Ithaca College Wind Ensemble

Christopher Hughes, conductor

Thomas Lee, the 2017 Arnald Gabriel Visiting Wind Conductor

Ithaca College Wind Symphony

Benjamin Rochford, conductor
Thomas Lee, the 2017 Arnald Gabriel Visiting Wind Conductor

Ford Hall
Wednesday, December 13th, 2017
8:15 pm
 Ithaca College Wind Symphony

Overture to Candide (1956) Leonard Bernstein

(1918-1990)
Trans. Walter Beeler
5'

Lux Aurumque (2005) Eric Whitacre

(b. 1970)
5'
Thomas Lee, guest conductor

Angels in the Architecture (2009) Frank Ticheli

(b. 1958)
15'

March from Symphonic Metamorphosis of Paul Hindemith

Themes by Carl Maria von Weber (1998) (1895-1963)
Trans. Keith Wilson
5'
Thomas Lee, guest conductor

Intermission

Ithaca College Wind Ensemble

Serenade in D minor, Op. 44 (1878) Antonín Dvořák

I. Moderato, quasi marcia (1841-1904)
II. Minuetto. Tempo di minuetto 25'
III. Andante con moto
IV. Finale. Allegro molto

Slava! (1977) Leonard Bernstein

(1918-1990)
Trans. Clare Grundman
4'
Thomas Lee, guest conductor

The Solitary Dancer (1966) Warren Benson

(b. 1924-2005)
7'
Thomas Lee, guest conductor

Symphonic Dances from West Side Leonard Bernstein

Story (1957) (1918-1990)
Trans. Paul Lavender
22'
 Notes on the program
Candide was Bernstein’s third Broadway musical. Critics failed to acclaim the 1956
debut in Boston, and the ensuing short run on Broadway was a commercial failure.
After many changes, a version produced in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1988, reportedly best
represented Bernstein’s intentions. The popular overture was premiered by the
composer and the New York Philharmonic in 1957. Adapted by Lillian Hellman from
Voltaire’s satire on blind optimism, the story concerns Candide, a young man whose
tutor, Dr. Pangloss, has convinced him that everything is for the best “in the best of all
possible worlds.” During journeys to Lisbon, Paris, Buenos Aires, and Venice, Candide
learns that real life holds more crime and suffering than he had been led to believe.
(Notes by Frank Hudson)

Lux Arumque began its life as an a cappella choral work that the composer wrote in
the fall of 2000. When the Texas Music Educators Association and a consortium of
bands commissioned Whitacre to adapt it for symphonic winds, he rewrote the climax
and introduced the grand ‘Bliss’ theme from his opera, “Paradise Lost.” Lux Arumque 
is dedicated with deep admiration for Whitacre’s dear friend, Gary Green. (Notes from
the score)

Angels in the Architecture unfolds as a dramatic conflict between the two extremes

of human existence – one divine, the other evil. The work begins with a single voice
singing a 19th-century Shaker song:

            I am an angel of Light

            I have soared from above

            I am cloth’d with Mother’s love.

            I have come, I have come,

            To protect my chosen band

            And lead them to the promised land.

This “angel” – represented by the singer – frames the work, surrounding it with a
protective wall of light and establishing the divine. Other representations of light
include traditional Hebrew song of peace, “Hevenu Shalom Aleichem” and the
well-known 16th-century Genevan Psalter, “Old Hundredth.” These three borrowed
songs, despite their varied religious origins, are meant to transcend any one religion,
representing the more universal ideals of peace, hope, and love. An original chorale,
appearing twice in the work, represents Ticheli’s own personal expression of these
aspirations. In opposition, turbulent, fast-paced music appears as a symbol of darkness,
death, and spiritual doubt. Twice during the musical drama, these shadows sneak in
almost unnoticeably, slowly obscuring and eventually obliterating the light altogether.
The darkness prevails for long stretches of time but the light always returns,
inextinguishable, more powerful than before. Just as Charles Ives did more than a
century ago, Angels in the Architecture poses the unanswered question of
existence. It ends as it began: the angel reappears singing the same comforting words.
But deep below, a final shadow reappears…distantly... ominously. (Notes by Frank
Ticheli)
Hindemith composed Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von
Weber in 1943 while teaching at Yale University. Believing strongly that the work
should be made available in a band version, he asked his Yale colleague Keith Wilson to
make the transcription. The March, which is the work’s final movement, introduces an
important two measure fragment which is stated by the brass at the outset and is
developed at different points of punctuation throughout the movement. The March also
includes a lyrical “trio” theme which is repeated and developed. (Notes by Keith
Brion)  

