DePauw University Band In Concert Sunday

March 6, 2002

March 6, 2002, Greencastle, Ind. - The DePauw University Band will present a special concert on Sunday, March 10, at 3 p.m. in Kresge Auditorium of the Performing Arts Center. Thomas Stone, associate professor of music and director of bands at Centenary College, Shreveport, Louisiana, will be guest composer and conductor for an afternoon of great works for symphonic band.

Dr. Stone, who is also the associate producer for the University Band's CD Recording Project, will conduct the ensemble in a performance of his new work for band, Primordial Lights. Based on music of the classical-era composer Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805), Primordial Lights weaves an intricate texture of classical and contemporary themes and harmonies. The University Band will also feature its conductor, Dr. Craig Paré as timpani soloist in Donald H. White's Concertino for Timpani, Winds, and Percussion.

The concert program includes:

• Star Spangled Banner — arr. Jack Stamp (the arranger includes the subtitle, A Love Song to Our Country)
• Primordial Lights — Thomas Stone; Thomas Stone, guest conductor
• “Nimrod" from Enigma Variations — Edward Elgar, arr.; Earl Slocum
• Concertino for Timpani, Winds, and Percussion — Donald H. White; Craig Paré, timpani; Thomas Stone, conductor
• George Washington Bridge— William Schuman

Thomas Stone is a native of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He received his Bachelors degree in music from Lawrence University, where he studied composition with Steven Stucky, and his Master of Music degree from DePaul University in 1983. He has extensive experience as a conductor and teacher in both private and public schools in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Florida. He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Wind Conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he was a student of Eugene Corporon. Published works for band include Shadows of Eternity, Mentor, Ancient Visions, and Apositron. Arrangements in print include music from the IMAX film The Dream Is Alive; Boccherini's Pastorale; Carnevale, featuring eight miniature masterpieces introduced by Igor Stravinsky in Pulcinella, excerpts from Vivaldi's Gloria, and On Themes of Weber. In addition to these works published by Daehn Publications and E. F. Kalmus, Dr. Stone edited the new edition of Bernard Gilmore's Five Folksongs for Soprano and Band, recently published by Maecenas Music in England. Thomas Stone is currently conductor of the wind ensemble and associate professor of music at Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana. He serves as conductor of The Prevailing Winds Symphonic Band and the Centenary Summer Band, a professional ensemble funded by corporate sponsors and the American Federation of Musicians.

Craig Paré is associate professor of music and director of University Bands in the DePauw University School of Music. Active as a performer, Dr. Paré has studied timpani and percussion with Roland Kohloff, prinicipal timpanist with the New York Philharmonic, and Gary Werdesheim at Florida State University, and participated in master classes with Cloyd Duff (Cleveland Orchestra), Stanley Leonard (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra), and Richard Brown (Houston Symphony Orchestra). Dr. Paré has performed as timpanist and percussionist with the Savannah, Tallahassee, and Jacksonville Symphony Orchestras, the Brooklyn Lyric Opera and Des Moines Metro Opera, and the Connecticut and Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestras. He has also served as principal timpanist and percussionist with the Spoleto Festival USA, Charleston, South Carolina, and the Festival Dei Due Mondi, Spoleto, Italy. Dr. Paré has performed and recorded with two renowned wind groups: the Cincinnati Wind Symphony, and Philharmonia à vent. Currently, he is co-principal timpanist and principal percussionist with the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, and has recently performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and recorded for Hal Leonard Publications. Having taught percussion for 28 years, Dr. Paré has helped students at a variety of levels, from elementary and middle school (Barrington, Rhode Island public schools' Afterschool Music Program) through college. He has been a member of the percussion faculties at Florida State University, Barrington College, Valdosta State College, Simpson College, and Western State College.

The works on this program, and the University Band's April 21 performance, will be recorded in late April to be included on the ensemble's fourth compact disc.

The concert is free of charge and open to the public. To learn more about the pieces to be performed, visit the University Bands web site by clicking here, or contact the University Bands' office at (765) 658-4385. (Band photo by Marilyn E. Culler)

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