'12-'13 Concert: Excelsior Cornet Band

Friday, February 8
Storer Auditorium
11:15 a.m. 

The Excelsior Cornet Band is the only authentic Civil War brass band in New York State. Founded in 2001, the band performs Civil War music on original antique brass band instruments of the 1860’s period. Recreating the glorious sounds and appearance of this pivotal period in American history, the band performs the most popular melodies of the 1850-1870 period, as well as patriotic airs, operatic medleys, marches, and dance music by the era’s most renowned composers and bandmasters. All of the band’s musical arrangements come from the bandbooks of Civil War era bands, or are adapted from the original Civil War era sheet music. The band’s uniforms authentically represent those of a typical early-war New York State Militia band.

The musicians of the Excelsior Cornet Band are professional performers with many years of experience in a wide variety of musical genres. They are: Jeff Stockham, E-flat cornet and keyed bugle; Lee Turner, E-flat cornet; David Driesen, B-flat cornet; Dickson Rothwell, E-flat alto horn; Jim Spencer, B-flat tenor horn; Al Thomson, E-flat tuba; John Allis, snare drum; and Loyal Mitchell, bass drum.