The heyday of the serenade as an orchestral genre was in the 18th century,
culminating in the works of Mozart and, to a smaller degree, Beethoven. The early
Romantics (Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn) showed little interest in the orchestral
serenade, but the generation following them-Brahms, Dvorák (Serenade in D Minor,
Op. 44), Tchaikovsky-revived it; in their hands, the genre came to embody these
composers' desire to revisit the past and to make it meaningful to the present.
Dvorák's two serenades (one for strings and one for winds) are products of the
composer's early maturity. His music had come to the notice of Johannes Brahms, who
introduced him to his own publisher, Fritz Simrock in Berlin, as well as his closest
friend, the great violinist Joseph Joachim, one of the most influential musicians in the
German-speaking world. "Take a look at Dvorák's Serenade for Wind
Instruments"-Brahms wrote to Joachim in May 1879. "I hope you will enjoy it as much
as I do...It would be difficult to discover a finer, more refreshing impression of really
abundant and charming creative talent. Have it played to you; I feel sure the players
will enjoy doing it!" The work is an homage to Mozart; at the same time it is imbued
with the spirit of Czech folk music. Like Mozart, who wrote one of his greatest
serenades in C minor, Dvorák managed to use a minor key without any connotations of
darkness or tragedy. 18th-century wind music often included a double bass for
harmonic support; Dvorák continued that tradition but added a cello as well. Opening
the work with a march is a further classical touch, although Mozart probably wouldn't
have used a tritone (augmented fourth, a somewhat unsettling interval) so prominently
at the very beginning. The traditionalism of the second-movement minuet is equally
deceptive; Dvorák wrote "Tempo di Minuetto" but-as several commentators have
pointed out-what he really meant was the Czech sousedská ("neighbor's dance"). And
the movement's faster-moving trio section evokes the furiant, the folk dance
emphasizing the hemiola rhythm (one-two-three one-two-three onetwo one-two
one-two) that both Smetana and Dvorák frequently used in their works. In the third
movement, the first clarinet and the first oboe take the lead and spin out a lyrical
melody to the palpitating accompaniment of the horns. The finale subjects a simple
dance tune to a fairly sophisticated development, culminating in a recall of the
first-movement march just before the lively conclusion. (Notes from the Kennedy
Center archive)

The Solitary Dancer deals with the quiet, poised energy that one may observe in a
dancer in repose, alone with her inner music. The work is a study in the economy of
resources and sensitivity for wind and percussion colors, and subtle development and
recession of instrumental and musical frenzy. The hallmarks of Warren Benson’s
musical style were well described by Elliott Schwartz and Daniel Godfrey in their book
Music Since 1945: Issues, Materials and Literature: “(It is) inclusive music, incorporating
tonality, free atonality, serialism, ethnic elements and other strains. At times one of
these may predominate at others they may intermingle; throughout, however, the
material is very much Benson’s creation rather than derivative of others.” Benson, by
his own admission, worked in a language with a broad vocabulary of musical
techniques and idioms, dissonant or consonant, as the needs of the composition
dictates, unbound by adherence to a particular school or fashion. His music has range,
scope and above all a clear-cut feeling for the capabilities of instruments and voices. It
is often based on manipulation of small motives, but the composer is also capable,
especially in his vocal and choral works, of sustained melodic invention. Above all, most
notably in his celebrated wind ensemble works, there is the brilliance of his
instrumental writing. He is not shy about painting his music with bold colors but also is
a master, as Allan Wagner has written, of “delicate hues and timbral shadings.” Warren
Benson was Professor of Music and Composer in Residence at Ithaca College from
1953-1967. In addition to his work as a composer, Benson served as the first studio
percussion instructor at Ithaca College. He was a founding member of the Percussive
Arts Society and organized the first touring percussion ensemble in the United States,
comprised of Ithaca College percussionists. (Notes from the score, Warren Benson’s
website, and the Ithaca College Percussion Studio Portfolio)  

