Rowan University Bands

Wind Ensemble
Joseph Higgins, conductor

The Wind Ensemble is the premier band of the College of Performing Arts at Rowan University. Its members are advanced and versatile musicians who perform the finest large ensemble and chamber music literature, including world premiere performances from today's most innovative and exceptional composers. Collaborative programming showcases our student-musicians interacting with Rowan's outstanding faculty and visiting guest artists from around the world. With each unique performance, audiences join the Wind Ensemble on a journey that uses music to explore a theme, idea, or place. Rehearsals are held on Mondays (12:30-1:45pm), Tuesdays & Thursdays (2:00-3:15pm).

For more information or to schedule an audition, please contact Dr. Higgins via email: higgins@rowan.edu

Symphonic Band
Joseph Higgins, conductor

The Symphonic Band was formed in Spring 2019 to serve the growing number of talented instrumentalists in the College of Performing Arts at Rowan University. Selected by audition, its members are advanced and versatile musicians who perform the finest large ensemble and chamber music literature, including world premiere performances from today's most innovative and exceptional composers. Collaborative programming showcases our student-musicians interacting with Rowan's outstanding faculty. With each unique performance, audiences join the Symphonic Band on a journey that uses music to explore a theme, idea, or place. Rehearsals are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30-4:45PM.

For more information or to schedule an audition, please contact Dr. Higgins via email: higgins@rowan.edu

Concert Band (AKA "College Band")
Mark Kadetsky, conductor

The Rowan University Concert Band is comprised of music majors as well as talented students from many other disciplines (AND faculty members from all campus colleges!). Exploring a variety works for band, the ensemble prides itself in achieving a consistently high level of performance. Student-musicians share in the excitement of the creative process as they prepare two concerts each semester. All interested students are encouraged to contact the conductor for more information. Rehearsals are held each Tuesday and Thursday from 5:00-6:15pm.

Interested in joining us? We are always accepting new members on all winds/brass/percussion instruments! Please register for this course, or contact Dr. Kadetsky via email at kadetsky@rowan.edu to request more information. This ensemble is also available to high school and community musicians; for more information, please inquire with the Rowan Community Music School.

Rowan University Concert Band performs a free campus concert outside the Chamberlain Student Center.

Rowan University Pep Band

The Rowan University Pep Band is a high-energy and wildly popular ensemble of brass, saxes, rhythm section instrumentalists, and vocalists. This group can be seen around campus entertaining crowds at home football games, commencement ceremonies, and other athletic and special events throughout the year. Membership is selected by audition when spots are available. For information about Pep Band or to inquire about auditions, please contact the Pep Band Director, Keith Bianchini: bianchink0@rowan.edu

Read below about last season's concerts. 2019-2020 programs will be announced soon!

Thursday, October 25, 8pm: Wind Ensemble & Concert Band

THE FOLKSINGERS ***This event is a part of the Untold Stories: Truth and Music series.***  Composer Percy Grainger described his masterpiece setting of British folksongs, Lincolnshire Posy, as a “bunch of wildflowers.” He set out to capture a “musical portrait of each singer’s personality no less than his habits of song, his regular or irregular wonts of rhythm, his preference for gaunt or ornately arabesque delivery, his contrasts of legato and staccato, his tendency towards breadth or delicacy of tone.” In this impressive program by the Wind Ensemble and Concert Band, we present a concert of beautiful musical “wildflowers,” many of which have become the foundation of the wind band repertoire. We also look at the complex history of folksong collection: whose music has been preserved, and whose is in danger of being lost forever? In addition to works by Grainger, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Edvard Grieg, a selection of Aaron Copland’s Old American Songs will feature vocalists from the Department of Music. The Wind Ensemble also performs the colorful and evocative Avelynn’s Lullaby by Joel Puckett.

Saturday, December 8, 7pm: Concert Choir & Wind Ensemble

COLLEGE OF PERFORMING ARTS HOLIDAY CONCERT: The annual Holiday Concert is fun for the whole family! Don’t miss this special wintry presentation by the College of Performing Arts’ finest musicians, dancers, and actors. [Note: This concert begins at 7:00pm.]

Tuesday, December 11, 8pm: Wind Ensemble, Concert Band & Brass Band

SOUND & SMOKE: Rowan University Bands is thrilled to be joined by guest composer Viet Cuong, current Composition Fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadlephia. Cuong’s brilliant works have been performed on six continents by many of new music’s finest ensembles. Two of his pieces are featured on the program: the Concert Band performs Diamond Tide, and the Wind Ensemble closes the program with Sound and Smoke. Other Wind Ensemble selections include two operatic movements, Meyerbeer’s Coronation March and Wagner’s Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral. The Concert Band also performs David Biedenbender’s Unquiet Hours and the world premiere of Roger Zare’s December Lullaby.

