Comprised of sixty woodwind, brass, and percussion players--and one string bass-- from the Tacoma, Seattle, and lower Puget Sound areas, the ensemble was created by conductor and music director Robert Musser in 1981. The band performs a wide range of musical styles including works of such varied composers as J. S. Bach, Alfred Reed, Richard Wagner, Gustav Holst and John Philip Sousa, as well as other great composers past and present. With musical roots based in the traditions of the finest American and European bands, extending to the newest music commissioned especially for the Tacoma Concert Band, the band embraces the present while respecting the past. The Tacoma Concert band has received awards for excellence from the John Philip Sousa Foundation and the City of Tacoma and Pierce County Arts Commissions.

Robert Musser, founder, music director and conductor of the Tacoma Concert Band, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Puget Sound where he was Director of Bands and Chairman of Winds and Percussion. Among his awards are the National Band Association Citation of Excellence, election into the prestigious American Bandmasters Association (an honorary organization for distinguished band conductors), the Diploma of the Sudler Order of Merit of the John Philip Sousa Foundation, and election into the Washington Music Educators Association Hall of Fame. He has conducted numerous regional and state festivals and honor bands throughout the United States and Canada. Guest conducting appearances include the United States Air Force Band, the United States Army Field Band, the Military Band of the People's Liberation Army of China, the Pearl River Orchestra of Guangzhou, China, and bands and orchestras in Russia and Ukraine.

WHAT: Tacoma Concert Band

WHEN: Friday, February 25, 2000

WHERE: Pantages Theater, Downtown Tacoma

A near-capacity audience at Tacoma's historic Pantages Theater Friday night was treated to a diverse concert band program, skillfully presented by the 60-piece Tacoma Concert Band under the direction of Robert Musser.

The program included band classics such as "Fame and Fortune" by Karl King, "The Thunderer" by John Philip Sousa, and even "A Leroy Anderson Portrait", arranged by James Barnes. Two soloists were featured as well. Local student saxophonist Erik Ibsen-Nowak performed the Glazunov saxophone concerto as winner of the Tacoma Concert Band Student Soloist Competition, an annual opportunity for local student musicians. Soprano soloist Edie Delegans shared lovely renditions of two traditional songs, "Down by the Sally Gardens" and "Gypsy Love Song".

The program also included two contrasting contemporary works for concert band, both of which were given a very committed and convincing performance. The first was Philip Sparke's "Dance Movements", a work commissioned by the United States Air Force Band and premiered by them in 1996. The four-movement work demonstrated superb writing for concert band, with excellent solo use of several instruments as well as wonderful layered ensemble writing. As the composer himself describes, "the four movements are all dance-inspired, although no specific dance rhythms are used". Perhaps most striking in this performance was the brass movement which Sparke describes as a "love duet". The tremendous strength and warmth of the Tacoma Concert Band brass were shown off in this touching brass chorale.

The true gem of the program was Aldo Rafael Forte's "Van Gogh Portraits", a five-movement work based on famous paintings by the great Dutch artist. Forte was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1953, and moved to the United States in 1962. The highly programmatic movements are unified by the use of the three notes B-flat, D, and A. This "Van Gogh motif" develops and transforms through the course of the work, but is always recognizable as a unifying theme. Throughout the work, new sounds and textures are explored as a means of expressing the theme of each painting. The third movement, "Zouave", which features the percussion, and the fourth movement, "The Drawbridge", in which clarinets and bass clarinet establish a remarkably suggestive foggy water scene, were particularly striking examples of the tone painting achieved by Forte in this work.

While it might be said that the program had "something for everyone", the bulk of the audience was attentive and receptive throughout the evening. The same folks who applauded the "Leroy Anderson Portrait" also enjoyed the "Van Gogh Portraits". Such programs are rare musical experiences, and are only possible when the ensemble as a whole has real commitment and skill on which to draw; this is obviously the case with the Tacoma Concert Band.

Kim Davenport

Bandchat Digest V98 #7

Marc Crompton

Sun, 13 Dec 1998

"Band Music With Art Themes"

Mr. Robert Musser of the Tacoma Concert Band and the University of Puget Sound in Washington did a similar program [music with art themes] at the Western International Band Clinic last year. The highlight of the program (for me) was a work that was commissioned from Robert Jager and was "about" a west-coast glass blower. The title escapes me at the moment [A Sea of Glass Mingled With Fire] but I thought it was an excellent piece, and I'm not a huge Jager fan. I can look up details if you are interested but I suspect that you would have to contact Jager as it was likely performed from manuscript at the concert. They also did "Scenes from the Louvre", "Ghost Train", movements of "Pictures..." and more.

Marc Crompton

Associate Director

Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble

Band marks ‘Milestones’ with style

MICHAEL HILL; For The News Tribune

Published: November 22nd, 2005 02:30 AM

The Tacoma Concert Band celebrated its 25th season Sunday with a concert that touched on the highlights of its first quarter-century and gave a local hero a chance to shine.

