St. Olaf Band to perform at Carnegie Hall
The upcoming St. Olaf Band Winter Tour will culminate in a February 6 performance in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. The event will help celebrate the ensemble’s 125th anniversary, which happens to coincide with the same anniversary for the storied concert hall (buy tickets here).
Tim Mahr ’78, conductor of the band, is excited for his students to play where Dvorak’s New World Symphony was first heard, and where Johnny Cash, The Beatles, Plácido Domingo, and David Bowie all have performed. Author J.K. Rowling even read on stage from her book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when it was published, and the New York Philharmonic has played more than 5,000 concerts in the hall.
“Playing at Carnegie will be an experience that our musicians won’t soon forget,” says Mahr. “In addition to it being the most historically significant concert hall in the United States, the acoustics are stunning and we can’t wait to make music in that iconic space.”
The band’s tour program features the premiere of American composer David Maslanka’s Angel of Mercy, which was commissioned for the 125th anniversary with funding from the Miles Johnson Endowment. Other stops along the tour will include Milwaukee, Chicago, and Philadelphia. (See complete program, itinerary, and ticketing information.)
The 95-member St. Olaf Band is the college’s oldest music organization and has toured nationally since 1904. Their 30-concert tour of Norway in 1906 made them the first American collegiate band to tour Europe. They have toured extensively throughout Europe and Asia.