Thursday, February 28, 8pm: Symphonic Band & Concert Band

SOUND PLANET, PART 1: EARTH SONG ***This event is a part of the Untold Stories: Truth and Music series.* Many artists are inspired by the most pressing issues facing our world, and perhaps no issue is more terribly urgent than climate change. In this two-concert series, we use music to explore environmental sustainability and important ecological crises. Sound Planet (Part 1) features Cloudburst by Eric Whitacre, in which performers and audience members work together to create “surround sound” musical experience. Chen Yi’s Spring Festival, Cait Nishimura’s Chasing Sunlight, and the world premiere of Roger Zare’s Water Bear Jig are also featured.

Thursday, March 7, 8pm: Wind Ensemble (featuring Women's Choir)

SOUND PLANET, PART 2: HIGH WATER RISING ***This event is a part of the Untold Stories: Truth and Music series.*** Sound Planet (Part 2) opens with Profanation from Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1. Based on the biblical story of Jeremiah, Profanation tells of a prophet’s warning of the coming destruction of Jerusalem, not unlike the dire warnings from climate change experts who have been largely ignored for decades. The Wind Ensemble is then proud to feature the world premiere of a new work by composition professor Denis DiBlasio, featuring soloist Kenneth Lacovara. Dr. Lacovara is a world-renowned paleontologist and geologist, as well as Dean of Rowan’s School of Earth & Environment (and a drum set player!). The second half of the concert explores the consequences of rising sea levels with Sally Lamb McCune’s High Water Rising and new music from Icelandic composers Björk, Sigur Rós, and Anna Thorvaldsdottir.

Thursday, April 25, 8pm: Symphonic Band & Concert Band

BATTLES & CONQUESTS: The Symphonic Band shares the stage with guest soloist Lyndsie Wilson on Otto Schwarz’s Cape Horn for band and French horn. Other selections include David Biedenbender’s funky Melodius Thunk and Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man. The Concert Band, under the direction of Dr. Mark Kadetsky, will perform three works of battle music, culminating with a transcription of Tchaikovsky's explosive 1812 Overture. Don't miss these ensembles' final performances of the year!

Thursday, May 2, 8pm: Wind Ensemble

REMEMBRANCE: MUSIC OF THE HOLOCAUST ***This event is a part of the Untold Stories: Truth and Music series.*** On Yom HaShoah 2019 (“Holocaust Remembrance Day”), please join the Rowan University Wind Ensemble for an evening of music that commemorates the lives lost during the Holocaust. We will celebrate composers who were killed in concentration camps, as well as the artists who fled Europe and later composed musical tributes from their new homes in the United States. The first half features Shabtai Petrushka’s Three Jewish Melodies, a rarely-performed original work for band by an important Israeli composer, and the concert concludes with Jan Meyerowitz’s powerful Three Comments on War, composed in 1964 but only recently republished for modern performance. Other program highlights include film music from Schindler’s List, featuring violinist Timothy Schwarz, Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, and Weber's Second Clarinet Concerto featuring Concerto Competition Winner Lia Boncoeur.

We are also honored to present the world premiere of Bruce Yurko's In Memoriam Dean Witten on this May 2 concert program. This powerful new work is a musical homage to Professor Witten, who served as Director of Percussion at Rowan University from 1979-2018. Rowan Bands are grateful to composition professor Bruce Yurko for creating such a meaningful tribute to this great musician and educator. 

Dr. Higgins' Honor Band Playlist

Percy Grainger: Children's March

• Recording by the United States Marine Band

Wayne Oquin: Song for Silent Voices

• Recording by the United States Air Force Band

Jodie Blackshaw: Letter from Sado

• Visit composer's website!
• Listen to Letter from Sado while following along with the score.
• Check out this exciting performance of Twist (Sydney Conservatorium of Music Wind Symphony).

Leonard Bernstein: Candide Suite

• Recording (listen to the next video on playlist for second movement, etc)

Socially Conscious Programming

"The Empathy Machine: Socially Conscious Programming" Presentation Slides (Higgins, 2019)

Check out Rowan's 2017-2018 "Music of Social Justice" Series Details

External resources:

Institute for Composer Diversity