June 8

The opening concert of the 2008 summer season was planned in keeping with the Frontier Days weekend theme, Heroes Of The Old West.   Several marches were heard, including Yellowstone Trail by Karl L. King, Buffalo Bill’s Equestrian March by W. P. Chambers, and Sabre and Spurs by John Philip Sousa.  Also on the program was Rough Riders Galop by King.

The evening’s overture was Light Cavalry, by Franz von Suppe, as well as the Western One-Step from the Suite of Old American Dances by Robert Russell Bennett.  Additional selections included Leroy Anderson’s The Phantom Regiment, Prairie Dances by David Holsinger, American Riversongs by Pierre La Plante, and a medley of early American songs entitled Yankee Rhythm, as arranged by M. L. Lake.

Clark Wolf from Ames was the guest soloist for the evening.  Mr. Wolf received a degree in Bass Trombone and Euphonium Performance from Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio before pursuing graduate work in Philosophy and Economics.  He is presently Director of the Bioethics Program at Iowa State University, but has continued to pursue a semi-professional career in music while maintaining his day job as a philosophy professor.

Mr. Wolf plays a British double-belled euphonium made in 1892 by the Boosey Company.  The horn was an experimental model made for export to the United States, where double-belled euphonium was a newly popular solo instrument.   By the early 20th century, double-bell euphonium soloists were celebrities, performing regularly with the Sousa Band among others.  Wolf performed Beautiful Colorado on the double-bell euphonium.

Mr. Wolf also played Serenade from “The Student Prince” on the Ophicleide, an extinct brass instrument used primarily in the mid to late 19th century.  In the British band music of that day, the ophicleide was a popular solo instrument.  With the invention of valves, the ophicleide went out of favor and became extinct.  But before its demise, it gave birth to other instruments including the euphonium, the tuba, and the saxophone.  Wolf plays a French ophicleide made in about 1890 by Millereau.

June 15

		The second concert of the 2008 season featured patriotic selections to celebrate the Flag Day holiday.  Marches on the evening program included Military Life by Karl L. King, E. E. Bagley’s National Emblem, and John Philip Sousa’s The Stars and Stripes Forever.   In addition, Karl King’s exciting Majestic Galop was on the program.

Dr. Timothy Rhea, director of bands at Texas A & M University in College Station, was the special guest conductor for this concert.  Dr. Rhea conducted American Overture for Band by Joseph Willcox Jenkins and Karl L. King’s march, Emblem of Freedom. Dr. Rhea serves as administrative head of the instrumental music department, conductor of the Wind Symphony, and director of the nationally famous “Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band”.  He is a graduate of the DeKalb, TX High School, and earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree with honors from the University of Arkansas.  His Master of Music in Wind Conducting was earned at Texas Tech University, and his Doctor of Musical Arts in Wind Conducting and Composition was earned from the University of Houston in 1999. In July 1999, Dr. Rhea was awarded the Outstanding Young Bandmaster of the Year for the state of Texas, and in December 2000, Dr. Rhea was presented with the President’s Meritorious Service Award from Texas A & M University.  In addition, he has composed or arranged more than 300 musical selections for band, and is in demand nationally as a conductor, clinician, and adjudicator.

The Texas A & M University Wind Symphony has recently released a CD of marches composed by Karl L. King.  This album, called Tradition: Legacy of the March, is the first in a series honoring some of America’s great composers of band music.  The CD booklet also features information and pictures about Karl King and the Municipal Band, along with extensive program notes about the marches being performed provided by Duane “Oley” Olson, longtime member of the King Band.  Certain to become a collector’s item among enthusiasts of King’s music, it is available for public sale, with all profits going into the King Band’s scholarship account.