When Mstislav Rostropovich (“Slava” to his friends) invited Leonard Bernstein to help
him launch his inaugural concert as Music Director of the National Symphony
Orchestra, he also asked him to write a rousing new opening piece for the festivities.
This overture (Slava!) is the result, and the world premiere took place on October 11,
1977, with Rostropovich conducting his orchestra at the Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The first theme of Slava! is a vaudevillian
razz-ma-tazz tune filled with side-slipping modulations and sliding trombones. Theme
two, which prominently features the electric guitar, is a canonic tune in 7/8 time. A very
brief kind of development section follows, after which the two themes recur in reverse
order. Near the end they are combined with a quotation (proclaimed by the ubiquitous
trombones) from the “Coronation Scene” of Moussorgsky’s Boris Goudonov, where the
chorus sings the Russian word “Slava!”, meaning “glory!” In this way, of course, the
composer is paying an extra four-bar homage to his friend Slava Rostropovich, to whom
this overture is fondly dedicated. (Notes by Jack Gottlieb as printed in the score) 

Biographer Humphrey Burton observes that "even in its show form, West Side Story
 is symphonically conceived." But the vital pulse of the dance had been integral to its
conception from the start. West Side Story became a legendary success on Broadway
from its opening in September 1957-following weeks of a pre-Broadway run at the
National Theatre in Washington, D.C. ("Everyone's coming, my dear, even Nixon and 35
admirals. Senators abounding, & big Washington-hostessy type party afterwards," the
composer wrote to his wife.) Leonard Bernstein supervised the arrangement of a
concert suite in the winter of 1960-61. His colleagues Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal-both
of whom had recently scored the film version of West Side Story-assisted in the
orchestration of Symphonic Dances, which features an extensive percussion section for
the "action" sequences. The concert version of this much-loved music was premiered
just a few weeks after Kennedy's Inauguration, in February 1961, as part of a
"Valentine" by the New York Philharmonic for Bernstein. (The film itself was released
later that October.) Symphonic Dances seamlessly ties together nine separate episodes
from West Side Story-though not in their original dramatic sequence. Bernstein had
toyed with the notion of a formal overture but wisely decided to open the musical in the
middle of things instead. The music for the danced confrontation between Jets and
Sharks simmers with tension. The composer once compared the fanfare-like motif of
the opening to the call of the shofar (the ram's horn traditionally used in Jewish
services). This motif pivots on a tritone, the uneasy-sounding interval that is seeded
throughout the entire score and serves as its fundamental motivic idea. The tritone's
inherent ambiguity is apparent from the motif's appearance in the gang music as well
as in the opening notes of "Maria," with their suggestion of longing. Menace yields to
the fragile hope expressed in "Somewhere," a dream vision of love which occurs near
the beginning of the second act. But cloudier harmonies darken the picture to underline
its utopian unreality. A brief Scherzo hints at the Americana landscapes of Bernstein's
friend Aaron Copland. This acts as a transition to the Latin-tinged music for the Dance
at the Gym, where Tony and Maria meet and instantly fall in love. The stylized energy
of the dances sublimates the gangs' violent impulses, while the gentle rhythms of
"Cha-cha" focus the camera on the young lovers. The brief "Meeting Scene," however,
is set against the ugly, ever-present threat of violence, this time channeled into a
thrilling jazz-fugue sequence. Bernstein unleashes the pent-up ferocity of ethnic hatred
between the Sharks and Jets in the climactic "Rumble." But the possibility of a way out
of this dead end returns in the lyrical intensity of Maria's "I Have a Love," introduced by
a meandering flute solo. The harmonies darken once more, and a brief reprise of the
"Somewhere" chorus concludes the suite. (Notes from the Kennedy Center archive)
 Wind Ensemble Personnel
Piccolo Bassoon Trombone
Julia Muller Brittany Giles Matthew Flores
Olivia Fletcher Andrea Dollinger
Flute Dante Marrocco
Bethany McLean Contra Bassoon
Thomas Barkal Cynthia Becker Bass Trombone
Julia Muller Johanna Wiley
Soprano Saxophone
Oboe Matthew Kiel Euphonium
Bethany Cripps James Yoon
Sarah Pinto Alto Saxophone Elizabeth Rutan
Stefanie Nicou Matthew Kiel
Lauren Thaete Tuba
English Horn Jasmine Pigott
Stefanie Nicou Tenor Saxophone Jonathan Aldave
Scott Byers
E-Flat Clarinet Cello
Rebecca Rice Baritone Saxophone Grace Dashnaw
Jared Banker
Clarinet Guitar
Vivian Becker Trumpet John Bourdelais
Valerie Nuzzolo Kristen Kasky
Bryan Filetto Aleyna Ashenfarb Double Bass
Madeline DeNofio Shaun Rimkunas Samuel Higgins
Steven Foti Kevin Biernat
Alec Targett Averi Parece Piano
Jeffrey Elrick Stephen Ryan Joon Sang Ko

