Bucknell has sponsored the band for the past 30 years to further enrich the arts environment of the Susquehanna Valley.
LEWISBURG, Pa. — The Penn Central Wind Band will present its 30th anniversary concert beginning at 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 29 in Bucknell University’s Weis Center for the Performing Arts. Admission is free.
Bucknell Professor William Kenny, music, is the band’s conductor.
“When this band first formed, it didn’t occur to me that we would still be making music together all these years later,” Kenny says. “Many of the players from our first concert will again be on the stage Saturday night. That’s especially rewarding.”
The program includes cornerstone works for band such as Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Folk Song Suite. “It’s such a classic piece, and this month marks the 100th anniversary of its premier, so including it on the program seemed like a great fit,” Kenny says.
The concert will also feature three of the band’s decades-long trumpet players Herb McKinstry, State College; Dale Orris, Winfield; and Mike Trego from Port Royal performing the virtuosic Roller Coaster for Trumpet Trio and Band.
The band comprises professional musicians from over 20 cities from throughout the regions including Lewisburg, Williamsport, Milton, Selinsgrove, State College, Scranton and Schuylkill Haven, among others. It has been honored by having received invitations to perform for the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association conference in Pittsburgh and the national meeting of the Association of Concert bands in Williamsport. The band is a recipient of the Sudler Silver Scroll awarded by the John Philip Sousa society in recognition of the band’s exceptional musicianship and its musical contributions to the region.
Bucknell has sponsored the band for the past 30 years to further enrich the arts environment of the Susquehanna Valley.
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CONTACT: William Kenny, conductor, 570-577-2238, william.kenny@bucknell.edu