Harold J. Crosby Community Band Camp

September 14, 15, & 16, 2018

(Published in New Horizons International Music Association Newsletter)

In keeping with our tradition of Celebrating the Composers and Arrangers of Maine, the Carl R. Cuthbert Community Band Foundation is pleased to announce the dates for the Harold J. Crosby Community Band Camp 2018. This year the camp will be held the weekend of September 14, 15, & 16, 2018, in Dexter, ME, at the heart of Vacationland.

This year’s band will again be playing the marches of Harold J. Crosby, the camp’s namesake and a contemporary of John Philip Sousa, and the music of Heywood S. Jones, Loren Coe, and others. The variety of music selected will present a challenge for the band members who come from across the state of Maine, the nation, and potentially, the world. In the past band members have traveled from New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, Oregon, and Canada, just a short trip across the border on Route 202 into Maine. Obviously, no place is too far for a weekend in Dexter, to enjoy the fall colors and to play the music of Maine.

The guest conductor for Band Camp 2018 will be Dr. Christian Wilhjelm, the Conductor and Music Director of the Ridgewood, NJ, Concert Band, recognized widely as one of the leading wind orchestras in the nation. Dr. Wilhjelm has been an active music educator for over 40 years at the Secondary and Collegiate levels. As a professional musician, he has performed the French Horn with the Boston Symphony, the Boston Pops, the Boston Ballet Orchestra, the Boston Opera Orchestra, and the Richmond, VA, Symphony, as well as performing with many leading jazz and popular musicians, including Burt Bacharach, Isaac Hayes, Rufus Reid, and Henry Mancini. Dr. Wilhjelm will be conducting the Harold J. Crosby Community Band Camp 2018 for his original premier compositions and will be performing a horn solo with the band. We are pleased that he has accepted this position as our guest conductor and are anticipating an exciting band camp under his direction.

Band Camp 2018 will once again be held at the Ridge View School in Dexter, Maine, a new facility capable of housing a 70- piece band. The Moosehead Trail Motor Lodge, a short jaunt from Ridge View, will serve as the official hotel and welcome center this year, giving discounted rooms to those attending the camp who stay there. There are a host of other accommodations ranging from campgrounds to hotels to Bed-and-Breakfasts in the area for your convenience as well. Local Harold J. Crosby band members are even willing to open their homes to band campers as their guests at no cost, just old-fashioned Maine hospitality at its finest. For more information, and to register for the band camp electronically, please visit the Carl R. Cuthbert Community Band Foundation’s website at www.cuthbert-foundation.org, or call the foundation at 207-924-6235 to request brochures to share with fellow band members in your area. You can also reach us by email at crosbycommunityband@gmail.com. And remember, as in previous years, there is no charge for this band camp. All meals and expenses, except lodging, are covered by donation and by the Cuthbert Foundation. Yes, you read that right – there is NO charge for this band camp. We believe no one should be prevented from attending Band Camp 2018 because of cost.

This three-day band camp, culminating in a Sunday afternoon performance for the local communities, has been a big success in its first two years. We look forward to another successful year and hope that many of you in the New Horizons International Music Association will join us for a weekend of fall colors, the camaraderie of other musicians, and the music that is Maine.