Bass Clarinet French Horn Harp

Griffin Charyn Nicoletta Pignatello Elizabeth Ojeda
Benjamin     
Contra Bass      Futterman Timpani
Clarinet Jacob Factor Dan Monte
Jeffrey Elrick Jeremy Straus
Christian DeFreese Percussion
Patrick Holcomb Jacob Close
Chelsea Catalone
Leah Gardner
James Hope
Ian Lisi
Jordan Sonderegger
Dan Syvret
 Wind Symphony Personnel
Piccolo Bassoon Bass Trombone
Leandra Stirling Aiden Braun Louis Jannone
Emily Roach
Flute Euphonium
Kevin Buff Alto Saxophone Cormac Callan
Abby Ferri Chiara Marcario Jonathan Rainous
Robyn Leary Sara Mercurio
Claire Park Jessica Small Tuba
Georgia Peace Maggie Broughton
Tenor Saxophone Daniel Rogers
Oboe Kerri Barnett
Hailey Dziendziel String Bass   
Anton Popov Baritone Saxophone Gillian Dana
Travis Murdock
English Horn Soprano   
Meagan Priest French Horn Juliana Child
Abby Bracco
E-flat Clarinet Sarah Capobianco Celesta   
Jacob Friga Christian DeFreese Anand Seshadri
Patrick Holcomb
Clarinet Sydney Rosen Organ
Hannah Blanchette Kayla Shuster Michael Stern
Emma Dwyer
Esther Moon Trumpet Timpani
Laura Sefcik Matthew Gallego Brian Breen
Caleb Will Thomas Iandolo
Emma Yusko Elliot Lowe Percussion
Nick Paraggio Jacob Graham
Bass Clarinet Christopher Pitcher Alex Hoerig
Thea Hollman Evan Schreiber Cameron Jimenez
Alex Stuart Julia Lavernoich
Contra Bass Giancarlo Levano
Clarinet Trombone Jordan Sonderegger
Jeffrey Elrick Eric Coughlin
Kurt Eide

