Community Bands unite at VGCC for Festival
The Vance-Granville Community College Civic Center was the site for a unique musical event on the evening of April 10, as members of four regional community bands came together to form a massive 200-plus-piece concert band under the direction of an internationally-known conductor. That was the rousing finale to the all-day North Carolina Community Band Festival, the first event of its kind. During the day, members of the four bands — the Vance-Granville Community Band, the Raleigh Concert Band, the Cary-based Triangle Wind Ensemble and the Durham Community Concert Band — practiced with professional musicians and guest clinician Michael Votta, Jr. Votta is an Associate Professor and Director of University Wind Ensembles at the University of Maryland, and in the past, he has taught and conducted at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill.
Votta said that it was “a real pleasure” and a “humbling experience” to conduct all the bands performing as one at the conclusion of the concert. “This is easily the largest band I’ve ever conducted,” Votta said. The combined band performed “Flourish for Wind Band” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, the March from “First Suite in E-flat” by Gustav Holst, “Come, Sweet Death” by J.S. Bach and finally “Stars and Stripes Forever” by John Philip Sousa. Votta thanked VGCC music instructor Michael Stephenson for his “inspiration and perspiration” in organizing the festival. Stephenson said that he hopes to make the festival an annual tradition.
Each band performed several pieces individually for the audience before playing together. The Vance-Granville Community Band, a combination of students and interested citizens from the community college’s service area under Stephenson’s direction, performed “The Spirit of Pageantry” by Fletcher and “American Civil War Fantasy” by Bilik, plus “English Folk Song Suite” by Williams, with J.F. Webb High School band director Clint McCaskill as guest conductor. The Durham Community Concert Band, under the direction of Tom Shaffer, presented the overture from “Candide” by Bernstein, “American Hymnsong Suite” by Milburn and “Dance of the Jesters” by Tchaikovsky. One member of the band said that the festival was the farthest from Durham that the group had ever traveled. The Raleigh Concert Band, directed by Lem Hardy, performed “Beguine for Band” by Osser, “Meadowlands” arranged by Flanders, “Salvation is Created” by Tchesnokov, and “Prairie Song” by Strommen. The Triangle Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Robert C. Hunter, performed the March from “Symphonic Metamorphosis” by Hindemith, “Zion” by Welcher and “Espana” by Chabrier.
Stephenson expressed appreciation to the “Music and Arts” store, J.F. Webb High School, Northern Vance High School, Southern Vance High School and Louisburg High School for supporting the festival and loaning equipment.
Above: In the VGCC Civic Center, Michael Votta (left) conducts a mass band, including more than 200 members of the Vance-Granville Community Band, the Raleigh Concert Band, the Triangle Wind Ensemble and the Durham Community Concert Band, playing “Stars and Stripes Forever” at the conclusion of the North Carolina Community Band Festival on April 10, 2010. (VGCC photo)
