The American Wind Symphony will be performing in Erie at the Erie Maritime Museum Amphitheatre on Friday July 3rd at 7:30pm and July 4th at 2:30pm. The July 4th show is a Children’s Concert with a music program geared toward children and their families. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children for both shows — available at the gate. A portion the ticket proceeds will go to the Brig Niagara.
Photo by teeping • Click for larger image
For 53 years the American Wind Symphony Orchestra has been making musical headlines along the waterways of the United States, the Caribbean and Northern Europe. Called “a remarkable cultural phenomenon” by New York Magazine’s music critic Alan Rich, the group was founded in 1957 by its music director, Robert Austin Boudreau, who motivates his top notch young musicians to perform at their highest capacity.
The 2009 tour on the AWSO’s unique floating stage, “Point Counterpoint II” will begin in mid-June as the vessel and its troubadours traverse the coasts and waterways of the Great Lakes Region. Setting sail in late June, the group will kick off the tour in Fairport Harbor, OH on Lake Erie. Following a 15 stop tour, the symphony will end in Cape Girardeau, MO and the Point Counerpoint II will continue southward where it will winter in Houma, LA.
The orchestra’s audiences bring folding chairs and blankets dockside and watch in fascination as the shell of the orchestra’s floating arts center, “Point Counterpoint II,” opens and the music begins. From that point on, there is a shared experience between audience and performers that is remembered for many years. The music is unique and exciting, the floating stage is a one-of-a-kind wonder, and the setting is a harmonious blending of river sounds, the lowering sun, and camaraderie with one’s neighbors. Robert Boudreau has truly found a way to make the arts a part of life.
For 53 years, it’s been traditional for the musicians who make up the American Wind Symphony Orchestra to live with local families for a few days at each stop on the concert route. Whether traveling through the U.S. or abroad, the experience of getting to know the local residents has long been a rewarding highlight for these fine young performers. This year’s tour of the Great Lakes, Illinois and Mississippi Rivers is no exception.
The Orchestra’s community residency program has been put into place well in advance of the upcoming tour. Committees at each performance site take great care in matching host families with the musicians in the group, whose ages average out to 23 years, and who play instruments from the woodwind, brass, or percussion families. In spite of the fact that these young, professional players are a diverse group whose faces may change from year to year, there is always one constant: Whoever the players, they share a common love for travel, for music, and for making new friends.
One of the many benefits for the host family occurs when there is a child in the home who studies the same instrument as the guest musician, leading to invaluable interaction between the two. Informal coaching may take place, along with personal encouragement and advice about further training, resulting in mutual respect and the bond that common goals so often create.
If you are interested in learning more about hosting a musician, please contact Allison Drash.