Our conductors
Thomas Lee - Professor Emeritus, Director of Bands, Emeritus UCLA. Lee holds the
Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Conducting from the College-Conservatory of Music at
the University of Cincinnati (1971), as well as two degrees from Drake University, Des
Moines, Iowa, where he was a student of Don Marcouiller. Previous to his appointment
at UCLA, he was the Founder/Conductor of the University of Texas Wind Ensemble in
Austin and was director of the graduate program in Band Conducting. Before his
appointment at Texas, Dr. Lee was founder/conductor of the Ohio University Wind
Ensemble where he received a research grant to develop an innovative approach to
teaching conducting through non-verbal communication. (1973) Since his arrival at
UCLA in 1985, the UCLA Wind Ensemble received international acclaim as well as
significant prominence for performances at national and regional conferences as well
as well as recordings of important composers.  Dr. Lee is especially known for musical
performances as well as for creative programming, balancing both traditional and
contemporary literature. In addition, he has a special commitment to the
commissioning of new music by American composers. Professor Lee created several
new programs within the Wind Ensemble performance venue that includes
collaboration between the Society of Los Angeles Film Composers and the Wind
Ensemble. This resulted in an internship program for UCLA students to work directly
with the most acclaimed film composers. Currently, there are a large number of
conducting students of Professor Lee that hold university, high school, and middle
school conducting positions throughout the USA. He is particularly proud of these
conductors and their achievement. Dr. Lee has been invited to guest conduct with
All-State Bands and music festivals in all parts of the USA, Canada, Mexico, Western
Europe, and Asia. In addition, Professor Lee has given innumerable workshops on all
aspects of conducting and interpretation of music with special emphasis in the area of
non-verbal communication skills. The UCLA Wind Ensemble participated in the
International New Music Forum in Mexico City presenting several premieres during two
concerts. The UCLA Wind Ensemble was the only American university music group so
honored. In 1992, Lee conducted the Wind Ensemble’s performance of student works
on the CBS Evening News (New Year’s Eve) which was nominated for three Emmy
Awards. Since Professor Lee’s retirement from UCLA, he has maintained a full schedule
of Guest Conducting and leading Conducting Workshops.

Dr. Christopher Hughes is Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Music for the
School of Music at Ithaca College in New York. Hughes serves as conductor of the
renowned Ithaca College Wind Ensemble while leading the acclaimed graduate
program in wind conducting. Prior to this position, Dr. Hughes served as Director of
Bands and Graduate Conducting Coordinator at NM State University and as Director of
Bands and Chair of the Conducting and Ensembles Faculty for the College of Music at
Mahidol University, a conservatory setting in Bangkok, Thailand. Prior to his move
overseas, Dr. Hughes held positions on the faculties at Lander University in South
Carolina and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Hughes’s former students hold
conducting and teaching positions in China, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, The
Philippines, Burma, Mexico and throughout the United States. Born on Bloomsday in
Aspen, Colorado, Hughes's interest in the expressive beauty of music began early. He
decided to pursue conducting as a profession after experiencing the artistry of many of
the legendary conductors who were in residence at the Aspen Music School. In 2005
Hughes was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in instrumental conducting and
literature at the University of Colorado at Boulder where he was a student of
world-renowned conductor and Distinguished Professor Allan McMurray.

Developing an impressive profile that is both national and international, Dr. Hughes has
conducted ensembles in concert on four continents including Europe, Asia, Australia
and North America. He is also in constant demand as a guest conductor and clinician.
Engagements have taken him to several US states, Washington, D.C. and ten foreign
countries including England, Ireland, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and
Indonesia. In 2016 the NM State Wind Symphony performed at the John F. Kennedy
Center for the Arts in Washington, D.C. as invited guest artists representing the
southwest region of the United States. The ensemble performed at the 2014 NM Music
Educators Association Convention and, in the October of 2015, gave the world premiere
of Symphony No. 1 by Serbian composer Nebojsa Macura.

