WASBE Day 1

Well, Day 1 is done.

As people continue to trickle in, old connections are being re-established and the music has started to flow.

After the opening ceremony, two high school groups performed: one from James Logan High School in California and the other from Lockport township in Indiana. Both were amazing school level ensembles - something we don't hear much at WASBE conferences. They played challenging programs that included premiers of works by Brett Abigaña and Jonathan Newman and impressive performances of Bells for Stokowski by Michael Daugherty, Song for Lyndsay by Andrew Boysen Jr., and Redline Tango by John Mackey.

The evening performance was by Keith Brion's New Sousa Band. It included a feature performance by PSWE friend Jens Lindemann. He played up a storm and wore a jacket that would make Don Cherry jealous. This group is made up of pro players with the specific aim of presenting Sousa concerts as they were originally presented some 100 years ago. Highlights, beside's Jens's performance of Air Varie on "Hope Told a Flattering Tale", included Humoresque by Sousa and John Beck's performance of Xylophonia. We may just see a couple of the pieces I heard today show up on future PSWE programs!

It was nice to reconnect with a number of PSWE friends such as Glenn Price, Adam Gorb, Marco Pütz and Odd Terje Lysebo. it's also been great to start to make new contacts who may come home to meet the band in coming seasons!