionists. Interested musicians should be able to read music and play at the advanced high school level. Call 503 325-3891 or 503 325-2431 or send email to jlbowler@charter.net for more information. POPS
Concert Spring
Concert A
Red, White and Blue 4th |
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History of the North Coast Symphonic Band |
Band
music is alive and thriving on Oregon s North Coast! The North
Coast Symphonic Band is entering its twenty-first year under the
baton of Maestro Richard Boberg. The
band is composed of musicians of all ages from high school students
to retired seniors and from all walks of life. There are music
professionals in the group as well as
students, teachers and a vice-principal, doctors and nurses, contractors,
businessmen, and a fireman all of whom have made music a life-long
avocation.
Wind players encouraged the formation of the band in 1979 when it became increasingly
difficult to recruit string members for an orchestra that had been meeting in Seaside.
Art Vaughn, music instructor at Clatsop Community College, was the first director
of the group and several of the band's current musicians played in the inaugural
concert. Audience response for the band was enthusiastically positive at the first
concert and the band had to play its last number a second time as an encore because
they didn't know any other pieces.
Over the years, the North Coast Symphonic Band has developed a reputation
as a disciplined group that eagerly accepts musical challenges. Director
Richard Boberg and the band
perform in Clatsop county as part of Clatsop Community College
Arts and Ideas program. At the grand finale concert, Mr. Boberg
graciously shares the podium with a
nationally known guest conductor / composer and invites musicians
from all over the Pacific Northwest to join us for a day of celebrating
contemporary band music. These
guest conductors and composers have been lavish in their praise for
the group and have included Theodore Bloomfield, Elliot del Borgo,
Francis McBeth, David Holsinger,
Robert Ponte, David Becker, and Aldo Raphael Forte. In addition to
the regular season concerts, the North Coast Symphonic Band also
performs in the city park in Cannon
Beach for a Pops and at the Liberty Theater.
Another memorable outdoor concert occurred several years ago
in front of the Columbia River Maritime Museum. A contest
was held among composers to write a composition
for band, foghorn, and ship whistle. Several serious entries
were received and the band performed them on a cold and
foggy late afternoon. The performance was later
featured in a short vignette on NPR's All Things Considered
but as far as we know, the pieces have not been performed again.
The North Coast Symphonic Band is a mainstay for instrumental
musicians in the entire North Coast area and many travel numerous miles
every Monday evening to join the
group for its rehearsals. The band provides a social outlet for
musicians of all ages and an opportunity for musicians to network and
be creative. Musicians from
the group have banded together to form the Astoria Tuba Quartet
that performs regularly around Washington and Oregon and the Brass
Ensemble that frequently
performs at Clatsop Community College's graduation ceremony in
the spring.
New members are always welcome to join the North Coast Symphonic
Band!
Prospective members can contact director Richard Boberg for information.
The band represents Clatsop Community College and rehearses
Monday evenings at the CCC Performing Arts
Center at 16th and Franklin Streets in Astoria.
There are many loyal audience members who attend all concerts
of the North Coast Symphonic Band and in 2001 the band received
several large donations from audience
members to purchase new equipment. At every concert the Director
encourages the audience to return for the next concert and
to bring a friend. The North Coast
Symphonic Band is for everyone!
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