In addition to numerous performances as Resident Guest Conductor for the Thailand

Philharmonic Orchestra, Dr. Hughes led the Mahidol University Wind Symphony in a
critically acclaimed performance during the proceedings of the15th World Saxophone
Congress. This subsequently led to an invitation for the musicians to appear as the
guest artist ensemble for the Australian National Ensemble Championships. Hughes has
conducted at the Southeast Asian Youth Orchestra and Wind Ensemble Festival in
Bangkok, Thailand and the Honor Ensemble Festival of the Interscholastic Association
of Southeast Asian Schools in Jakarta, Indonesia. Dr. Hughes was honored to serve as
guest conductor for the National Symphony Orchestra players of Taiwan during his
invited visit to Chiayi City. In 2013 and again in 2014 Hughes ventured to China to
conduct the Directors Ensemble of Guangzhou Province and appeared in ShanXi,
ShanDong, and Chengdu provinces in as well. Known for his sensitive interpretation of
music for large and small instrumental ensembles, Hughes's conducting has drawn
praise from composers and conductors in the United States, Canada, Southeast Asia,
China, and Australia. A champion of new music, Dr. Hughes has conducted numerous
world and regional premieres and he has become a conductor of choice for
contemporary works.

Dr. Hughes has, on several occasions, been included in the Who's Who Among
America's Teachers publication and, for the past 13 years, he has been listed in Who's
Who in America. He was recently honored with induction into Who's Who In The World.
Hughes's affiliations include the International Conductor's Guild, College Band Directors
National Association, World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, New York
State School Music Association, Phi Mu Alpha (honorary), and Kappa Kappa Psi
(honorary).

Benjamin Rochford joined the Ithaca College School of Music in 2016 and currently
serves as the Interim Associate Director of Bands. At IC, Professor Rochford conducts
the Wind Symphony and Concert Band and teaches courses in instrumental conducting
and brass pedagogy. Prior to his appointment at Ithaca College, Mr. Rochford was a
Doctoral Conducting Associate and PhD candidate at the University of Florida and also
served as Director of Bands at the Valley Grove School District in Franklin,
Pennsylvania. While at the University of Florida, his responsibilities included directing
the UF Concert Band, assisting with the athletic bands, and teaching courses in
conducting, music education, jazz improvisation, jazz history, and philosophy. In
addition, Mr. Rochford managed marketing and promotional materials for the band
department and assisted with the UF Wind Symphony and Jazz Band.

Mr. Rochford completed a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Mansfield

University of Pennsylvania and a Master’s degree in Instrumental Conducting from
Youngstown State University in Ohio. Mr. Rochford's primary conducting influences
include Dr. David Waybright, Dr. Stephen Gage, Dr. Adam Brennan, and Dr. Nathan
Rinnert. Mr. Rochford has also participated in conducting symposiums with Ray Cramer,
Tom Leslie, Craig Kirchhoff, Rodney Dorsey, Robert Garofalo, and Ed Lisk and
participated in Beethoven conducting master classes with Svilen Simeonov, director of
the Sofia Sinfonietta in Bulgaria. He recently conducted the Kennesaw State University
Chamber Winds in a conducting presentation by Craig Kirchhoff at the South Eastern
CBDNA conference in Charleston, SC.

Prior to working in higher education, Mr. Rochford served as Director of Bands at the
Valley Grove School District in Pennsylvania where he was responsible for overseeing
the entire 5-12 instrumental music program. At Valley Grove, Mr. Rochford directed the
district's athletic bands, jazz combo, and elementary, middle, and high school bands.
He hosted and managed the PMEA District III Jazz Festival in 2012. He has also given
presentations in Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, and New Hampshire on a variety of
topics including jazz improvisation, rehearsal techniques, ensemble scoring techniques,
student motivation, and authentic student self-assessment within the paradigm of
Harvard Project Zero and Arts PROPEL.

Mr. Rochford is an active free lance trumpet player and has performed with the Erie
Philharmonic, Venango Chamber Orchestra, Franklin Silver Cornet Band, and various
jazz groups. Mr. Rochford has toured across the United States with wind bands and has
performed at Carnegie Hall. Recently, he performed with he American Chamber Winds
throughout Italy and Switzerland. He has also performed with a number of notable jazz
musicians including Bobby Shew, Wycliffe Gordon, Dennis DiBlasio, George Rabbi,
Michael Davis, Dave Pietro, Ingrid Jensen, Ryan Kisor, and Chris Vidala. Professor
Rochford was recently invited to perform as a guest artist at the 2017 Brazilian Music
Institute in Miami, FL.

