Saxton’s Cornet Band will give an authentic 19th century concert April 19 at 8 p.m. in Ramsey Concert Hall of the Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $32.
Saxton’s Cornet Band recreates the sounds, appearance and conduct of brass bands during the antebellum and Civil War eras. The performances are well-researched and historically accurate recreations from the mid-1800s, complete with dramatic readings and period humor.
The original Saxton’s Cornet Band was founded by Henry Saxton of Lexington, Ky., prior to the Civil War. The band performed for more than 60 years playing concerts, dances, parades and funerals.
The modern day Saxton’s Cornet Band has performed for the inauguration of President George W. Bush and for the National Park Service at sites around the country, including Gettysburg National Military Park. The band has been featured in the films Gettysburg and The Day Lincoln Was Shot and has toured internationally.
The Performing Arts Center also will host the UGA Band History Symposium on April 21. The event features performances and speakers from across the country. The symposium kicks off at 9 a.m. with an overview by moderator Frank Cipolla, professor emeritus of the State University of New York at Buffalo, and concludes with a roundtable discussion at 2:30 p.m. on “The Current State of American Band History Research.”
The list of speakers and topics is scheduled to include University of Maryland professor Patrick Warfield on “The March as Musical Drama and the Spectacle of John Philip Sousa,” Kansas State University professor Craig Parker on “The Music of Sousa’s Cornet Soloists,” UGA Performing Arts Center director George Foreman on “Jules Levy: The Russian Connection” and City University of New York professor Raoul Camus on “Richard Willis and the West Point Band.”
All sessions of the UGA Band History Symposium are free and open to the public. They will be held in Edge Recital Hall of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music.
