Blossom Festival Band C o n si d ere d o n e of the fi n est ensembles of its kind in the nation, the Blossom Festival Band performs each summer in Northeast Ohio, continuing a long and wellloved tradition of outdoor band concerts in the United States. The ensemble has its roots in historic American band music and some of its legendary leaders. Band music has been a part of each summer’s musical offerings at Blossom since 1969. That year, a Fourth-of-July band concert was presented as part of the second annual Blossom Music Festival. From 1969 to 1973, these band concerts were conducted by Meredith Willson (composer of Broadway’s The Music Man), who at age 17 had toured with the Sousa Band as a flutist. Based on the success of these concerts, a genuine symphonic band and concert program was organized under the direction of Leonard B. Smith, another of this country’s most respected band directors (he was music director of the nationally known Detroit Concert Band for many years and a widely acclaimed cornet soloist). Mr. Smith made his Blossom debut conducting “The Golden Symphonic Band of Blossom Music Center” in “A Salute to Labor Day” on September 4, 1972. The success of that concert provided the impetus to schedule a series of concerts during the 1973 summer season, with a newly selected band of 65 instrumentalists from the Cleveland area. David Zauder (1928-2013), a former student of Smith and a longtime member of The Cleveland Orchestra’s trumpet and cornet section, served as a guiding spirit for the Band and regularly performed as cornet soloist with the ensemble. Leonard B. Smith served as director from 1972 until his retirement in 1997. Since 1998, the Blossom Festival Band has been conducted by Loras John Schissel.
2016 Blossom Festival Band flute / piccolo
cornet
timpani
Lyle Steelman
Dylan Moffitt
John Rautenberg Madeline Lucas Sally Sherwin
e-flat alto clarinet
Heather Zweifel Michael Mergen John Brndiar
oboe
Lisa Antoniou
trumpet
bassoon
principal
Terry Orcutt
principal
David Adamson bass clarinet
principal
percussion
Bruce Golden
principal
trombone
harp
saxophone
James Albrecht
Jody Guinn
principal
b-flat clarinet
Howie Smith
Kent Engelhardt John Perrine George Shernit
Thomas Reed Alix Reinhardt Stanislav Golovin James Kalyn Blair Hotz Lindsay Charnofsky Denise Soulsby Heidi Aufdenkamp Peck Joseph Minocchi
Todd Jelen
english horn
principal
principal
Loren Toplitz
Mark DeMio
Kristina Belisle Jones
Frank Del Piano Jack DiIanni Matthew Larson Thomas Morris
Thomas Moore Thomas Moore
36
e-flat clarinet
Dennis Nygren
George Pope
principal
horn
Hans Clebsch
principal
Robert Rearden Meghan Guegold David Brockett Kent Larmee
Mark Maliniak principal
principal
Paul Ferguson Martin Gelwasser Edward Zadrozny euphonium
Travis Scott
principal
Rebecca Ciabattari
principal
string bass
Terry Rowell
principal
piano / celesta
Luwen Chen
principal
librarian tuba
Kenneth Heinlein
principal
Yasuhito Sugiyama J.c. Sherman William Ciabattari
Blossom Festival Band
Gabrielle Petek personnel
Rebecca Vineyard Allison Richards
Blossom Music Festival