Mr. Rochford's professional affiliations include the College Band Directors National
Association, the National Association for Music Education, the National Education
Association, the Florida Music Education Association, the Florida Bandmasters
Association, the New York State School Music Education Association, the Jazz Education
Network, and the International Trumpet Guild. He was elected into the Phi Kappa Phi
Honors Society in 2012.
 Upcoming Performances
Ithaca College Concert Band
Thursday, December 14, 2017
8:15PM in Ford Hall
Featuring Thomas Lee, the 2017 Arnald Gabriel Visiting Wind Conductor

Ithaca College Bands

Ensemble Offerings
Ithaca College School of Music is proud to offer a full complement of large and chamber
ensembles. Ensembles hold auditions for membership in the new three-tiered model at
the beginning of the year and requirements are published well in advance. If you dream
of being a professional musician, just enjoy playing an instrument, or anywhere in
between, there is a place for you in IC BANDS! Included in the offerings are eight
distinctive ensembles.

Wind Ensemble* (Dr. Christopher Hughes, conductor)

The IC Wind Ensemble is a band of 50 highly qualified graduate and undergraduate

students, chosen by audition, and performs a varied repertoire of the highest quality
literature for winds. Members of the Wind Ensemble will also perform selections of
chamber winds repertoire each semester. The Wind Ensemble is dedicated to
professional level performance while fostering the musical growth of its members.

Wind Symphony* (Mr. Benjamin Rochford, interim conductor)

The IC Wind Symphony is a select ensemble of approximately 60 musicians, chosen by

audition. The Wind Symphony exists as a preparatory experience for the Wind
Ensemble and provides a challenging musical environment for skilled musicians by
performing repertoire that ranges from works for chamber winds, to standards of the
band literature, to brand-new works for the wind band medium.

Concert Band* (Mr. Benjamin Rochford, interim conductor)

The IC Concert Band is an ensemble for underclassmen to learn and upperclassmen to

lead the journey to professional level performance. This band provides instruction in
ensemble performance skills through quality repertoire that is fit for the student,
allowing her / him to have time to assimilate knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary
for advancement into the Wind Symphony and Wind Ensemble or for any future musical
endeavors.

Campus Band (Graduate Wind Conducting Students, conductors)

The Campus Band is a non-auditioned ensemble designed to meet the needs of

students from all majors across campus. Music majors are encouraged to enroll while
performing on a secondary instrument. This ensemble provides an educational
experience and serves as an outlet for students who wish to remain musically active in
a less intense setting. The course will be administered by the Director of Bands and
conducted by the graduate conducting associates.

* Requires an audition for membership

 Ithaca College Band Staff
Dr. Christopher Hughes, Director of Bands 

Mr. Benjamin Rochford, Interim Associate Director of Bands 

Aaron Burgess, Graduate Assistant Conductor 

Greg Harris, Graduate Assistant Conductor 

Margaret Tippett, Work Study Assistant

Rebecca Jordan, Ensemble Music Librarian

The IC Bands extend a very special thanks to...

Colonel Arnald Gabriel (’50 HDRMU ’89) for making possible the appearance of Thomas
Lee, 2017 Arnald Gabriel Visiting Wind Conductor

Karl Paulnack, Dean, Ithaca College School of Music

David Pacun, Associate Dean, Ithaca College School of Music

Erik Kibelsbeck, Manager of Concerts and Facilities, Ithaca College School of Music

Alexandria Kemp, Scheduling and Events Assistant, Ithaca College School of Music

Ford Hall Stage Crew

Ithaca College School of Music Wind, Brass, String, Percussion, and Keyboard Faculty

Becky Jordan, Manager of Ensembles & Kinyon Music Education Collections and her
dedicated staff

Kristina Shanton, Music Librarian