Dubbed “Milestones,” the performance featured a selection of significant works performed by the group since its formation in 1981, as well as a quartet of works featuring virtuoso Seattle-born trumpeter Rolf Smedvig.

From the moment Smedvig, founder of the Empire Brass Quartet and holder of the “international chair” at the Royal Academy of Music in London, strode onto the Pantages Theater stage in a bold red jacket with a gleaming gold trumpet under his arm, it was clear that the small but appreciative audience was in for something special. Whether blowing jazzily on Alfred Reed’s “Ode for Trumpet,” summoning matadors and rose-throwing senoritas on the traditional “La Virgin de la Macarena” or peeling off awe-inspiring virtuosic runs on “Carnival of Venice,” Smedvig delivered on his promise by making the most of his time in the spotlight.

He also made a point to give kudos to the Tacoma Concert Band, praising the group’s camaraderie and hailing conductor/music director Robert Musser’s musicianship. “It’s a great privilege to come here and play with such a great symphonic band,” announced the gifted and gracious Smedvig.

Elsewhere, the group took a long look down its own little stretch of memory lane, offering up everything from good-time John Philip Sousa fare (“The Belle of Chicago”) to dense and predominantly dark transcriptions of orchestral works by Gustav Holst (“Mars” from his orchestral suite “The Planets”) and Modeste Mussorgsky (“Night on the Bare Mountain”). The group was particularly effective on a pair of works commissioned by the Tacoma Concert Band, David Holsinger’s “Praises” and Robert Jager’s “A Sea of Glass Mingled with Fire.”

The Holsinger piece, a symphonic ballet for band that premiered in 2001, was represented by its third and sixth movements. The third, titled “Barak,” a Hebrew word that means “to kneel and bow as an act of humble adoration,” exhibited a contemporary sound long on texture and reminiscent of the work of Aaron Copland. The sixth movement, “Tehillah,” Hebrew for “to sing halals (praises),” was a rousing musical celebration rooted in a more traditional concert band sound that featured a runaway glockenspiel, sharp blasts from the brass and an introductory section that found the group functioning as a makeshift chorus.

The Jager composition, a tribute to the work of world-renowned local glass artist Dale Chihuly that was premiered in 1997, was a largely percussion-driven offering that ranged from airy and mysterious to rhythmic and rollicking. The third movement, inspired by the music that Chihuly and his apprentices listen to while working, was a homage-of-sorts to ’60s and ’70s rock ’n’ roll music, complete with a percussion quote from Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham.

TCB Mission Statement

"The Tacoma Concert Band's mission to provide the Puget Sound community with a professional quality wind ensemble performing the very finest symphonic band music; to offer a high-quality performance opportunity to local wind and percussion musicians; to support and encourage the region's school band programs; and to reaffirm the community concert band's position in American music."

Tacoma Concert Band Core Values

(1) Opportunity. We provide accomplished musicians an opportunity to perform the highest quality music literature for the concert band, bringing in local, national and international audiences together through the universal language of music.

(2) Commitment to Community and Tradition. We have a commitment to share with our audience and our community the heritage, power and energy of live music. We perform both traditional and contemporary masterpieces of the concert band repertoire.

(3) Inspiration, Motivation and Education. We inspire and motivate young musicians with programs such as children's concerts, a student soloist competition and student participation in our musical performances. We provide music educators with a quality performance opportunity that benefits both them and their students.

(4) Creativity. We commission noted composers to create original works to be premiered by the Tacoma Concert Band thus enhancing the band's reputation, providing our audiences with a unique musical experience and helping to assure the continued growth and development of the concert band repertoire in America and throughout the world.

Conductor/Music Director

Robert Musser

rmusser@tacomaconcertband.org

Executive Director

Officers

President: Jim Hunt

prez@tacomaconcertband.org

Vice-President: James Christnacht

Secretary: Renee Gale

Treasurer: Joan Lane

Board Members

Steve Alison

Mike Anderson

Bryan Beale

Chris Caneva

Lisa Cepeda

Shelly Devlin

Marie Dunn

Carolyn Freudenstein

Hannah Gullickson

Justin Inouye

Wally Nash

Jim Schultz

Michelle Tiegs

Mark Willis

Operations

Equipment/Librarian: Stuart Lane

Program Notes: Lawrence Bradley

Education: Marie Dunn

education@tacomaconcertband.org

Tickets: Janice Lofdahl

Summer Concerts: James Hunt

Fundraising: Debe Christnacht

Marketing: Wally Nash

Web Site: Ray Pliskow

webmaster@tacomaconcertband.org

Graphic Art Design: Mark Willis

Special Events: Jim Hunt & Carolyn Freudenstein

Strategic Development: Terry Nelson

Budget and Finance: Joan Lane