Palmetto Concert Band to Present Annual November Concert

Sunday, November 23rd | at 4:00 p.m. Admission is free and the concert is open to the public.

The Palmetto Concert Band will present its annual November concert at the Koger Center, Columbia, SC, on Sunday, November 23rd, 2014, at 4:00 p.m. Admission is free and the concert is open to the public. Works to be performed include Saint-Saëns Marche Heroique, Fantasy on Funiculi, Funicula, the Finale from Dvorak’s New World Symphony, and the Strauss Fantasie, featuring J.D. Shaw (Professor of Horn at the University of South Carolina) as guest artist.

This concert will include the introduction of Dr. Scott Weiss (Director of Bands at the University of SC) as the band’s new conductor, following the retirement of James K. Copenhaver and Dr. William J. Moody, the founders of the Palmetto Concert Band. Mr. Copenhaver and Dr. Moody will both be featured guest conductors at this concert.

I am honored and excited to be taking over as music director of the Palmetto Concert Band, says Weiss. Since its inception in 1998 and under the leadership of Dr. William Moody and James Copenhaver, the ensemble has distinguished itself as one of the leading community bands in the nation. As we look to the future, we will seek to build upon the band’s legacy with terrific concerts in Columbia and beyond. Prior to his tenure at USC, Dr. Weiss held positions at the University of Kansas, the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Lamar University and Emory University; he holds degrees from Indiana University and the University of Illinois.

The Palmetto Concert Band was founded in 1999 as a private, non-profit organization. The ensemble is made up of professional and semi-professional musicians from throughout South Carolina, with some members from North Carolina and Georgia. A large majority of its members are alumni of the University of South Carolina School of Music; more than half are public school band directors. These experienced performers, who receive no compensation for participating, choose to play with the ensemble because they have a passion for making music, and for performing outstanding repertoire composed or transcribed for wind band. The PCB performs annually for the USC Band Clinic in February, at its Memorial Day Concert honoring members and veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, and on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. In addition, the ensemble has also been featured on the international stage, having performed at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, IL, in both 1999 and 2008 (Only one or two community concert bands are invited to this clinic each year). The PCB has also performed at the SC and NC Music Educators Conferences, and at the American Bandmasters Association’s 76th Annual Convention (Charleston, SC), in 2010.

This concert is funded in part by the Cultural Council of Richland & Lexington Counties, the SC Arts Commission, and a City of Columbia Hospitality Tax Grant.

For more information about the Palmetto Concert Band, please visit our website at www.palmettoconcertband.org, find us on Facebook, or call Traci Hair, PCB’s Administrative Assistant, at (803) 777-4106.